Goals for performance review are the objectives set at the start of the period that the review at the end will be written against, and the quality of the review is decided when they are written, months before anyone is rated. A goal that can be rated has a target and a measure; a goal that cannot has a verb and a hope. This page sets out how performance review goals are written so that the self-appraisal and the manager's rating can both be worked from them, gives performance review goals examples with their targets and measures, lists employee goals for performance review by role, shows the examples of employee goals for performance review that cycles reuse from year to year, and ends with the examples of goals for performance review that fail, so they can be recognised before they are agreed.
Writing a goal that can be rated
Three parts: the result, the target and the measure. Reduce receivables over sixty days to below a set share of the ledger by year end, measured monthly from the ageing report. Ship the reporting module by the end of the third quarter, measured by release to customers. Complete cross-training on the second station by June, measured by sign-off. Each one can be marked missed, met or exceeded from evidence, which is what the self-appraisal worksheet on this site needs from the objectives it works: it reads objectives set against objectives met and produces the achievement figure the review starts from.
Examples by role, and the ones cycles reuse
Sales: new accounts signed against a number; retention of existing accounts against a share. Support: response time against a threshold; resolution rate against a share. Operations: throughput against a rate; error rate below a limit. Finance: close the month within a number of days; invoices issued within a number of days of delivery. Management: hold check-ins on the schedule; complete the team's reviews by the cycle date. The reusable ones are the standing measures of the role, carried from cycle to cycle with the target adjusted; each cycle adds one or two that are specific to the year, a project, a process, a skill.
The goals that fail
Improve communication. Be more proactive. Take ownership. Support the team. Each names a quality and none names a result, so the employee cannot show it was met and the manager cannot show it was not, and the rating on it is a feeling. The fix is to ask what would be different if the goal were met and write that: send the weekly status by Friday noon every week; raise risks at the check-in before they become slips. Reviewvo Pro keeps the objectives with their targets on the employee's record so the review, the self-appraisal and next year's objectives are written against the same list.
Questions people ask about goals for performance review
What makes a good goal for a performance review?
A result, a target and a measure, so that at the end of the period it can be marked missed, met or exceeded from evidence. A goal without a measure produces a rating without a reason.
How many goals should an employee have for a review?
Three to six. Fewer than three and one bad quarter decides the rating; more than six and none of them is important enough to manage.
Why do goals like improve communication fail in a review?
Because they name a quality, not a result. Nobody can show they were met or missed. Rewrite them as the thing that would be different: the status sent by Friday noon, the risk raised at the check-in.