17 workplace goals examples for a successful professional environment

Most organizations require employees to set work objectives and goals in some form or another. Have you ever stopped to consider why that may be? Why is the link between goal-setting and workplaces so widely known?

The purpose of a goal is to establish a desired result. Basically, goals make the things a person wants to achieve explicit. So, it only makes sense that goal-setting plays a significant role in most workplaces. Both employers and employees have specific professional objectives they want to achieve themselves or see other people accomplish for their own benefit or that of the greater organization.

This article discusses how goals fit into modern workplaces from a broad perspective, whether you’re interested in individual, department, or company-wide objectives. We’ll cover why setting office goals is so beneficial and outline 17 varied goal-setting examples for work you can tweak and use for your own purposes — so let’s begin.

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Why is it important to set goals for the workplace?

Whether we’re talking about sweeping organizational aspirations or short-term employee goals, it’s essential to set good work objectives. That’s because work goals and objectives help focus people’s energy and attention. They force individuals to reflect on what working goals and objectives they want to accomplish, map out a series of actions that’ll help them get there, and monitor their progress along the way. It’s also been demonstrated that when someone writes down a goal, they become significantly more likely to achieve it.

Objective-setting at work also helps ensure that all team members are on the same page, understand each other’s priorities, and can collaborate and learn from each other where possible. For example, when an organization establishes annual goals for work that follow the objective and key results (OKRs) framework, it enables team members to set cascading goals that align with the same aspirations. Or, if a team member makes improving their negotiation skills a personal development goal for the next quarter and shares that objective with their team, their manager will know what learning materials to send their way and what questions to ask in their check-ins.
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17 goal-setting examples for work

Whether you’re unsure where to begin when setting goals for the workplace or simply want some inspiration to help you come up with your next objectives, it can be helpful to consult some examples of goals and objectives for work.

The following 17 examples of goals and objectives for work should act as a great starting point — simply tweak them to fit your personal situation and organizational context.

Many professionals use a framework like objectives and key results (OKRs) or SMART goals to develop and establish their workplace goals. You might find it helpful to dig into those approaches with the help of a customizable OKR template or dedicated goal-setting software.

Personal development goals

A personal development goal is an objective that a professional sets to enrich their skills, knowledge, and abilities to further their career in the short or long term. Though people often talk about personal development goals in relation to junior team members, the University of Melbourne points out that it’s also vital for organizations to upskill managers and leaders to build a healthy learning-centered environment and maintain a competitive edge.

Let’s consider the following five personal development goal-setting ideas for work for someone who’s working as a project manager at a mid-sized tech company:

• Gain more experience managing client relationships in Q3 by becoming the main point of contact for a new client on Slack, taking a communications workshop, and shadowing a more senior project manager in meetings.

• Become an expert on the new project management system we’re adopting in Q4 by setting up an interactive demo with the onboarding team, learning how to use it for company-specific use cases, and creating internal standard operation procedure (SOP) documents the whole team will be able to use.

• Improve my understanding of analytics to generate better internal reports by the end of Q4 by enrolling in a month-long analytics course, setting up bi-weekly 1:1 coaching sessions with an operations team member, and consulting industry peers to understand how their organizations approach internal reporting.

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Leapsome Goals makes it simple for team members to establish professional objectives and stay accountable to them over time.

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Performance-based goals

Performance-based objectives are one of the most common varieties that professionals set in the workplace. Employees may establish these goals after formal performance reviews if they realize they need to focus their attention on a specific aspect of their role. However, people don’t only set performance-based objectives if they’re not performing well — employees also establish them if they want to excel in a certain area.

Let’s imagine that a junior sales team member at a large multinational organization set these work goal-setting examples:

• Deepen product knowledge over this quarter to better serve clients by signing up for an additional product training course, participating in collaborative product workshops, and organizing informal chats with the product team.

• Improve client relationship management skills and increase customer satisfaction survey scores by revising challenging tickets in coaching sessions with my mentor and brainstorming how I could have better handled the situation.

• Increase sales deals closed by 10% this quarter by practicing different sales pitches with colleagues, researching new sales strategies, and using CRM analytics to identify opportunities for upsells and cross-sells. 
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Career advancement goals

Career advancement goals are similar to personal development goals, but professionals set them specifically to acquire skills, gain experience, and take on responsibilities that will help them in their desired career path. Some organizations use tools like competency frameworks to assist with these objectives as they show employees what’s required at each level and understand what they need to work on to advance.

