Goal setting is necessary for organizations to achieve the results they want. Operational objectives are designed to deliver better results each time in comparison to the competition. This article will explore examples of operational goals and how to set them appropriately for your employees for a successful outcome.
Examples of operational goals for employees include improving HR and production processes, improving employee retention, increasing IT capacity, and better financial management. These goals aim to cut costs and get better results than the brand’s competitors.
Operational goals are directly linked with operations excellence and effectiveness. The role of this team is to ensure that the company achieves its objectives and stands out from the competitors in the most productive way possible. Here are some examples of operational goals you can set for your employees.
What are Operational Goals?
Operational objectives are designed to be carried out on a day-to-day basis. Think of them as the supporting goals that ensure employees achieve an organization’s broader tactical or strategic objectives. In most organizations, these are developed and assigned by managers and are carried out by the employees.
Here is what makes these unique and different from tactical goals:
- They’re short term
- They’re actionable and measurable
- They’re limited to the department they’re related to
- They’re directly tied to profit and loss
The standard time for achieving most operational goals shouldn’t exceed one to two years.
4 Operational Goals For Business Employees
Strategic objectives determine the “what,” and the operational goals determine the “how.” When you create these goals, ensure they align with your strategic objectives and help you achieve them.
Optimizing Production Processes
One of the most common operational targets is improving the performance of a production unit. Examples of a production area include:
- Factory
- Restaurant’s kitchen
- Auto repair shop
- Car wash
- Bakery
The ultimate goal of improving production processes is to enhance the quality of the product and reduce the cost associated with production. Consequently, a high-quality product means fewer returns and reduced costs related to do-overs.
Examples of employee goals to help improve production include
- Improve scheduling and resource utilization
- Strengthen quality control
- Train workers
- Implement technology to automate processes
Increase IT Capacity
No business can survive nowadays without utilizing the abundance of IT tools. If your business relies heavily on online channels like the website and social media to make sales – you need to invest in these channels constantly. Operational goals for employees in this sense will look like this:
- Improving the UI/UX of the website
- Making the buying process easier for consumers online
- Improving payment methods
- Improving customer data security
- Improving the quality of data received from social media channels
- Increase the frequency of engaging with customers online
You can have internal IT teams do all this or go the outsourcing route as more and more businesses are doing so nowadays.
Optimize Finances
The finance department performs some core business functions. Their goals include more than just making projections and strategies for the year ahead. They also manage the overall profit and loss of a company through operational goals such as
- Improving billing
- Improving debt management
- Making timely collections
- Investing in sound opportunities
- Decreasing interest payments
Optimize HR Processes
The foundation of a stable business can be found in stable and dedicated employees. What plays a vital role and keeping the workforce aligned with the organization’s goals? The Human Resources Department.
Operational goals for the HR department include:
- Improved scheduling
- Boosting employee retention rates
- Creating training and learning programs
- Creating and managing a rewards and recognition program
These have strategic benefits like a boosted retention rate means less time and workforce spent on hiring new employees and training them.
Creating and Improving Contingency Plans
There are countless processes and changes being implemented in an organization, but who keeps track of the contingency plans in case an important step or process goes haywire?
Contingency plans are vital for the survival of a business. Things can go wrong all the time. The important thing is to have a plan to fall back on and restore the business operations to a stable state as soon as possible.
How to Set Operational Goals for Employees Using SMART
When setting operational goals for employees – you need to make it easier for them to achieve those goals. You must be tactful when creating and assigning operational goals to managers and employees.
What are SMART Goals?
Strategists swear by the SMART method. Using this method, you will remove all ambiguities surrounding your goals, and your employees will know exactly what is expected of them and when.
When you set general goals like “increase engagement in Q3,” your lack of interest becomes pretty evident, negatively affecting your employees.
SMART goals are:
S – Specific
M– Measurable
A – Attainable
R – Realistic
T – Have a set timeline
Using this method, you can set goals that are challenging yet achievable at the same time. Let’s look at a guideline that will help you set these operational goals for your employees:
Set Clear and Specific Goals
Real goals are concise and to the point. They lay out what you want the employee to achieve. When you take the time to set clear goals, you’ve essentially done half the task already. Your employees won’t waste time understanding what you want them to do. They will take the objectives and execute them.
So, for example, instead of saying “increase engagement on social media in Q3”, you should say “increase engagement on social media by 30% to 50% in Q3”. Now the employee has a number they need to achieve or give an explanation for not achieving it.
Make Progress Measurable
When setting the goal, you need to give employees clear metrics to measure their progress. These metrics should be agreed upon, so both parties can see whether it was achieved or not.
Employees get frustrated when you don’t give them the right tools to measure their progress. Assigning general goals can leave room for misunderstanding and employees determining what success looks like on their own.
You can never go wrong with numbers, so assigning goals with percentages or any numbers is always best. For example – “Increase sales by 20% by mid Q3” instead of “increase sales by mid Q3.”
