Remember when you had to evaluate your job performance at the end of last year? And remember telling yourself that next year would be different — that you’d keep track of your accomplishments along the way, instead of scrambling at the last minute to remember everything you did over the past 365 days? Well, that time has arrived — it’s time to set your 2025 performance goals.
Setting your performance goals is important for a few key reasons. First, these goals serve as the benchmark for how your performance will be evaluated. If you’re aiming for a raise or promotion, you need to demonstrate that you’re not just meeting — but exceeding — the goals you set for the year. Second, goal setting helps you stay focused on work that aligns with your team’s strategy. Even if you believe something is important, if it doesn’t contribute to your team’s or company’s mission, it’s not worth focusing on.
So, whether your company uses a formal performance management system or a simple spreadsheet, here are five key things to keep in mind as you build your performance goals and continuously evaluate your progress:
1. Collaborate with Your Manager
“Collaboration” is the key word here. Your manager might give you goals each year, but it’s important for you to be part of the conversation. By sharing your input, you can make sure your goals not only support the business, but also help you grow professionally.
Goal setting is a great chance to talk with your manager about where you want to develop over the next year. Maybe you’d like to work more with a certain team, or maybe you need hands-on experience with a specific business function to take the next step in your career. Whatever it is, working together to shape your goals is the best way to ensure professional growth.
2. Don’t Just Set Goals — Map Out How You’ll Achieve Them
When setting your goals, it’s just as important to outline the key steps you’ll take to achieve them. This helps in a few ways, but most importantly, it gets you thinking through the process — what it will actually take to reach your goal. By breaking it down into steps, you’re more likely to set goals that are both realistic and achievable.
As you map out your action steps, don’t worry about making them perfect. Instead, focus on the major milestones that will guide your progress and keep you on track toward your ultimate goal.
3. Spread Out Your goals
When setting your goals, think about the big picture — your progress over the entire year, not just the work that’s immediately in front of you. You don’t want to complete everything and then have nothing left to work toward.
Instead, space out your goals so you’ll have meaningful milestones to reflect on when the year wraps up. This approach also helps you manage your workload more effectively. By planning ahead, you can identify open bandwidth throughout the year, and avoid the stress of multiple deadlines piling up at the same time.
4. Leave Room for Flexibility
Your goals should be clear enough to keep you on track, but flexible enough to adjust when things inevitably change — because let’s be honest, they always do. Instead of rewriting your goals every time a project shifts, set overarching goals that capture the bigger picture of what you’re working toward. You can nail down the specifics in your key milestones and execution steps, then tweak those details as new information comes in.
Building in flexibility not only allows you to be creative, but also gives you the freedom to expand a goal’s scope when it makes sense. This way, you can adapt as opportunities arise, while still staying aligned with your annual priorities.
5. Connect Your Goals to Your Organization’s Bigger Picture
Every goal you are responsible for should be tied back to a broader objective for your organization. If something you’re working on doesn’t contribute to that bigger picture, it probably shouldn’t be on your list.
This is a great opportunity to remind yourself of how your work fits into the overall success of the company. It’s not just about getting things done — it’s about understanding how your day-to-day efforts create value and drive impact.
This mindset is especially important when reviewing your goals at the end of the year. Instead of just listing what you accomplished, focus on the bigger picture — how your work has driven meaningful results and added value to the organization.
Setting performance goals shouldn’t just be about checking a box — it’s about strategically deciding how you will spend your time over the next year. By collaborating with your manager, mapping out actionable steps, pacing your goals throughout the year, leaving room for flexibility, and ensuring alignment with your organization’s bigger picture, you’ll create a plan that’s impactful, and that will set you up for success when your annual performance review comes around again!
