Performance goals are the objectives an employee is rated against at the end of a review period, and a performance goal only works if the rating at the end can be worked from it: a result, a target and a measure, agreed at the start and dated. Most performance goal examples online fail that test because they name an aspiration, and an aspiration cannot be marked met or missed. This page defines performance goals for work in the appraisal sense, gives performance goals examples by function with the target and the measure written in, works an example of performance goals for one role through a full year from setting to rating, and closes with performance goals examples for work that hold up at review because the evidence for them exists without anyone having to argue.
Result, target, measure
The result is what will be true at the end of the period that is not true now. The target is the number or the date that says how much or by when. The measure is where the number will be read from. Increase retained accounts to a set share of the book by year end, read from the account list. Close the month within five working days every month, read from the close log. Ship the reporting module by the end of the third quarter, read from the release. A goal with all three can be self-appraised and rated from evidence; the free self-appraisal worksheet on this site reads objectives set against objectives met and produces the achievement figure from exactly that.
Examples by function
Sales: new accounts against a count; retained accounts against a share; pipeline coverage against a multiple. Support: first response within a time; resolution within a time; satisfaction above a score. Operations: throughput against a rate; error rate below a limit; a process documented by a date. Finance: month close within days; invoices issued within days of delivery; receivables over sixty days below a share. Engineering: a named feature shipped by a date; incidents below a count; a design reviewed at the halfway point. Management: check-ins held on schedule; team reviews completed by the cycle date; one team member cross-trained. Every one has its three parts.
One role through a year
A support analyst in January agrees four goals: first response under a set time, resolution under a set time, satisfaction above a score, and the escalation playbook written by June. At the mid-year check the first two are on track from the weekly figures, the third dipped in April after a product change and recovered, the playbook is drafted. At year end: the first two met from the figures, the third met on the year's average, the playbook finished in July and in use. Self-rating meets; manager rates meets with the playbook noted as the period's strongest work; calibrated meets; merit follows. Reviewvo Pro keeps those four goals with their targets on the record from January to the outcome.
Questions people ask about performance goals
What is a performance goal?
An objective an employee is rated against at the end of a review period, with a result, a target and a measure agreed at the start, so the rating can be worked from evidence.
How many performance goals should an employee have?
Three to six. Enough that no single quarter decides the rating, few enough that each one is managed at the check-ins.
What is the difference between a performance goal and a development goal?
A performance goal is a result the role must deliver in the period. A development goal is a skill or a scope the employee will grow into, usually set from the review's outcome. Both carry a target; only the first drives the rating.