What do effective employee goals look like?

So, you have goals that you set for your employee production, and you run your report, discovering that only about 15% of them achieved the goal.  Have you been successful, have they?  Good question.  There are several factors that control whether or not employees can meet goals:

• Do they have the ability?
• Do they have the tools and resources?
• Are the goals realistic? 

If workers have the ability and the tools and resources they need, yet still don't meet the objective, the last factor, realistic goals, plays the biggest part in their success.  If 75% of your employees aren't reaching the goal, odds are the goals are too high, unreachable.  What happens then?  Frustration.  Failure.  Apathy...yes, apathy. Many will think, "if I'm going to get in trouble anyway, why try?" This attitude will become a disease in your organization, and many will fail, and become ineffective employees.  In an ideal environment, 80% will reach reasonable goals, 10% will excel, and 10% will fail no matter what.  Setting goals a very small increment beyond normal production is OK, provided rewards are given for reaching the goals.  People respond best to being recognized for doing their jobs, and being appreciated for doing their jobs well. The saying is, "what's rewarded gets repeated".  

Set specific, realistic, relevant, achievable goals for and with your people, and they will reward you by reaching them and beyond.