We have known for quite awhile that aligning goals at every organizational level facilitates strategic execution. Employees 'Like' knowing that our day-to-day activities drive the overarching plan and love catching a glimpse of the key priorities at the top. Using performance goal management tools to capture goals data across the company has been increasing over the past few years.  Linking these tools to performance appraisal has heightened the importance of the goal management process and increased participation by employees at all levels. 

Now that we have established the trickle down advantages of providing employees with strategic linkage to their individual goals, we can direct our attention to a higher level -- the view from the c-suite. Senior leaders have long been lacking the actionable information they need to evaluate the success of their corporate strategy.

From viaPeople’s Reporting Dashboard, leaders can easily gain insight into the specific activities taking place to support strategic goals. Graphical depictions of performance goals by category provide insight into how effectively each department and function is targeting the top strategic aims. And by checking in real-time, leaders can proactively intervene when a group’s performance efforts are not effectively aligned with the critical priorities.

Leaders can stay close to goal management by regularly tracking performance goals, including the ratio of completed to past due goals as well performance goal progress. When discrepancies exist, leaders can mobilize the appropriate resources to identify issues, offer additional assistance, and ensure effective execution of goals/development plans.   

When the devil is in the details, leaders can also drill down into the goals/plans at various checkpoints (e.g. due in 90 days).

While the concept of cascading goals has not evolved much in recent years, the availability of tools that provide HR/Leaders with real-time, graphical analysis of goals data is certainly a welcome upgrade. Goal management processes are now more effectively and efficiently delivering key strategic insights across the organization.

Take the self-guided quick tour of viaPeople Performance Management to learn more about the Reporting Dashboard.

Amanda Seidler, Ph.D.

Manager, Consulting Services