There should be three main R's when it comes to your company's human resources goals: Review, Refine and Re-engage. Whether you're looking to strengthen employee engagement, improve people management or review new technology and services, it's always a good time to stop and assess your progress. From here, you can determine whether you need to establish, reinforce or change your HR goals to meet your yearly objectives.
Whichever position you find yourself in, following these steps will help you find a sense of accomplishment by the start of 2020.
Set or Review your goals
Conduct an objective assessment of your performance over the past year and determine what is most needed from yourself and your HR department. Based on what you feel you need to achieve, create some specific, quantifiable HR goals, so that you can measure your progress. Consider the SMART method for goal setting here, which, as MIT explained, involves establishing goals that are:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-based
If you've already performed this step, take the time to reflect the goals you set, consider the progress you have already made and question whether they are still the most relevant or important objectives for you to pursue.
If you find you are struggling to meet your objectives, determine whether the fault lies in your current working processes, or your technology tools. Cloud technology has made HR solutions attainable and affordable, and it's imperative that you have adequate resources. Research qualified companies, like Triton Benefits & HR Solutions. If any of those areas are found to be deficient, figure out what sort of restructuring needs to be done so that you have the resources you need to achieve your goals.
Develop a method, test it, refine it
Once you've set or reviewed your SMART goals, it's important that you can effectively measure your progress throughout the year. There are multiple approaches one can take to track goals, but it's important to find and adopt the one that best suits your own working habits and personal process.
The way in which you measure your team's progress will also differ according to the goals you set. However, if you did take the SMART approach, you've built in measurability of your progress from the get-go.
Another way to approach this is by examining key performance indicators that align with your set objectives. As The Balance explained, these KPIs might include elements like the cost or time spent on recruitment and hiring, turnover rates, expenditures and time involved in training.
Look objectively at your methods, measure and/or test them and then take some time to refine the process. With measurable indicators, you can see exactly where improvement efforts will be the most helpful, and make actionable changes that support your objectives and your company as a whole.
The important thing to is regularly hold yourself accountable for the progress you're making or failing to make as you work to hit the deadlines on your action items.
If you find yourself continually unable to reach your action items, you may need to reassess your goals. Own your failures, then Re-engage
While it can be difficult, it's important to recognize missed goals and admit when you fall short of achievement. From here, HR stakeholders should assess why the team was unable to complete a certain objective, and learn from their past mistakes.
One of the best ways to move forward is to create or update a new goal and fully re-engaging yourself and your team with this new objective.
Still, remember not to punish yourself too harshly or become discouraged by a series of disappointments. If you find yourself looking back at a string of failures, that could simply mean that your goals are too ambitious, and not that you yourself are unqualified for success. If you find yourself in this position, it could be good to take another look at your SMART goal setting, particularly the "Achievable" and "Relevant" steps in the process.
On the other hand, as you do achieve your objectives, take a moment to celebrate your wins. Recognizing and making these achievements visible can provide just the push you and your team needs to motivate you toward your next goal.
As you wholeheartedly embrace the 3 R's, you will likely find yourself outperforming your HR goals and being less fearful to quickly make a change when a method or plan is not working.