Why Goal Setting With Your Team Is Harder Than It Sounds

As managers, we often assume the hardest part of goal setting is agreeing on the targets.

But we find that instead, the hardest part is creating clarity about what actually needs to be done, how it will be achieved, and why it matters.

Helping Your Team Build Well-Formed Goals

Most goals sound something like “I want you to increase sales.”

Whilst it tells someone what the business wants to see it doesn’t explain what “increase” means, how to approach it, or what good looks like in practice.

A well-formed goal might sound more like:

“Grow sales by 10% by following up all Marketing qualified leads within [timeframe] day, attending face to face meetings to negotiate contracts, and issuing agreed contracts within [timeframe]”

Now we have something concrete.

Clear direction.
Clear behaviours.
Clear measures of success.

As a manager, you can strengthen goals by exploring:

Is it stated positively?
It’s much easier to move towards something than away from something.

How will we know it’s been achieved?
Agree specific, measurable indicators of success.

Is this within their control?
If someone is accountable for growing sales but has no structured leads, the goal becomes frustrating rather than motivating.

What might get in the way?
There will always be obstacles, workload, competing priorities, personal pressures. Anticipating these early allows flexibility and problem solving.

How will this impact others?
What support is needed from the wider team? What collaboration is required?

Why is this important?
A clear “why” provides purpose. Without it, goals feel transactional.

Choice Is a Powerful Predictor of Success

One of the biggest predictors of whether someone achieves a goal is whether they feel a degree of ownership in the direction they’re heading.

If a goal feels imposed, motivation fades. If it feels owned, progress is far more likely.

In your goal-setting conversations, consider asking:

• What do you think your priorities should be this quarter?
  
  
• If it were entirely up to you, what would you improve?
  
  
• What would indicate to you that you’re performing well?
  
  
• If you weren’t holding back, what would you be doing differently?
  
  

Taking the time to explore goals properly gives you valuable insight.

You start to understand how someone sees their role, what matters to them, and what they believe success looks like.

That insight helps you guide the conversation not to control it, but to shape it in a way that builds real accountability.

Because when someone helps define success, they’re far more committed to achieving it.

Before your next goal setting meeting, consider: "Are you telling your team what success looks like or helping them think it through?"