Human Resource Services

Goals & Goal Setting

Goal setting is an important part of the performance management process and provides employees and supervisors with a shared understanding of priorities, expectations, and professional development throughout the year. NEOED Perform provides a place to establish goals, track progress, and support ongoing conversations about accomplishments and development.

Who This Applies To

Staff | Contracts

This page applies to staff and contract professional employees. Faculty performance management is governed by the applicable collective bargaining agreement and is administered through the Office of the Provost. Employees who have been employed for less than one year at the time of the annual review are not required to participate in the annual review. 

Why Set Goals?

Goals help you and your supervisor have a shared understanding of what you want to accomplish during the year.

Goals can help you:

• Clarify priorities
• Track progress
• Support professional growth and development
• Have meaningful conversations about your work

Goals are not rated and do not affect your Overall Rating in the Annual Evaluation. They are a tool to help you and your supervisor talk about your progress and accomplishments throughout the year. During the annual review, the employee and supervisor will both have the opportunity to comment on their goal progress.

What Makes a Good Goal?

A good goal describes something meaningful you want to accomplish. It should be specific enough that you and your supervisor understand what success looks like.

Consider:

• What do I want to accomplish?
• Why does it matter?
• What will success look like?
• When do I want to complete it?

Goals can focus on work priorities, projects, professional growth, or development.

Example

• Too vague: Improve communication.
• More useful: Develop and implement a monthly team communication process to keep staff informed about upcoming projects and priorities.

When Should I Set Goals?

Goals should be added at the beginning of the review period. Once the evaluation program has automatically created for all employees, you will be prompted to Add Goals to your own evaluation. The deadline for employees to add goals to the FY27 year is August 21. Supervisors are also able to add goals for their employees, with a deadline of August 28.

All employees should have received an email prompting you to add goals on August 21, and you will see a corresponding Task under any To-Do lists in NEOED. Follow the link in the email you received or click on the task in NEOED to add a new goal.

Employees are expected to add at least two goals, and supervisors may add additional goals.

Goals can have different due dates. They do not all need to be due at the end of the review period.

How to Add a Goal in NEOED Perform

1. Log in to NEOED
   1. Go to your NEOED Dashboard.

2. Open your evaluation
   1. Select My Evaluations from the navigation menu.
   2. Find and select your current evaluation.

3. Find the Goals section
   1. Within your evaluation, find the section for Goals.
   2. Select Add Goal.
   3. You can also jump straight to Step 3 by following the link in the email you received on August 10.

4. Enter your goal information
   1. NEOED will ask you to complete several fields:
      1. Goal Name: Give your goal a specific name.
      2. Due Date: Choose a realistic date for completing the goal. Goals can be due at any time; they do not all need to be due at the end of the review cycle.
      3. Category: Select Organizational, Departmental, or Individual.
      4. Description: Explain what you want to accomplish.
      5. Priority Level: Select the appropriate priority.
      6. Reminder Settings: Customize reminders if desired.

5. Review your goal
   1. Make sure the goal is complete and accurate before submitting. You will not be able to change it after you submit the goal.

6. Submit
   1. Select Submit Content to finalize your goal.
      1. Important: Once you select Submit Content, you cannot edit the goal.

7. Supervisor goal submission
   1. The supervisor will then be prompted to add goals for their employee.
      1. This is an optional step, however the supervisor must go to the employee’s goal section of their evaluation and select Submit Content, whether they’ve added any additional goals or not.
   2. The supervisor follows the same steps outlined above to submit goals for their employees.

Track Your Progress

• Goals are meant to be revisited throughout the year—not just at evaluation time.
• You can track progress using the Progress indicator within your evaluation.
• For more detailed notes about accomplishments, progress, or conversations related to a goal, consider using the Journaling feature within NEOED Perform.

NOTE: Temporary employees and Faculty to not utilize the NEOED Perform system for performance evaluations.