15 Performance Goals Examples (And Why You Need Them)

Every job comes with its expectations. To hit these targets, setting clear performance goals is crucial. Edwin A. Locke, a leading psychologist in goal-setting theory, found that teams who establish goals boost their performance by 20-25%.^[1] Performance goals – also called key performance indicators (KPI) – are used to rate and grade an employee. Employers set these all the time for their employees to specify work targets as well as a project or work deliverables.

Whether you are working for someone or working for yourself, there is a need to set your own performance goals in order to maximize your potential, boost your personal productivity, and exceed the expectations of your employer or clients. Furthermore, these provide excellent insights into various situations.

At LifeHack, we set quarterly performance goals and KPIs to keep our progress steady and aligned. This consistent approach ensures everyone is moving in the same direction and staying on track. These goals also guide us in assessing workload balance and the effectiveness of our productivity strategies.

In this article, you will find tips on why you need to set performance goals, as well as 15 performance goal examples that you can set to achieve career and work excellence.

What Is A Performance Goal?

Performance or employee goals are short-term objectives that are set for specific duties in your current job position. They are also described as performance expectations related to work to be accomplished and/or core competencies.^[2]

Performance goals can be set for various reasons too. Some of those reasons are:

• Improvements to be made
• Actions to be taken
• Attributes to develop
• Things to cut down to increase productivity and achieve desired results.

Performance goals and goals performance review can then be an agreement between an employer and an employee at that point. However, they can also be self-imposed. Personal initiatives are common as employee goals include promotions and pay raises. The focus here is taking your own initiatives, setting your own goals, and helping to achieve uncommon results daily in your career.

Why You Need to Set Performance Goals

A study in the Journal of Applied Psychology revealed that specific, challenging goals not only enhance performance but also increase engagement, outperforming the vague directive to “do your best.” ^[3] Let’s explore the advantages of setting clear performance goals:

Meeting Organizational Requirements

Work requirements might seem daunting, perhaps even out of reach. Yet, by setting strategic goals to meet these challenges, you’ll discover new energy, resources, and opportunities. Gartner research indicates that aligning employee goals with organizational and personal needs can boost performance by up to 22%.^[4]

Improving Efficiency and Effectiveness

Renowned American management consultant Peter Drucker said:

“Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.”

Your boss might have to tell you how to do the job right, but you have to take the initiative to figure out what the right job is.

This means looking for uncommon ways to achieve the overall organizational business objectives and going the extra mile in doing what the organization never thought was possible.

Positioning Yourself for a Promotion

Setting and achieving your performance goals will earn you a favorable reputation in your organization. It will also open you up to many incentives, including pay raises, promotions, and elevation to a higher office.

The ordinary worker is rewarded for efficiency, whereas the extraordinary worker is promoted for effectiveness.

Boosting Your Employability

Your performance in your current position is the key to your future employment. This holds for people in business too — the satisfaction of your current client might lead to getting a referral for another client.

When you achieve uncommon results by setting performance goals, you are also indirectly opening up future opportunities for yourself.

15 Examples of Performance Goals

Before we look at examples, let’s talk about setting a SMARTer goal. You’re likely familiar with SMART goals—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound. Yet, a SMARTer goal goes deeper. It’s about getting crystal clear on what you want to achieve and why, ensuring you stay motivated.

A useful tool here is the 5 Whys framework. By repeatedly asking “why,” you peel back the layers to discover the true essence of your goal.
The upcoming examples will not only elevate your productivity but also position you to make a strong impression on your boss and colleagues, paving the way for your success.

1. Be Punctual at Work, Meetings, and Events

Punctuality is essential to performance. By arriving early to work, meetings, and events, your mind will be calm, concentrated, and organized as you think through the day’s work and start early.

Furthermore, punctuality also sends some positive signals about you to colleagues, seniors, and even your clients. Being on time consistently demonstrates foresight, competence, and reliability. It shows everyone around you that you are the master of your life; you can anticipate possible hang-ups and have the ability to change your plans and accommodate those hang-ups.

Set a goal to be on time, and it will boost both your performance and reputation.

Example: Arrive 5 minutes early for every meeting and event over the next month.

2. Maintain a Healthy Diet and Exercise Regularly

Work requires positive energy, mental alertness, and concentration. Therefore, you need to continually put your body in a state whereby it can perform optimally. Diet and exercise affect the state of your health, which has a direct impact on your performance.

