Corporate Job 101: Goal setting question

[v]

I've never actually had goals before.  I have to agree to goals with my boss, and they determine how much of my target bonus I get.  Like, my target bonus is 35%, and each goal is assigned a percentage that it counts for (they add up to 35%).

A few weeks ago, my boss emailed me and the person who is training me, saying that he had drafted them for us but hadn't run them by his boss yet, please let him know if we want to discuss.  (I think he emailed both of us so we could see the different priorities that he had given the two of us -- right now we're kind of sharing a role).  The goals seemed perfectly reasonable to me.  I mean, I think something like 15% goes to finishing a spreadsheet that I'm already half done with and it would need to be completed by next March for me to get that 15%. 

At any rate, last week the company sent out an email to everyone saying that we need to enter our agreed-to goals into a system by the end of this week.  My boss then emailed the entire group saying "Please enter the goals I sent you -- if you'll be out next week, I can enter them for you."

So my question is -- if I find the goals reasonable, can I just enter them as is, or are these something I'm supposed to have a real conversation with my boss about in order to look like I'm taking my job seriously?  (Note: everyone in my office hates this system because it is new (my office got merged into the company a few years ago) and less lucrative than their old system so I don't know that the goals are taken as seriously in my office than they would be in our headquarters, for example.)

Thanks!

[konapoppy]

Our goals like that are pretty prescriptive. I would email your boss to confirm you agree with them and enter them in the system. Next year if you don't think they are fair or have better ideas you can revise them.

[Deleted]

I've seen it handled two ways. When I was teaching the state required us to make annual PDPs (Personal Development Plans) with goals tied to state objectives, and I can tell you no one took them seriously, not even the school administration. There were no real consequences for achieving (or not achieving) our goals.

Now that I'm in a corporate setting at a for-profit company, goals are handled much differently. We have to outline personal and departmental goals, and my department meets monthly to discuss and track our progress. It's not directly tied to personal bonuses, although we may receive quarterly bonuses based on company profits. Here, we are held much more accountable for achieving our goals, and I think it helps that we regularly meet as a team to develop and track them. When I was teaching the PDPs were seen as just one more form to complete that no one ever looks at, and honestly, when it came time to update my PDP each semester I probably couldn't tell you what my goals were until I got out the form to look at it. Now in the corporate setting, I am very much aware of my goals since they're a frequent topic of discussion.

I think you ought to have a conversation with your manager and determine how important these goals are, and how seriously they are taken. Although in your case, since you said they're tied to your bonus, I'd certainly be making sure to reach those goals even if they're not taken too seriously company-wide!

[ddi741]

If you are good with them, I would enter them and then send a confirmation email to your boss that they are set up in the system.

[raangoli]

If you don't have any comments or changes to what he's set up for you, I'd just go ahead and enter them. (And then let him know as well. Some systems may notify the manager, some don't.)

In theory you should have a conversation with your manager, but if you're pressed for time, I am sure it's fine to skip it. Do you have a mid-year check in or anything like that where you can revisit and update if need be?

[emilyinchile]

I would just respond confirming that you think the goals look good, and you'll enter them in as they are. It doesn't sound like he wanted to discuss or change them unless you had points to raise.

[Deleted]

When my goals were structured like this I would speak to my manager and change one of them to be something that was challenging or in an area I wanted to grow / learn / etc. Especially if one of them was to finish a project that I was already halfway through. I went in with a plan (update an outdated manual or create a quarterly update for our sites) on a goal, I was interested and invested in.

I personally felt conversations were necessary, at minimum to say "I agree to these terms and look forward to knocking them out of the park."

And for me, working in a corporate environment was very hard and I need constant challenges to stay engaged.

[v]

Thanks, everyone.

I'll enter as is and send him an email that I agreed with his ideas and entered them (I doubt the system sends confirmations to him -- it doesn't when we enter vacation requests there).

I already had my 3 month check in, and will have a review at around my 6-8 month point (depending on when the review cycle actually begins). That's when I'll talk to him about the certifications he wants me to get, how I can advance, etc. Since so much of my compensation is tied to the bonus goals, I want to keep them as much of a cakewalk as possible. That makes sense and isn't bad, right?