25 Development Goals for Work: Examples by Phase
25 development goals for work organized by the first 90 days. Practical examples for new hires at growing businesses, with SMART formatting.
Development Goals for Work
25 examples organized by your first 90 days
At a previous company, I asked a new hire what their development goals were after their first month. She stared at me blankly. Nobody had given her any. She had been completing tasks, answering emails, and attending meetings for 30 days without any sense of what she was supposed to be learning, building, or working toward. She was busy. She was not developing.
Development goals solve this problem by giving every employee a clear picture of what growth looks like in their specific role, on a specific timeline, with specific outcomes. This guide provides 25 development goals organized by the first 90 days of employment, all written for growing businesses where the person setting the goals is usually also the founder, the manager, and half the HR department. I built goal tracking into FirstHR as part of the onboarding workflow because development goals and onboarding are the same process at companies with 5 to 100 employees: the goals are how you define what success looks like during those critical first months.
What Are Development Goals for Work?
Development goals are specific, measurable objectives that define what an employee should learn, achieve, or improve within a set timeframe. They differ from daily tasks (which define what to do today) and job descriptions (which define the role broadly) by focusing on growth: the skills, knowledge, and capabilities the employee is building over time.
The difference between a development goal and a vague aspiration is measurability. "Get better at communication" is an aspiration. "Send a written project update to the team every Friday by 3pm, including status, blockers, and next steps" is a development goal. One is uncheckable. The other produces a clear yes or no at the end of each week.
Why Development Goals Matter More at Growing Companies
At a large company, development goals are managed by HR through formal performance management systems, annual reviews, and structured development programs. At a growing business with 5 to 100 employees, development goals are either set by the founder/manager during onboarding or they do not exist at all. Most growing businesses default to the second option, which creates two predictable problems.
First, employees without development goals do not know what "good" looks like beyond completing their immediate tasks. They work hard without growing. Second, managers without development goals for their team have no framework for evaluating progress, giving feedback, or identifying who needs help. The result is reactive management: problems surface at Month 6 that should have been caught at Day 30.
Research from the Work Institute shows that 20% of employee turnover happens within the first 45 days. A significant portion of that early turnover is driven by unclear expectations and lack of direction. Development goals directly address both: they make expectations explicit and provide a clear path forward. SHRM recommends structured goal-setting as a core component of effective onboarding programs.
How to Set Development Goals Using SMART + 30-60-90
The most effective development goals for new hires combine two frameworks: SMART criteria for each individual goal and the 30-60-90 day structure for organizing goals into phases.
| SMART Element | What It Means | Bad Example | Good Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Specific | Clearly defined action or outcome | Learn the product | Complete product certification quiz with 85%+ score |
| Measurable | Quantifiable result you can evaluate | Improve communication | Send weekly written project update every Friday by 3pm |
| Achievable | Realistic given the timeframe and resources | Become the top performer in 30 days | Handle 3 customer accounts independently by Day 60 |
| Relevant | Connected to the role and business needs | Learn a programming language (for a sales role) | Master the CRM pipeline management workflow |
| Time-bound | Has a specific deadline | Eventually learn to present | Deliver a 10-minute project update to the team by Day 75 |
The 30-60-90 framework adds progression. Day 1-30 goals focus on learning and absorbing (the employee is new and needs context). Day 31-60 goals focus on contributing and applying (the employee knows enough to start doing). Day 61-90 goals focus on owning and leading (the employee demonstrates independence). Each phase naturally builds on the previous one.
Days 1-30: 9 Foundation Goals
Foundation goals focus on learning, context-building, and relationship development. The new hire is absorbing information, not producing output. Each goal below includes the SMART formulation and the category (hard skill, soft skill, or relationship).
| # | Development Goal | Category | How to Measure |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Complete all required compliance training (anti-harassment, safety, data privacy) within 14 days of start date | Hard skill | Training completion records with dates |
| 2 | Pass the product/service knowledge assessment with 85%+ score by Day 21 | Hard skill | Assessment score |
| 3 | Complete 1:1 introductory meetings with every team member by Day 14 | Relationship | Calendar records of completed meetings |
| 4 | Learn to navigate the 3 core tools (CRM, project management, communication platform) without assistance by Day 21 | Hard skill | Manager observation: can perform basic tasks independently |
| 5 | Shadow 5 real customer/client interactions and submit written observations for each by Day 25 | Hard skill | 5 written observation summaries submitted |
| 6 | Send a daily end-of-day summary to the manager during Week 1, shifting to weekly by Week 3 | Soft skill | Summaries sent on schedule |
| 7 | Identify and document 3 things about the company or role that were unclear or surprising by Day 21 | Soft skill | Written list shared with manager at Day 21 check-in |
| 8 | Establish a working relationship with assigned buddy/mentor: minimum 3 conversations per week for the first month | Relationship | Buddy confirms regular interaction |
| 9 | Articulate the company's top 3 priorities and how the role connects to them by Day 30 review | Hard skill | Verbal assessment during Day 30 review |
Goal 7 deserves special attention. Asking a new hire to identify what surprised or confused them creates a feedback loop that improves onboarding for future hires. Every "surprise" is a gap in your documentation or training. Over 5 to 10 hires, this feedback systematically improves your onboarding process.