You are what you eat, so a good set of employee goals can be to eat right and be in a good mental state. Also, plan a regular exercise schedule to put your body in good shape.

Example: Commit to a 30-minute workout three times a week and incorporate two servings of vegetables into each dinner.

3. Take Initiative

Set a goal to always take your own initiative. It is easier to get submerged in work requirements that you forget to do this. You sometimes need to look outside the requirements of your organization, get to know the trends in the larger industry, and apply uncommon techniques to achieve your overall organizational goals.

Taking initiative might not occur to you naturally but by setting these goals and doing a goals performance review on yourself can give you the push you need.

Example: Identify and propose a new project or solution to an existing problem to your supervisor by the end of this quarter.

4. Improve Your Work Quality

What is the quality of your deliverables? It’s not good for your personal or company reputation for your deliverables to get rejected often. If there are too many complaints about your work, it probably means that you are doing something wrong.

Your supervisor will be happy to spend less energy on trying to correct your work, and your clients will be happy not to see flaws in your deliverables. Set goals to always ensure you do your best to only send out work with a touch of finesse.

Example: Reduce error rates in your monthly reports by 15% within the next two months by using automated tools and peer reviews.

5. Request (and Utilize) Feedback

One of the ways to improve your performance at work is to get regular feedback. Positive feedback will encourage you to identify and, if possible, repeat the actions that brought the previous results. Negative feedback also works as it will help you to know what you should improve on moving forward. Solving issues is first noticing the problem and mitigating how often you do it through planning on habit replacing.

Example: Solicit feedback on your work from at least three colleagues or clients each month and implement specific changes based on the insights received.

6. Develop Job Knowledge and Skills

You might have good intentions, but not having the required working knowledge and skills will impair your performance long-term. Industries grow and change and what you learned in college or university might not be relevant in the world today.

Setting employee goals to acquire emerging knowledge and skills required in your industry can keep information and your actions fresh and current. You might need to sign up for short courses or simply carry out research to get to know the recent trends and developments.

Example: Complete an industry-specific certification or course within the next six months.

7. Support and Advance Your Organization’s Vision, Mission, and Values

You need to see your work as helping to accomplish the larger objectives of your organization. Then you can set performance goals to make it happen.

The popular story of the American president John F. Kennedy and a janitor comes to mind here. The president had visited the NASA space center and saw a janitor carrying a broom. The president asked the janitor what he was doing, and the man replied: “I’m helping put a man on the moon!”

An ordinary worker would have answered differently. When we see the importance of our “little” efforts in making our organization grow, we’ll become more passionate about our responsibilities.

Example: Volunteer for at least one company-wide initiative each quarter that aligns directly with the organization’s strategic goals.

8. Improve Collaboration With Colleagues

You need to bear in mind that you are not in competition with anyone in your organization. You need the cooperation of everyone to achieve your work goals and the organization’s goals.

Collaboration at work creates a healthy work environment where ideas are freely shared. You will be surprised to see your performance improve as you share ideas freely and collaborate within your organization.

Example: Initiate a bi-weekly brainstorming session with your team to foster communication and idea sharing starting this month.

9. Know How the Internal Systems Work

If you are in a managerial position, you might need to shadow the departments in your organization and build a wider understanding of what goes into each department’s daily practices. This will help you to understand the challenges and obstacles your team members are experiencing, and you will be able to manage the situation much better than when that knowledge is lacking.

Example: Schedule and complete training sessions on two new internal systems within the next three months.

10. Adhere Strictly to Internal Ethics and Standards

One of the ways to boost your performance at work is to work in compliance with ethical and operational standards attached to your job. It’s good to think outside the box, but policies are also meant to be adhered to. This ensures that your work gets appreciated and that you don’t land yourself in avoidable trouble.

Example: Audit your current projects by next month to ensure 100% compliance with organizational ethical standards.

11. Manage Communication Effectively

Effective communication is essential for work performance. This includes both verbal and non-verbal communication. Communicate clearly in reports, presentations, notifications, meetings, etc.

Also, respond to important emails and other forms of inquiries promptly. Ask and seek clarification when necessary, and don’t make assumptions on matters that have not been clearly stated.

Example: Implement a weekly check-in with your team and stakeholders to streamline communications starting next week.

12. Improve Your Visibility Within the Organization

Decide to attend and participate actively in both formal and informal meetings within your organization, and air your views when important issues are being discussed. This will give you access to major developments within the organization, which may not be available to the ordinary staff. With such information, you might be able to plan your actions and work accordingly.

