Of course, being a project manager is not easy. With so many completely different personalities, deadlines, work approaches, priorities, and ways of communicating competing with each other. It can make getting things moving in the right direction seem like a bit of a struggle.
But fortunately, setting clear goals is a surefire way to get everyone on your team to work together toward one common goal. By defining project goals, your team members will be able to look at the bigger picture instead of getting lost in their own individual sub-tasks.
And now one important question remains:
How to set effective project goals for your team?
Involve the whole team in setting project goals
It’s much better if you can get your team involved in setting their own project goals than if you do it alone. It’s easy to discuss goals with the team, with chats, meetings, and surveys being effective ways to gather feedback and suggestions from your colleagues.
By incorporating the opinions, views, and ideas of every member of your team when setting goals, you can instantly increase team engagement, which is a great foundation for your project’s success.
Start defining your goals
The first step in setting clear goals is to define them. You and your team need to have a clear understanding of what you want to achieve and how you plan to do it. This also includes defining the key performance indicators (KPIs) that you and your team will use to measure successful outcomes.
Be specific
Remember that the more precise your wording is, the better the project team will understand you.
Don't rely on completely general goals, so that your team doesn't end up working with the goal of "completing the project" – it won't work.
Instead, try to formulate project goals in more detail. To do this, ask yourself a number of clarifying key questions. What exactly do we want to achieve? How exactly do we want to get there? Who is responsible for what? And so on.
Divide big goals into smaller ones
Breaking down big goals into smaller, achievable tasks will make them even more manageable and easier to track progress as you work on the project. This approach also allows you to assign specific tasks to specific team members so that everyone knows what they are responsible for and can work toward their individual goals.
Set realistic deadlines
The project goals you set with your team should have a deadline so that your employees can understand the timeframe you expect for the project. This will help them work more productively and efficiently.
If you are unable to set a clear deadline, prepare for the project to keep moving forward as members tackle tasks they feel are more time-consuming and important.
When setting a deadline for your project, remember to rely on the advice and input of your team. As mentioned earlier, they have a much more realistic understanding of how long a particular task takes. This way, they will be able to let you know if the deadline is too optimistic and therefore unattainable.
Track progress on an ongoing basis
Tracking progress is crucial to making sure your team is actually on track to achieve the goals they set. This means setting up regular check-ins to review progress and identify any potential roadblocks. You should also be open to feedback from your team and be willing to adjust goals if necessary.
Celebrate achievements
Celebrating even small achievements during the project is very important. Recognizing accomplishments can help keep your team motivated and focused on achieving goals, and serve as an incentive to work efficiently. Moreover, it can be as simple as recognizing a job well done.
And for better organization of work on the project, we recommend using special software to monitor your employees’ working hours. Yaware.TimeTracker can be such a tool.
Yaware.TimeTracker is an employee monitoring solution designed to help companies increase productivity and achieve greater heights. Its powerful features allow employees to use the tools they need to do their job well, without violating their personal boundaries. Yaware allows managers to see what their teams are working on and whether they are overworking, stay in touch with their employees and help them when needed.
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Conclusion
In summary, setting clear goals is essential to achieving success in any organization. By following these steps, you can ensure that everyone is on the same page and working towards a common goal. Remember to communicate effectively, distribute goals, set realistic deadlines, track progress, and celebrate achievements along the way.