Days 31-60: 8 Growth Goals
Growth goals shift from learning to contributing. The employee has enough context to start doing real work with decreasing supervision. Goals in this phase introduce independent execution, cross-functional collaboration, and the beginning of skill expansion beyond the core role.
| # | Development Goal | Category | How to Measure |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Handle 3 core job tasks (e.g., client accounts, support tickets, project deliverables) independently without manager review by Day 45 | Hard skill | Manager confirms independent execution on 3 tasks |
| 11 | Complete one cross-functional project that requires collaboration with at least 2 other team members by Day 55 | Soft skill | Project completed, peer feedback collected |
| 12 | Give specific, constructive feedback to one colleague on a work product by Day 50 | Soft skill | Manager observes or receives confirmation |
| 13 | Identify one process improvement opportunity and propose a solution to the manager by Day 55 | Hard skill | Written proposal submitted |
| 14 | Resolve one minor disagreement or ambiguity with a colleague directly, without escalating to the manager | Soft skill | Self-report during biweekly check-in |
| 15 | Learn one skill outside the primary role through cross-training or shadowing by Day 60 | Hard skill | Can describe the process and why it matters |
| 16 | Take ownership of one recurring task that was previously done by someone else | Hard skill | Task successfully transferred and executed for 2+ weeks |
| 17 | Present a 5-minute project or status update to the team during a regular meeting by Day 55 | Soft skill | Presentation delivered, feedback received |
Goal 13 is the most impactful development goal in this phase. An employee who identifies a process improvement by Day 55 is not just doing their job. They are improving the company. This is the behavior that separates someone who is merely competent from someone who adds increasing value over time.
Days 61-90: 8 Impact Goals
Impact goals demonstrate readiness for full independence. The employee is no longer "new." They are a contributing team member who operates without handholding, adds value beyond task completion, and begins shaping their longer-term development trajectory.
| # | Development Goal | Category | How to Measure |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | Operate independently on all core role responsibilities with no more than one manager check-in per week | Hard skill | Manager confirms reduced supervision needed |
| 19 | Lead one project, meeting, or initiative from start to finish without manager involvement in execution | Hard skill | Project completed, outcome documented |
| 20 | Train or mentor one newer team member on a process you have mastered | Soft skill | Newer employee confirms effective training |
| 21 | Build one relationship outside the immediate team (different department, key customer, or external partner) | Relationship | Manager confirms relationship established |
| 22 | Deliver measurable results against a key metric for the role (e.g., close a deal, complete a deliverable, hit a quality target) | Hard skill | Metric achieved and documented |
| 23 | Complete a self-assessment of strengths and development areas and discuss with the manager at the Day 90 review | Soft skill | Written self-assessment submitted before Day 90 review |
| 24 | Propose 2-3 development goals for the next quarter based on what was learned in the first 90 days | Soft skill | Written goals submitted at Day 90 review |
| 25 | Articulate your role's impact on the company's revenue, customers, or operations in a 2-minute explanation | Hard skill | Verbal delivery during Day 90 review |
Goal 24 is where onboarding transitions to ongoing development. When a new hire proposes their own development goals for the next quarter, they are taking ownership of their growth rather than waiting to be directed. This self-directed development is what makes someone a long-term contributor rather than a permanent new hire who always needs to be told what to learn next.
Development Goals by Role Type
The 25 goals above are role-agnostic. In practice, you should customize them based on the specific position. Here is how the emphasis shifts across four common role types.
| Role Type | Days 1-30 Focus | Days 31-60 Focus | Days 61-90 Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer-facing (sales, support) | Product knowledge, CRM proficiency, communication standards | Handle accounts independently, resolve complaints solo | Hit quota percentage, train next hire on product, build client relationships |
| Operations / Admin | Process SOPs, tool proficiency, cross-functional contacts | Own recurring processes, identify one inefficiency | Run a process end-to-end independently, document improvements |
| Technical (developer, analyst) | Codebase/system architecture, dev workflow, security protocols | Ship first independent feature or deliverable | Lead a technical project, review peers' work, contribute to architecture decisions |
| Management / Leadership | Meet all direct reports, understand team projects, observe before changing | Run team meetings independently, make first hiring or process decision | Own team OKRs, present results to leadership, resolve one legacy team issue |
Skills to Develop at Work: Where the Goals Should Point
The skills worth developing at work fall into six areas: the technical craft of the role, communication, time and priority management, collaboration across functions, judgment, and output quality. A development goal is only as good as the skill it points at, so pick the area first and write the goal second.
