Goal Setting Article

How to Create your Performance Dialog in Goal Setting and Feedback for Your Organization

from: www.SelfImprovementsGuide.com




A technique used in giving feedback in a performance dialog and goal setting is the DESC feedback technique which:



DESCRIBES the behaviour which has negative impact on other employees;


EXPRESSES the feelings in response to the behaviour;


SPECIFIES the desired change in the employee's behaviour and


States the CONSEQUENCES if the desired change does not occur.



Performance dialog is a tool which is used in creating goal setting and feedback for organizations. It is used in the Performance Appraisal process. For an organization to have successful relations with employees and supervisors, goal setting and establishing work priorities are necessary. The processes of setting goals and work priorities vary from employee to employee, but one thing to put in mind is that goals and work priorities should not be considered static, rather it should be reviewed and adjusted on specific timeframes. This is an important need in an organization because it helps foster professional and career development.



Goal setting and work priorities reflect an employee's job description and should be aligned with the goals and strategic plans of the department where he is stationed. In performance dialog, there are some policies to be taken note of, when making a goal settings plan for the company. They include:



- As part of the performance dialog, there should no more than 8 goals and less than 3 goals identified for each employee. Once the goals have been identified, the employee and the supervisor have to establish criteria on how the results of the goals will be measured at specific time frames.


- It is not possible for the supervisor and the employee to agree upon goal settings and work priorities, the conventional method is: The supervisor has to discuss with the employee after which he shall determine the goal settings and work priorities.


- In an instance where a supervisor does not initiate goal settings, the employee is allowed to develop his/her own goals and asking the supervisor to review them.



After these have been agreed on, the goal-setting outline must be created and in writing this, the SMART technique of writing goal settings should be employed.



As the employee commences on the job using the goal settings outline designed, the employer on the other hand monitors, observes and documents the progress of the assigned work. Many companies often neglect performance documentation in documenting an employee's performance; this should not be the case because memories are fallible and may not be able to remember events and outcomes which occur within a year or more. With the performance documentation, this makes it easy for the supervisor to create a performance appraisal and give feedback about the progress of the employee.



To establish an excellent work culture where employees at all levels are encouraged to develop their skills, it is necessary to give and receive feedbacks. This use of the goal-setting outline in the performance dialog will help in giving feedbacks about the employee's performance. When giving feedbacks, they should be:


- Individualized to fit the person and the job situation.


- Focused on the action concerned and not the personality of the employee.


- Delivered within a certain time frame which should be before the next performance appraisal.



The importance of giving feedback is it could be used to clearly define the expectations of one's performance; it serves as a focus on the future direction rather than the past performance; it provides an opportunity in which the employees learn about themselves and how they interact with other people; it provides an opportunity to develop our personality.



Christine P. Gray is a recognized authority on the subject of goal setting. Her website www.selfimprovementsguide.com provides a wealth of informative articles and resources on everything you will need to know about self improvement. All rights reserved. Articles may be reprinted as long as the content and links remains intact and unchanged.