How to approach goal setting

Goals are essential to the cohesive inner workings of a business. Publicly setting company, team, and individual goals is a way for companies to encourage transparency in their culture. Goal setting is a muscle that companies build over time.

By setting goals at work using methods such as SMART goals or OKRs (Objective & Key Results), you’re also setting your employees and yourself up for success.

Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) are often organized at the company, team, and individual level and define larger objectives and several measurable results that track progress. Writing good OKRs means separating the goal into the achievement and the measurable actions that support it.

SMART goals are commonly associated with Peter Drucker’s Management By Objectives concepts. SMART goals encourage the employee to detail how it will be accomplished, balancing expectations with reality. (SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, results-focused, and time-bound.)
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Goals don’t just have to be about company results -- you can also write personal development goals for work. Development goals are mainly about honing a certain skill that can make you more productive while improving the overall quality of your work, or building a process to make work easier. That can be anything from becoming a better communicator to personal project or time management.
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Companies that focus on goals also tend to do better across the board. Alignment and output are higher, employees feel more connected and engaged, and the sense of mission and purpose is more clear. Getting your company to that point takes some work, but it's worth the effort.