Most first attempts skip that step and produce a list of activities instead of a list of capabilities. "Attend the quarterly sales training" is an activity. "Handle a pricing objection without escalating it" is a capability. Name the capability, then decide which activity would actually build it.
| Skill area | What it looks like when it is missing | A development goal that targets it |
|---|---|---|
| Technical craft of the role | The work is correct but slow, or correct only after review | Complete the advanced certification for the primary tool and rebuild one existing workflow with it by the end of the quarter |
| Written and spoken communication | Updates arrive late, buried, or only when someone asks | Write the weekly status update for the team for eight consecutive weeks, then hand the format to a colleague |
| Time and priority management | Everything is urgent, deadlines slip in clusters, context switching never stops | Plan the week every Monday, protect two blocks of focused work per day, and report at the quarter which commitments were missed and why |
| Collaboration across functions | Work stalls at the handoff to another team | Run one project that needs two other functions, from kickoff through delivery, including the scheduling and the follow-up |
| Judgment and decision making | Small decisions keep routing back to the manager | Make and document five decisions inside the defined authority range without checking first, then review all five at the next one-on-one |
| Output quality and productivity | Volume is fine, rework is high | Cut rework on the primary deliverable by tightening the pre-submission checklist, measured by returned items over two months |
Two of those rows carry most of the demand at a growing company. Time management goals matter because a small team has no slack to absorb a missed deadline. Productivity goals matter because output per person decides whether the next hire is affordable. Both are trainable, and both are easier to measure than the softer areas around them.
Where the gap is not obvious, name it before you write goals against it. A skills gap analysis tells you which area is actually short, and a skills assessment gives you the baseline you will measure movement from.
Development Goals for Managers and Team Leads
Development goals for managers target the work only managers do: setting direction, giving feedback, making staffing calls, and building people who eventually do not need them. A manager measured only on individual output has been promoted but not developed.
The hardest transition at a growing company is the first one, from doing the work to owning the outcome of other people doing it. Most new managers here were promoted because they were the strongest individual contributor, and the skill that earned the promotion is the one they now have to use less. Goals should force that shift rather than assume it happens on its own.
| # | Manager development goal | Category | How to measure |
|---|---|---|---|
| M1 | Hold a one-on-one with every direct report on a fixed schedule for a full quarter with no cancellations | Management | Calendar record plus a short written note per meeting |
| M2 | Deliver one piece of difficult feedback within a week of the behavior instead of saving it for the review | Soft skill | Self-report at the next check-in, confirmed by the report |
| M3 | Run a complete hiring loop end to end: job description, screening, interviews, decision, offer | Hard skill | Role filled, or a documented decision not to fill it |
| M4 | Delegate one recurring task you currently do yourself and stop reviewing it after three cycles | Management | Task runs six weeks without manager involvement |
| M5 | Write development goals for every direct report and review them at the quarter boundary | Management | Written goals exist for each report, with dated review notes |
| M6 | Present the team plan and its results to the rest of the company once during the quarter | Soft skill | Presentation delivered, questions handled without escalation |
| M7 | Cut the decisions that route to you by naming a spending or approval limit each report owns | Leadership | Written authority limits, plus escalation counts before and after |
Performance goals for managers are a separate list: team output, retention, hiring speed, budget. Keep the two apart on paper. A manager can hit every team number in a quarter while developing nothing, and a review that tracks only the numbers will not notice until the team starts leaving.
Where the goal is a change of level rather than a single capability, it needs its own plan and a longer horizon. The leadership development guide covers that structure, and leadership training for managers covers the programs behind it.
Team Development Goals and How They Cascade
Team development goals are capabilities the group builds together, not the sum of what each person happens to be working on. A team goal is written in the plural, owned by the manager, and counts as met only when the whole team can do the thing at the end of the period.
