Have You Updated Your Goals?

The 2024 performance evaluation period is right around the corner. It's a good idea to track progress on your goals as you go, so you can capture all the great work you're doing.

Updating your goals now will also mean less work for you when it's time to prepare for your performance review in the coming weeks.

As you track progress on your goals in Cornerstone, consider these tips.

Keep A Record in Microsoft Word

Use Microsoft Word to keep an ongoing record of your goals. Then copy and paste your updates in Cornerstone as you go. Here's why: 

• You avoid timeouts.
  Word won’t time out due to inactivity, but Cornerstone will. You may need to take a break and it can take time to log in again. You can lose work in Cornerstone if you haven’t saved it.
   
• There are more editing tools.
  Word has more editing tools than your browser for things like spelling, grammar and autocorrect.
   
• Everything is in one place.
  In Cornerstone, details of your different goals (like actions and targets) are displayed on different screens. When you compose your goals in Word, everything you write can be in one place so you can see all your goals and their details.

Write SMART 

• Be specific.
  Write your goals to be specific enough that you can easily tell if you were successful or not at the end of the year. Follow the SMART goal formula: make your goals Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.

Reminders and Resources

Don't forget: 

• Having goals that are accurate and current is important, especially when your operational goal counts for 20% of your overall performance evaluation score.
• Have at least one operational and one developmental goal; your operational goal must connect to the scorecard.
• Your leader won't be able to provide a score on the Goals section of your review if Cornerstone doesn't reflect changes to your goals. 

Use these resources: 

• Scorecard hub - view the FY24 scorecard and further adjust your goals to connect to it. 
• Writing Goals in Cornerstone: The Complete Guide for Employees - create goals and action steps, marking progress and changing goals midyear.

Talk with your manager if you have questions about your goals.