Example: Present a progress report of your projects in the next all-hands meeting.

13. Showcase Creativity

Creativity can be described as an uncommon display of skills that brings about uncommon solutions and innovations. The value of creativity is measured in terms of the business results that exceed mediocrity. Be intentional about being creative at work.

Example: Submit a proposal for an innovative approach to enhance a current project by the end of this month.

14. Master Time Management

Set a goal to always take charge of your time. Prioritize and focus on the most important tasks, arrange your time so as not to exceed deadlines, and create some time as well for learning and leisure.

Example: Adopt time management systems like The Time Flow System to plan and prioritize your tasks starting from tomorrow.

15. Set Personal Standards

Carve a niche for yourself and set standards for growth. Your goal will be to carry out your responsibilities within the framework of your own personal standards.

These standards are based on your work ideals and how you want to build your reputation at work to give you and your work a cutting edge.

Example: Define and document your personal performance metrics and review them monthly to gauge your progress against set benchmarks.

How to Review Your Goals’ Performance

Tracking and measuring your progress through regular performance reviews offers several advantages. Here’s how it makes a difference:

• Stay on course: Without a clear plan, it’s easy to drift off course. A structured performance review keeps you aligned with your objectives, whether they’re related to finance, career, health, or family.
• Gauge your progress: Regular reviews allow you to assess how well you’re meeting your goals. This feedback can be the catalyst you need to maintain momentum or ramp up your efforts.
• Make strategic adjustments: Performance reviews reveal what’s working and what isn’t, guiding you to make necessary changes to stay on track toward your goals.
• Ensure balanced success: By evaluating multiple areas of your life periodically, you avoid excelling in one part while neglecting others, promoting a more balanced approach to success.

There’s no one-size-fits-all method for a goals performance review; it varies based on your objectives and timelines. Here’s what you might discover about your goals and yourself during the review:

• You’ve achieved your goals.
• You haven’t met your goals.
• You’re on track to meet your goals.
• You’re unlikely to meet your goals at your current pace.

No matter the outcome, there’s always room for improvement. Here are some ways to effectively review your goals:

Based on End Results

Some goals are “end goals,” and the only way to review them is by whether they turn out as a hit or miss. For example, setting a goal to land a particular job or making the cut-off point in a professional exam can be a hit or miss.

However, when you have a couple of goals in different areas, your performance review can include looking at how many of your end goals you have been able to achieve versus the ones you couldn’t achieve. You will be able to judge whether you are generally making progress or not.

Based on Milestones and Timelines

For effective goal setting and tracking, it is usually advised that when setting your goals, you should break them down into smaller units so that you can measure your performance throughout and also get motivated when you accomplish those smaller goals. The milestones will help you to know if you are moving closer to accomplishing your bigger goals or not. Below are some examples of this kind of review.

Career Advancement

If you set a goal to become a CEO in 5 to 8 years from your current level as a mid-level manager, having a rising portfolio every two to three years is a notable milestone in accomplishing your goal.

Retirement

Another example is planning to retire at 50, meaning that you want to be financially secure at 50. If you are currently 35, your investment portfolio review can be set every 3 years to know how close or far you are from your goal. You would have carried out this review at least four times before your planned retirement.

What to Do When You Fall Short of (Or Meeting) Your Goals

If you don’t meet your goals, here’s how to regroup:

• Analyze the reasons: Reflect on why you fell short. Was it a lack of effort, planning, or circumstances beyond your control?
• Develop solutions: Identify the root causes of failure and brainstorm ways to overcome these obstacles in the future.
• Stay motivated: If time is running out but you’re still within your deadline, boost your motivation. Don’t give up, no matter how things currently look.
• Adjust your goals: Consider modifying your goals—extend deadlines, scale back your objectives, or try a different approach.

Even when you succeed, push further:

• Raise the bar: Set more challenging goals. For instance, if you’ve been reading two books a month, try three.
• Enhance quality: Don’t just meet deadlines; elevate the quality of your work.
• Set bigger goals: Regular success might mean your goals are too easy. Dream bigger and set goals that challenge you more.

For a comprehensive guide on achieving your goals, check out: The Ultimate Guide to Achieving Goals.

The Bottom Line

No matter how you are currently performing at work, there is always room for improvement. Setting performance goals will help you to look into the areas needing improvement and find multiple ways to carry out your responsibilities — better ways that will help you achieve uncommon results.

Featured photo credit: Adeolu Eletu via unsplash.com