We came up with these examples of goals in the workplace for a mid-level people team member who has the ambitious objective of progressing into a Head of People position:

• Take an active role in making the company an incredible place to work and become a champion of our organizational culture over the next two quarters.

• Take ownership of revamping our onboarding process this quarter to improve the employee experience, make new team members more effective in their first 90 days, and boost team productivity. 

• Learn more about our organization’s hiring process and better understand our approach to recruitment, interviewing, and hiring decisions.
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Organizational annual goals for work

Many organizations use a cascading goal-setting framework like objectives and key results (OKRs) to come up with, implement, and track their big-picture annual work goals. The following yearly work goal examples represent the broader ‘objective’ part of OKRs. Use these work goal ideas for inspiration and to get you thinking about the kind of aspirations your organization might want to work toward. Then, customize your yearly work goals with key results and initiatives that fit your circumstances. 

💡 If you want to learn more about OKRs and how to implement them, we’ve got detailed resources for that. You also may want to dig into the difference between task management and goal management and why both are essential for a thriving business.

For example, a mid-sized marketing consultancy might consider these yearly work goals:

• Become one of the top five marketing agencies for video content in our geographic area.

• Increase our average gross profit margin from 20% to 40%.

• Launch a new profit-sharing program so that all team members benefit from organizational success.

• Improve the employee experience to a point where team members actively promote our company as a great place to work to their networks.

• Strengthen company branding and messaging so our business is consistent and instantly recognizable online.
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Culture-oriented office goals

Not all workplace goals have to relate to performance — it’s equally as critical for businesses to come up with meaningful objectives to improve their company culture. After all, as many as 88% of job seekers think a healthy work culture is essential. In addition, a great company culture has been linked to higher revenue and more productivity. 

These workplace goals examples would work well for any company that wants to prioritize improving or enriching its culture:

• Foster stronger interpersonal relationships between team members and provide opportunities for them to build workplace friendships.

• Build a feedback culture where employees exchange feedback on a daily basis and feel comfortable sharing their candid perspectives with team members across all levels of the organization.

• Improve company-wide commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) by reinforcing inclusivity in our hiring practices, running diversity surveys, establishing employee resource groups (ERGs), and revising our internal mobility strategy.
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Set effective workplace goals with Leaspome

All in all, the term workplace goals means different things to different people. The founder of a large organization might see office goals as big-picture annual goals for work that they establish and want to see trickle down through the rest of the company. However, an individual contributor may think of professional goals they’d like to set for themselves so they can develop and move forward in their career.

No matter the kind of workplace goals you’d like to establish within your company, a dedicated goal-setting software solution can make the process much easier and more efficient. Leapsome Goals empowers individual contributors, departments, and entire organizations to set effective goals no matter the process or framework they prefer. It also empowers users to come up with objectives faster with the power of AI and reduce quarterly admin by automating goal cycles.

Regardless of your organization’s approach to goal-setting, Leapsome wants to help you simplify the process and use it to your advantage.

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‍Leapome Goals makes it simple for employees to establish objectives and set up a plan that’ll propel them toward success.

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Frequently asked questions about workplace goals examples

What are some common objectives for work?

Different professionals naturally have different objectives for work. People have different priorities depending on their role, seniority level, desired career trajectory, and personal development goals, just to name a few. Team members’ work objectives also vary depending on their organization’s mission as well as its most important initiatives and projects at a given time.

Having said that, people’s goals and objectives for work often fall into one of these categories:

• Personal development goals
• Performance-based goals
• Career advancement goals
• Organizational goals
• Culture-oriented goals
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How do I write goals and objectives for work?

If you’re wondering how to write goals and objectives for work, it’s important to reflect on your own personal and professional development goals as well as your company’s workplace objectives. Ideally, your quarterly or annual objectives should feed into the big-picture initiatives and missions your organization is working toward.

We’d recommend using a process like this when thinking about how to write out your goals and objectives for your job:

• Consider your professional situation. Think about what you’re doing well, where you could improve, and where you want to grow. If you don’t know, consult previous performance review data or set up a 1:1 meeting with your manager or a colleague.
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• Define what your current workplace objectives are. Once again, if you don’t know, check the goal-setting software your company uses or talk to management and/or leadership.
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• Use a goal-setting framework like objectives and key results (OKRs) or SMART goals to establish, flesh out, implement, and track your highest-priority professional goals.