The Impact of Goal-Setting on Employee Motivation

Goal-setting in my organization is based on budgetary needs. The goal are set based on the financial needs of the organization and what programs are necessary to fulfill those needs. Although we provide services and classes to our members we do not have goals on the number of participants we anticipate in our programs. Because of the fact that all goal-setting is based on budgets only the department managers and leadership team know the goals. Not having goals that are set and shared outside of budget needs makes it difficult to have any affect on employee motivation. Goal-setting is done for the purpose of placing that target in front of an individual and/or team so that they know what is needed for success.

Within my organization we provide programs for children, teens, families, adults, and seniors. The diversity of programs we offer requires everyone to be on the same page and working toward the same goal as we may be coming at it from different directions. Without turning our members or participants into a number on a piece of paper there needs to be an effort made to set participation goals, membership goals, and financial donation goals. Goals being set will seek to give employees a sense of motivation in working towards a target for the success and growth of the organization. Goals for participation levels will assist those registering participants and the instructors in having an better understanding of the organizational needs for the purpose of recruiting. Membership goals will help in measuring the number of new, canceled and continuing members thus giving a basis for better understanding participation levels.

Instead of being able to measure the positive impact of goal-setting my organization, unfortunately, an example of the negative impact. Not having goals for the employees to work towards takes away much of the ability to motivate employees. The lack of goals causes employees to potentially lose sight of why they work as hard as the do every day. They don't have a target to shoot for, don't know when they succeed, and don't know when they fail. The lack of goals creates an environment where when employees are reprimanded for not contributing to the success of the organization the employee does not have a clear understanding of what is expected of them. When employees don't know what is expected of them then they cannot motivate themselves to succeed.