Goals in Workday

Overview

Workday makes it easy to create, share, archive, and report out on goals. More importantly, though, is ensuring your own individual goals are up to date each year so that they can be pulled into your annual review conversation. 

Managers and Chairs/Deans can also add or remove goals for employees, both via the process below (on the employee's Workday profile) or during the annual review process. While it is strongly encouraged that employees write goals themselves in collaboration with their managers/chairs, there may be occasions where a manager or chair/dean may want or need to assign goals to certain individuals, teams, or departments.

Adding Goals in Workday

1. Log into Workday, click on your photo in the top right corner and select "View Profile"
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2. From the gray sidebar on the left, find the "Performance" page (you may need to click "More" to see it) and the click on the "Goals" tab
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3. Here, you will see all goals you currently have that have not been archived. To create a new goal, click "Create Goal"
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4. There are a few sections you must fill out:
   • Goal: A short description of the goal that also acts as the goal's title, ideally written in a SMART format (more information about writing SMART goals at the end of the article).
   • Action plan: The steps you will take to complete the goal. These should be milestones that you can easily report on your progress and completion.
   • Status: Choose a status for the goal - completed, in progress, no longer applicable, not started. New goals should be marked as in progress.
   • Category: Please review and consider the categories carefully, as they are different for faculty and staff. Multiple categories can be selected as appropriate.
     • Staff: University/Division goals are those goals that you are pursuing specifically to support a department, division, or University goal. Development goals are more personal - goals that are specific to your ability to grow in your role or next opportunity. Please be mindful of any goal categories specifically marked for Faculty. 
     • Faculty: Goals are to be categorized by the topics reflected in the Faculty Handbook - teaching, research/scholarship, service, and leadership. You may also select either category from the staff list (development or University/Division goals), however annual reviews will focus on the areas outlined in the Faculty Handbook. Please speak with your Chair or Dean with any questions about how to categorize your goals.
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5. When you have filled out the above sections, click "Submit".
6. You will now see the goal card on your goals page. You can add and edit goals throughout the year from this page - either click "Edit Goal" to update the above fields or use the 3 dots on the bottom right of the card to archive or simply view the full goal details.
   • You should not archive or mark a goal as "Completed" prior to your annual review, as goals in those statuses do not automatically show up on reviews. Keep goals as "In Progress" until you discuss them in your annual review and then during that process you can mark them as completed, then archive them as desired. If you change your position where a goal is truly no longer applicable, discuss with your manager marking a goal with the appropriate status, archiving that goal, and replacing it with some more relevant to your new duties.
     • Completed goals DO remain as a goal card on this page until they are archived for general review/updating or other tracking you are doing.

Archiving Goals in Workday

Archiving goals in Workday helps maintain a clean and focused goal list for performance reviews. After your annual review, goals that have been completed, are no longer relevant, were not started should be archived so that only current-year goals are displayed. If you change roles mid-year and your goals are no longer applicable, discuss with your new manager about either editing the goal/action plan or updating a goal's status and then archiving it.  Workday's "Archived Goals" screen allows for employees and their managers to track their progress during the course of their employment. 

To archive your goals:

1. Ensure that your goal first has the appropriate status (Completed, No Longer Applicable, etc).
   • During the Annual Review: "Add Existing" and select a goal from "All Valid Goals for Selection."
   • Changing Roles Mid-Year: Click "Edit Goal" on the individual goal card.
2. Employees and Managers should review the goal and its progress before archiving a goal. After that conversation occurs, click the 3 dots at the bottom right corner of the goal card and select "Archive Goal."
3. The goal will automatically move to the "Archived Goals" tab. It is not recommended to unarchive a goal unless it was done so in error. Goals that might be similar to past goals should be treated as new and be written through the "Create Goal"  function. 
4. Once all last year's goals have an updated status and archived, you and your manager should work together to write new goals for the upcoming year!

If you have any questions about your goals, please reach out to your supervisor/chair. For questions or issues with Workday, please log a ticket here.

SMART Goals

Whenever possible, you should write a SMART goal - Specific, Measurable, Aligned, Realistic, and Timed.   Since Development Goals are more personal, it is understandable that these goals may not perfectly fall into the SMART framework:

• Specific - the goal should easily read what the outcome is; starting with an action word is a good way to start (ex: increase, decrease, begin)
• Measurable - the goal should include observable, quantifiable steps to determine if the person is on track to success
• Aligned - the best goals are aligned with the greater work of an organization, a unit, or the individual’s career path
• Realistic - goals that are too lofty or difficult to measure may lead to frustration, it’s important to select goals that are realistic to achieve
• Timed - placing a specific point in time to review progress of a goal is important to keep pace and accountability

Examples:

• Increase first year to second year student retention from X% to Y% between the academic years of 2023-2024 and 2024-2025. 
• Institute employee development program with at least 10 employees in the first cohort beginning by March 1, 2025.