Ensure Goals are Achievable
Assigning challenging yet attainable goals is an art you will need to master as a manager or business owner. You have to find that perfect balance that keeps employees motivated and doesn’t make them feel helpless.
When you set challenging goals, your employees will get a sense of achievement on completing them. This is an excellent way of using goals as motivational tools for your employees.
Create Relevant Goals
The whole crux of having SMART goals is that employees can execute them in their day-to-day roles. Understandably, you may want to get creative with these, but you have to stay relevant to specific employees and what is attainable for them to stay within their job description. You also have to ensure that the goals relate to the organization’s overall objectives.
Set a Timeline
Setting a timeline is important to keep employees motivated. Employees need to be clear on what they need to achieve and when. On-going tasks can become harder to track; they can negatively impact ROI and become stale over time.
Setting milestones can help you track progress and tweak timelines based on what has been achieved. These milestone markers will also help employees know well in advance whether they can achieve the deadline or will need an extension.
This will also help you understand the time required to achieve certain goals for future reference.
Align with Organizational Goals
Your organizational goals should feed your employees’ SMART operational goals. The overall objective of these goals is to aid the broader strategic goals of the business. Take a look at what the business needs to achieve before setting employee goals for that time frame.
Enable Employees with Right Resources
Your work doesn’t end at just defining goal statements and metrics. You have to be actively present for employees who need help and also ensure they have the tools necessary to achieve their goals on time.
If your employees don’t have the required training or resources, they will fail at achieving their goals and become demotivated.
Focus on Accountability
The whole purpose of having regular evaluations is to hold employees accountable for their goals. When a goal is delayed or isn’t achieved in the set timeline, the employee should be able to give a logical explanation. This will also motivate employees to achieve them within the timeline and escalate any delays promptly.
Communicate Effectively
Communication is the core of successful operational goal setting. Communication also includes providing timely and honest feedback to your employees. Feedback helps your employees improve and reach their goals.
Evaluate and Track Performance
You can’t just assign the SMART operational goals and wait till the end of the timeframe to see if they’ve been achieved or not. You need to conduct evaluation meetings with employees during the assigned time frame.
This will allow you to see which milestones have been achieved and how the employee is progressing towards success. Based on employee performance, you can make adjustments as necessary.
Make Necessary Adjustments
You have to be flexible as a manager or someone in charge of setting employee goals and monitoring them. You need to realize that you won’t get everything right in the first go and will have to adjust as the need arises.
Regular evaluations are critical because they show you where and when to adjust the goal or the process to be more realistic and achievable.
3 Benefits of Setting Operational Goals
A business strategy should include goals to provide your vision for where you want the company to go. If you want to be a successful business empire 15 years down the line, you need to set goals to help you get there. Operational goals help you regulate and achieve excellence in day-to-day activities.
Your operational goals need to be bound by your overall strategy and vision for the business to stay relevant and progress towards achieving the strategy and tactical goals.
Here are a few benefits of having SMART operational goals:
Improvement in Collaboration
Operational goals are often limited to one department. However, different teams and departments often work together to achieve their goals.
For example, the marketing department may be responsible for launching a new website, but the IT department will set up the hosting and determine the bandwidth required on the server to run the new website.
These goals encourage employee engagement in working together. They bring everyone on the same page as an explicit plan is communicated to the entire team.
Tackling Short-term Goals
There are always small problems in a business that get ignored. It’s difficult to find time to tackle these issues with the day-to-day tasks in line. If you craft operational goals strategically, you can see which problems can become a part of your goals.
Since operational goals are already short-term, you can use your employees’ time to solve these issues and ensure the smooth running of processes.
Increased Focus
Employees look to the management to give them a sense of direction. What is it that you expect from them, and when? Operational goals fulfil this need and give them clear goals to achieve within set timeframes.
This also increases efficiency as employees can plan their work around their goals and spend their time in the most optimal way to achieve them.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the difference between strategic goals and operational goals?
Strategic goals are the long-term things your company wants to achieve, and operational goals are the daily tasks that make it possible to achieve these long-term goals. Strategic goals must be in place before assigning operational goals, and it is equally important not to confuse the two with each other.
- How can an organization benefit from an operational plan?
An operational plan gives you a better understanding of how the organization works. It helps identify areas in loss and helps you create goals to help rectify those losses.
How Can Setting Operational Goals for Employees Help Reduce the Failure Rate of Strategies?
Setting operational goals for employees can significantly reduce the percentage of strategy failures within an organization. By aligning individual tasks and objectives with overarching strategic goals, employees can work cohesively to achieve success, ultimately minimizing the rate of strategy failures.
Final Thoughts
Operational goals help your employees understand what needs to be done daily, week to week, and month-to-month for the business to propel forward. These goals must be aligned with your overall business strategy. We’ve curated the baseline steps for setting these goals above, and we hope you benefit from them.
