Every organisation is set up on the foundation of set goals, vision, mission and purpose. Goals are the measurable objectives that guide and drive the achievement of purpose. In most cases there are short, medium-to-long-term goals in organisational planning. Each one is focused on achieving a specific result for different areas of the organisation.
Organizational goals are typically classified into strategic, operational, financial, market, and customer-focused categories. Their purpose is to provide clear direction, set expectations, measure progress, build the brand in a competitive market and inspire employees. At the heart of turning these goals into reality are the employees who bring the vision to life.
Every organisation has its employees’ performance assessed along various lines such as their productivity, job knowledge, communication skills, teamwork, compliance with rules and alignment with organisational goals. A productive and effective workforce is essential to the organization’s success, and the key to achieving this lies in aligning employees through clearly defined goals.
Its importance is evident in its influence on productivity. Employees who understand their jobs will do their jobs better and attain excellent results.
The Role of Employee Goal Alignment in Organizations
Aligning employees with organizational goals requires a well-planned, strategic approach. These are to be clearly defined and engaging. This is why communication is top on the list. The language must be simple, without complications, and several channels must be utilised to keep the message consistent and top of mind. Channels such as emails, dashboards, meetings etc.
Goal setting frameworks for measuring employees’ contributions to the overall corporate goal are important. Utilising OKR’s (Objectives and Key results) or KPI’s (Key performance Indicators) gives both employees and employers insight to their contribution towards set goals.
A culture of transparency in feedback and input from employees must be encouraged, while also ensuring the company’s performance, challenges and progress is constantly shared to measure and stay consistent with the goal strategy.
Investing in training and development is essential for enhancing employees’ growth and business knowledge. Providing learning opportunities as well as mentorship and leadership development programs contribute to the overall benefit of organisations, as employees are equipped to make effective decisions that contribute to better productivity.
Recognizing and rewarding aligned behaviors are powerful drivers for continued application and reinforcement among employees. Acknowledging achievements through awards or offering incentives for performance fosters higher levels of commitment. According to the Incentive Research Foundation (IRF), employees who are encouraged to persist toward a goal see a 27% increase in performance when motivated by incentive programs.
Utilising Incentives for Goal Achievement
Incentives are strong tools in employee motivation, and ensuring these efforts are directed towards the organisations goal. In the designing and application of incentives for this purpose, and for its success it must have certain elements.
Be aligned with set goals. The rewards must be tied to the set objectives. These objectives can be sales motivated, performance improvement, revenue growth or customer retention focused.
The incentives must be tailor made to meet the needs of the target audience. Surveys need to be utilised as well as a report system to get information from the target audience on their reward choice/ type.
Providing a mix of incentives is also a morale booster for employees. Where employees can enjoy the choices presented for various achievements such as service awards, performance rewards, career development rewards, time away from work, monetary perks, and self-care rewards.
The criteria for earning the reward/s from the incentive plan, must be attainable and achievable. These criteria must also be transparent to the target audience.
Communication is vital for the successful implementation of an incentive plan. It must be clear, concise and consistent. Regular communication to the target audience is a morale booster as well as a channel of information for the program. Mediums such as SMS’s, emails, leaderboards, social media platforms help the target audience engage in healthy competition, receive updates, measure their performances and celebrate successes.
Finally, incentive programs targeted at goal accomplishment must be constantly evaluated, monitored and improved on. This can be done by gathering feedback and assessing reports on performance. Feedback provides an avenue to adjust the program where required for employees preferences and the reports assessment allows leadership to ensure the incentives remain relevant and tied to the company goals and objectives.
Adeshola Jaiyeola is the Business Development Director for Uwin Iwin based in Lagos Nigeria and has been with Uwin Iwin for 8 Years. In Her role as Business Development Director, she is responsible for business plan & sales strategy development, Designing and implementing Incentive Programs for Employees, Sales and Distribution channels as well as Business Relations and generation within Nigeria and Ghana.
