October 17th, 2025 – Kristy McCann Flynn
My first episode of the HR Confessions podcast just went live. I welcomed Karl Stewart to discuss how the right goal-setting strategies connect learning to productivity. Karl is one of our coaches at SkillCycle and a former HR leader with deep experience in coaching, learning, and talent development. We unpack employee goal setting, team goal setting, and practical goal setting activities for teams that make progress visible week to week.
In this conversation, we share insights into organizational goal setting and the habits that help you reach outcomes faster. Whether you are in HR or setting goals as a manager, you will find simple ideas you can use right away, from goal setting management basics to light goal setting exercises for teams that build alignment without adding meetings.
Key takeaways from my conversation with Karl:
Goal setting in 2025 looks different because work looks different. Hybrid schedules, distributed teams, and AI-enabled tools have changed how objectives are created, aligned, and measured. Instead of annual targets that sit in a document, goals now live in systems that update in real time, connect to projects, and tie directly to learning. This shift helps leaders see progress earlier, course-correct faster, and keep teams focused on the work that matters.
For employee goal setting, clarity and visibility are the baseline. Individuals set a small number of outcomes linked to skills they are building, then track progress in simple weekly check-ins. For team goal setting, managers use shared dashboards so everyone sees priorities, blockers, and ownership. The result is fewer status meetings and more time on the actual work.
AI is becoming a practical assistant in aligning employee goals and objectives. It can suggest milestones, surface risks when tasks slip, and recommend goal setting activities for teams, such as short planning sessions or retrospectives. Leaders use these insights while setting goals as a manager to align effort with strategy, coach more effectively, and personalize development without adding complexity.
Modern goal systems also integrate learning. As organizations redesign for rapid technological change, goals are paired with skills. Teams commit to outcomes and to the capabilities required to achieve them. That combination of clear targets, transparent tracking, and continuous upskilling is what keeps momentum steady throughout the year.
Clear goals matter more in 2025 because markets are uncertain, teams are hybrid, and priorities can shift quickly. Organizations with disciplined goal setting align effort faster, spot risks earlier, and adapt without losing momentum. Engagement is also under pressure, which makes clarity even more valuable: Gallup reports U.S. engagement fell to a 10-year low in 2024, leaving many teams with a weaker starting point for execution.
Think of goals as living commitments, not fixed annual promises. The best leaders set direction, connect company objectives to employee goal setting and team goal setting, and then revisit targets on a regular cadence as conditions change. This rhythm is backed by research on performance systems: companies that focus on people’s performance and goal clarity are far more likely to outperform peers on revenue growth and retention.
Leadership sets the tone. As Karl puts it, the CEO and senior team must state where the company is going, and managers translate that vision into the few outcomes each team will own. Once direction is clear, use simple frameworks like OKRs to align work, pair every outcome with the skills required to achieve it, and track progress weekly. Done well, goal setting management creates adaptability: you adjust milestones when the market moves, without abandoning the mission. External analyses show OKRs, when implemented with clarity and regular check-ins, can significantly improve performance and alignment.
To stay on track, measure two kinds of goals. First, the business outcomes you must deliver. Second, the skill building that enables those outcomes, such as data literacy, customer success capabilities, or AI fluency. Treat both as essential and review them side by side. This approach keeps plans realistic, supports setting goals as a manager, and ensures learning fuels execution rather than competing with it.
Once the vision is clear, turn big objectives into SMART goals so people know exactly what to do next. SMART means Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Use this approach for employee goal setting and team goal setting so every person can see how their work moves the company forward.
Start with one company objective, then write the smallest concrete outcome that proves progress. Name the owner, define the metric, and set a realistic deadline. Check that the goal ties to current priorities and that the team has the skills and support to deliver. This turns strategy into week-to-week execution and keeps goal setting management simple.
Quick workflow for setting goals as a manager
Example conversion
Tips to keep goals working
Use this structure across teams to create clarity, reduce busywork, and make progress visible.
Goals work best when they reflect what your company stands for. When setting employee goals, tie each objective to your values and purpose so people see why their work matters. This alignment boosts motivation, strengthens engagement, and makes progress feel meaningful rather than mechanical.
Culture shows up in how goals are written and how they are achieved. If inclusivity and DEI are core values, translate them into practical outcomes. For example, include actions such as expanding diverse candidate slates, mentoring underrepresented colleagues, improving accessibility in customer content, or running inclusive sprint rituals. When team goal setting includes these culture-linked outcomes, you reinforce the behaviors that build trust and belonging.
Managers play a central role. Coach each person to connect their goals to team purpose, and acknowledge different motivations and constraints. A parent balancing care duties may need flexible timelines. A new hire may need learning milestones before taking on bigger targets. This is real culture in action and it turns values into daily decisions.
Make the link visible. Add a short “Why it matters” line under every goal to state the value it supports. Review goals in team forums, celebrate examples of people living the values, and course-correct when targets encourage the wrong trade-offs. Over time, culture-aligned goals lift retention and performance because people can do great work without abandoning what they believe in.
