Most managers set goals every year and then wonder, six months later, why nobody is working towards them. The goals existed. They were written down, perhaps shared in a meeting. And then they quietly disappeared into a document that nobody opened again. This is not a motivation problem. It is a design problem. Goals that are vague, imposed from above, and never revisited are not goals. They are administrative tasks that look like goals.
The difference between a goal that drives behaviour and one that gets forgotten is not ambition. It is specificity, ownership, and visibility. People work towards things they helped shape and can actually see.
Why most goals don't stick
The failure mode is consistent and predictable. Goals get written in a planning cycle, sometimes by leadership, sometimes by the manager alone, and handed down. They are often too broad to be actionable: "improve communication", "develop leadership skills", "contribute more strategically". The person receiving them does not know what success looks like, and the manager does not check back until the next performance cycle, by which point everyone has forgotten they existed.
- Too vague"Improve your communication" could mean anything. Without a specific outcome or measure, the goal cannot be worked towards in any meaningful way.
- Set top-downGoals assigned without input tend to feel like assessments rather than development. People comply with them, rather than committing to them.
- No visibilityOut of sight is out of mind. If goals live in a performance doc that only comes out twice a year, they will not influence day-to-day behaviour.
- Never reviewedWithout regular check-ins on progress, goals stagnate. Circumstances change, and nobody updates the goal to reflect that. They become irrelevant or demoralising.
- No connection to workGoals that feel disconnected from what the person actually does day-to-day are easy to deprioritise. The best goals are ones that naturally come up in the flow of real work.
What good goals look like
Good goals have a clear outcome, a way to know when they have been reached, and a timeframe. They connect to something the person cares about, such as their development, their role, or the team's direction. They are challenging but achievable, and they stay relevant as circumstances change.
SMART criteria are well known for a reason: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound. The part most managers underweight is relevance. A goal that is technically well-written but disconnected from what the person values or what the team actually needs will not generate real motivation. Goals need to matter to the person, not just to the org chart.
- Specific outcomeNot "improve stakeholder communication" but "lead the next three project updates with the client and gather feedback from at least two stakeholders".
- MeasurableIf you cannot tell whether it has been achieved, it is not yet a goal. Add a number, a date, or a clear observable standard.
- Personally relevantConnect the goal to where the person wants to go: their career, their interests, their gaps. A goal they chose is one they work towards.
- Reviewed regularlyBuild in checkpoints. A goal reviewed monthly stays real. One touched only at annual review time is effectively dormant.
Setting goals with your team (not for them)
The most effective goal-setting conversations are co-created. You bring the context of what the team and organisation need; they bring their own development priorities, strengths, and interests. The goal that emerges from that conversation will be owned in a way that a handed-down target never will be.
In practice this means having a genuine conversation before committing anything to paper. Ask what they want to get better at. Ask what feels like a stretch. Ask what would make the next six months feel meaningful. Then bring in the team and business needs. Write the goal together, or at minimum, invite them to shape it before it is finalised.
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Start with their priorities
Before you bring your agenda, ask where they want to grow, what is frustrating them, and what a strong year would look like. For larger development pathways like preparing for promotion, use a Journey to map out milestones alongside targets. You will get better goals, and higher commitment, this way.
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Bring in team and business needs
Connect individual development to the work. Goals that grow the person and serve the team are easier to justify, easier to work on, and easier to recognise when achieved.
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Write them together
Draft goals in the conversation, or immediately after. Share them back for input before they are locked in. Ownership comes from participation.
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Set a review cadence
Agree upfront how often you will check in on each goal. Monthly in 1-1s and quarterly with a deeper review works well. Do not leave this vague or it will not happen.
Keeping goals visible and alive
A goal that is not regularly visible will not be regularly worked on. The practical implication is that targets need to live somewhere accessible, somewhere you and your team member can glance at them before a 1-1 and see at a glance what progress looks like. Not in a document folder, not in last year's performance review.
Manager Toolkit's targets feature is built for this: set targets per team member, track progress over time, and surface them alongside catchups so they stay part of the ongoing conversation rather than an annual exercise. Break targets down into Actions with deadlines so progress is visible between reviews. When goals are visible and discussed regularly, they stop being administrative and start shaping how people work.
Track your team's targets
Set, review, and progress goals per person, connected to catchups and actions.