Successful managers set goals for themselves and their employees. Without goals, the supervisor and the system often fail.

It is amazing how many companies operate without goals throughout the organization. The company and the top management may have goals (sometimes they don’t), but the lower levels are working without any.

Successful companies align their goals from top to bottom. If the company’s goal is to achieve 8% growth in revenue and 15% growth in profits, then every other layer has goals that support it. If every level meets their goals, then the top goal is automatically achieved.

Good managers set achievable goals. They understand that unachievable goals have a negative motivational effect. Unachievable goals hurt morale as well as the self esteem of the employee.

The professional manager knows that correctly set performance goals enable accountability. Without accountability, the goal is simply a “wish” or “hope”.

Professionals also realize the importance of a few critical goals. They understand that too many goals dilute its effectiveness. It is important to allow employees to focus on the extremely important, rather than a sea of goals, some of which will be surely missed.