Middle managers are the bridge between strategy and day-to-day work. They translate the company vision into clear outcomes for teams, and they make sure feedback from the front line reaches leaders in time to influence decisions. When setting goals as a manager, they align employee goal setting with team priorities so every person knows how their work supports the mission.
Their job is not only to cascade goals down. It is also to lift signals up. Middle managers surface capacity limits, skill gaps, and customer insights, then partner with leadership to adjust scope or sequence. This two-way flow is at the heart of effective goal setting management. It keeps plans realistic, reduces rework, and builds trust because people see that data and feedback change the plan when needed.
The cadence matters. Annual reviews are too slow for hybrid and fast-moving teams. Middle managers should run short, regular check-ins that track progress on a small set of SMART goals, clear blockers, and connect learning to delivery. These conversations make team goal setting a living process rather than a once-a-year event, and they help managers coach rather than simply inspect.
A simple real-world pattern looks like this. A hybrid product team uses OKRs for clarity. The manager holds a 20-minute weekly stand-up to review objective progress, updates a shared dashboard, and schedules a monthly retro to adjust key results. Individual goals roll up to the team OKR, and the manager pairs each goal with a skill milestone, such as completing a customer interview playbook or mastering a new analytics report. When the manager sees a skills gap slowing progress, they request a short learning sprint or a temporary rotation to build depth. In this way, team goal setting stays aligned to outcomes, and people grow the capabilities required to hit targets.
Finally, resource the role. Middle managers cannot coach, plan, and communicate if they are overloaded with administrative tasks. Give them simple tooling, access to skills data, and a clear escalation path. When they are equipped to translate strategy, run continuous check-ins, and feed insights back to leaders, they become the engine that moves company objectives from slide to shipped.
A skills inventory is a living map of the capabilities your people have today and the capabilities your business will need next. It lists core skills by role and level, shows current proficiency, and highlights gaps by team and location. With this view, workforce planning becomes practical. You can align hiring and learning with real demand, redeploy people faster, and keep projects moving when priorities shift.
Adding targeted skills assessments to an ongoing learning path helps you see strengths you can leverage across the workforce and the gaps that need attention. When goals, feedback, and learning sit in one workflow, each part fuels the next. Goals focus effort. Feedback reveals blockers. Learning closes the gaps so teams can achieve the next milestone. The result is a faster cycle from plan to progress.
Understanding your skill base creates a kind of skill currency you can invest in over time.
The many benefits of upskilling employees include increased employee morale, the ability to attract new talent, and reduced turnover costs.
When people see a path to grow and apply new capabilities, they stay engaged and deliver more value.
“It’s essential to be able to see data from coaching, upskilling of individuals, and whether departments are struggling versus thriving. Ideally, the organization’s goals are all in one place, as is employee feedback, and all that data analysis is happening in one system,” says Karl.
Real-time learning, combined with continuous feedback, helps individuals and teams pivot quickly. If a project slips because a critical analytics skill is missing, the skills inventory makes the gap obvious. You can assign a short learning sprint, pair a mentor, or rotate a skilled colleague for two weeks. Progress resumes without waiting for a new hire.
“As a CEO, you’re reducing the lift on your HR team – a key partner – by implementing a system that helps you solve the question around engagement and organizational performance,” says Karl.
Bridging performance and learning in one ecosystem makes feedback actionable. Managers can see which skills unlock each objective, employees know what to learn next, and leaders can track how capability growth translates into results. In tight markets, that clarity is a competitive edge.
How to get started
Goal-setting strategies can make or break the year. Building and using a skills inventory gets you on track now and keeps momentum steady as conditions change.
Different teams need different tools. Beyond SMART, there are several modern frameworks that help with employee goal setting, team goal setting, and goal setting management across hybrid work. Here are five you can use together or separately, depending on the outcome you want.
OKRs — Objectives and Key Results
Best for strategic alignment across teams. Use OKRs when you want clear direction and measurable results that roll up to company priorities. Great for team goal setting activities and aligning cross-functional work.
How it works:
Example:
PACT — Purpose, Action, Continuous, Trackable
Best for continuous goals and learning. Use PACT when you want lightweight, habit-friendly goals for individuals and small teams. Ideal for goal setting exercises for teams that need weekly momentum.
How it works:
Example:
OGSM — Objectives, Goals, Strategies, Measures
Best for turning strategy into execution. Use OGSM to connect high-level direction with concrete projects and metrics. Helpful for setting goals as a manager when you must link initiatives to measures.
How it works:
Example:
SMART — Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound
Best for precise task outcomes. Use SMART when you need clarity for setting employee goals and performance check-ins.
Example:
Increase renewal rate from 86% to 90% by June 30 by launching two retention playbooks and training all CSMs by May 31.
SMARTER — SMART plus Evaluated and Reviewed
Best for goals that must adapt. Use SMARTER when conditions change often and you want a built-in review loop.
Example:
Same SMART goal as above, then
Use this skim-friendly table to pick the right tool for employee goal setting, team goal setting, and goal setting activities for teams.
Framework | How it works | Best use case | Pros | Cons |
SMART | Write clear goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound | Setting employee goals, performance plans, compliance tasks | Simple, precise, easy to coach | Can become task lists, weaker on strategy and learning |
SMARTER | SMART plus Evaluated and Reviewed checkpoints | Dynamic environments, hybrid teams with frequent changes | Builds adaptation into the process, supports continuous learning | Slightly more admin to run reviews |
OKR | Inspire with an Objective, prove progress with 2–4 Key Results | Company and team goal setting, cross-functional alignment | Sharp focus, measurable outcomes, great for goal setting management | Needs discipline to avoid too many KRs or output-only metrics |
PACT | Purpose, Action, Continuous, Trackable habits | Continuous improvement, goal setting exercises for teams, weekly momentum | Lightweight, habit-forming, good for learning goals | Less suited for big strategic shifts on its own |
OGSM | Link Objective to numeric Goals, Strategies, Measures | Strategy to execution, portfolio planning, setting goals as a manager across programs | Strong line of sight from vision to KPIs | Heavier lift to build and maintain |
Quick guidance
Mix and match. For example, set an OKR at the team level, then capture each person’s SMART goals that roll into the Key Results, and support weekly progress with one PACT habit. This layered approach keeps goals clear, adaptive, and tied to real work.
Generative AI is becoming a useful assistant for day-to-day goal setting management. It can summarize feedback from one-to-ones and surveys, highlight common blockers, and draft next-step milestones that align with your objectives. In employee goal setting, AI helps propose learning paths based on the skills each person needs for their next project, then nudges them at the right time to keep momentum.
For team goal setting, AI-powered dashboards pull data from project trackers, CRM, and support tools so progress is visible without manual updates. Managers can review one live view, spot at-risk goals, and adjust scope before deadlines slip. The right mix of employee apps, lightweight project trackers, and shared dashboards reduces admin work, increases accountability, and makes goals dynamic rather than static.
When setting goals as a manager, start small: connect your planning tool to your tracker, turn on automatic status summaries, and use AI suggestions as draft inputs that you refine with context from your team.
Long plans stall without short wins, which is why many teams run 90-day “rocks” that ladder up to annual outcomes. Each rock is a clear milestone with an owner, a simple metric, and a review date, which makes team goal setting tangible week by week. Pair rocks with implementation intentions to remove friction.
Write them as “If X happens, then we will do Y,” for example, “If a dependency slips by more than two days, then we will cut scope on Feature B and pull in the save-playbook training.” Add light accountability so the rhythm sticks.
Two managers can act as resolution buddies who check in every Friday, swap quick notes, and call out one concrete adjustment for the next week. A 15-minute team goal review keeps everyone aligned, celebrates applied learning, and resets priorities without long meetings. Used together, these habits make goal setting activities for teams practical and keep energy high from quarter to quarter.
January is not the only time goals stick. Many teams find spring a stronger reset point, sometimes called the “April Theory,” when energy rises, routines settle after the holidays, and plans feel more realistic. You can use that natural lift to refine employee goal setting and team goal setting for the rest of the year. The simple shift is to treat goals as seasonal. Set direction annually, then run quarterly reviews to adjust scope, resources, and learning plans. This cadence works well for hybrid teams because it keeps goals close to current work while leaving room to adapt when priorities change.
Quarterly resets also help motivation. People can see the next milestone, practice new skills, and get quick feedback. If a goal is off track by the end of a quarter, you can resize it, add support, or move it to a better owner. That rhythm reduces the pressure of a once-a-year promise and replaces it with steady progress that compounds.
Modern goal setting is flexible, human, and skills-first. Set a clear vision, translate it into SMART goals, and choose the framework that fits each layer of work, whether that is OKRs for alignment, PACT for weekly habits, or OGSM for strategy to execution. Equip middle managers to coach, not just supervise. Use generative AI to reduce admin work and surface risks earlier. Keep momentum with 90-day milestones, light check-ins, and seasonal resets. When goals, learning, and feedback live in one workflow, teams adapt faster and stay focused on outcomes that matter.
A practical version is Reason, Results, Roadmap, Resources, and Review.
Use Purpose, Picture, Plan, and Progress.
They are the bridge between strategy and execution. Middle managers translate company objectives into clear employee goal setting and team goal setting, run frequent check-ins, remove blockers, and send feedback upward so leaders can adjust priorities. When they pair goals with learning and coach weekly, teams hit targets sooner.
AI can summarize feedback, flag at-risk goals, and suggest learning paths based on the skills needed for upcoming work. Connected dashboards reduce manual reporting and make progress visible. Managers can focus on coaching while AI handles status updates and nudges, which improves goal setting management without adding meetings.
Review goals at least quarterly and adjust when priorities, capacity, or market conditions change. Keep weekly or biweekly check-ins for teams and monthly reviews for departments. This seasonal cadence maintains focus, supports setting goals as a manager, and ensures goals evolve with the work rather than getting stuck on a January plan.
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