The distinction matters because teams fail at things no individual can fix alone. One person cannot make handoffs cleaner, shorten the review cycle, or make an on-call rotation survivable. Those are team capabilities, and each needs a goal at the team level with a named owner and a date.
| Team development goal | What it builds | How to measure |
|---|---|---|
| Every recurring process the team runs has a written procedure any member can follow | Resilience to absence and turnover | Documented procedures counted against the list of recurring processes |
| Any two members can cover each other on the highest-risk task | Cross-coverage | One live handover per pair, executed without the usual owner present |
| The team runs its own weekly meeting on a rotating chair | Shared ownership and presentation practice | Rotation completed for a full quarter |
| Handoffs to the next function carry an agreed set of information every time | Fewer stalls at the boundary | Rework requests from the receiving function, counted before and after |
| The team retires one recurring source of manual work each quarter | Capacity and problem-finding | One process removed or automated, with the hours saved estimated |
| Everyone gives and receives feedback in the same structured format | Teamwork and candor | Format used by every member in the next review cycle |
Cascading is the part most growing companies skip. The chain runs company goal, then team goal, then individual development goal, and every level should trace up one step. If the company goal is to cut time to first value for new customers, the team goal is a documented handoff, and one person on that team owns a development goal about writing the documentation.
Stop at three levels. A fourth turns into paperwork nobody reads. Where the company already runs objectives formally, the OKR framework handles the company and team layers, and development goals stay where they belong, with the person.
Development Goals After the First 90 Days
Everything above assumes a new hire. Most of the goal-setting you will actually do is with someone who has been at the company for two years, knows the job cold, and is sitting across from you at a review asking a question you have not prepared for: what happens next. The 30-60-90 structure does not help here, because there is no obvious next phase. You need a different unit of work: the individual development plan.
An IDP at a company of this size is one page with three parts. Where the employee wants to be in 18 to 24 months, stated as a kind of work rather than a title. The two or three capabilities standing between here and there. And the specific actions, with dates, that close each gap. Two or three capabilities is the ceiling. A plan that lists seven is a wish list, and it will be untouched at the next review.
Run it quarterly, not annually. An annual cycle means a goal set in January gets its first honest look in December, by which time either it was finished in March or it was never started. A quarter is short enough that a stalled goal is visible while there is still time to restart it, and long enough that a real capability can move.
The hardest version of this conversation is the employee who says they do not know what they want. Three questions usually break it open. Which part of the last quarter would you want more of? Which part would you hand to someone else tomorrow if you could? Whose job here would you want in three years, and if the answer is nobody's, what does that tell us? You are not looking for a career plan. You are looking for one capability worth building, and any of those three answers will produce one.
Then there is the structural problem specific to companies of 5 to 100 people: there is often no next rung. A strong operations coordinator at a 20-person company may be looking at a promotion that does not exist and will not exist for three years. Pretending otherwise is the most expensive thing you can do in that conversation, because the promise you cannot keep costs more than the missing rung. What you can offer instead is scope (larger accounts, higher spending authority, decisions that used to route through you), breadth (owning a second function), depth (becoming the person the company routes a whole category of problem to), and compensation that moves without a new headcount line. Say which of those is actually available before you set the goal.
| Tenure stage | What the goal should do | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 0-90 days | Establish baseline competence and relationships | Handle 3 accounts independently by Day 60 |
| 3-12 months | Deepen the core role and remove the manager from routine decisions | Own the monthly close end to end for two consecutive cycles without review |
| 1-3 years | Add a second capability or a leadership behavior | Run the vendor negotiation for the two renewals in Q3; document the process as an SOP |
| 3+ years, no promotion available | Increase scope, authority, or expert status rather than level | Become the internal owner of the reporting stack: approve all new dashboard requests, train two colleagues by end of Q4 |
| Preparing for management | Practice management work before the title exists | Onboard the next hire, run the weekly team meeting for one quarter, deliver one piece of difficult feedback with the manager observing |
When a Development Goal Is Really a Performance Problem
This is the distinction that gets blurred most often, usually with good intentions, and it causes real damage in both directions.
A development goal targets a capability the employee does not yet have and is not yet expected to have. A performance standard is part of the job they hold today and are already being paid to meet. If a customer support rep resolves tickets accurately but slowly, and the expected throughput for the role is 20 a day, "increase ticket throughput" is not a development goal. It is the job. Writing it into a development plan with encouraging language creates a written record saying the employee is growing nicely at exactly the moment you needed a record saying they were not meeting the standard. If you later terminate, that record is the first thing produced, and it argues the opposite of your case.
The error runs the other way too. Labeling a genuine capability gap a performance improvement plan tells the employee they are on the way out, and often they are, because good people start interviewing the week they get one. Reserve the PIP for the situation it was built for.
One question separates them cleanly: would you be comfortable if this person performed at exactly this level for another twelve months? If yes, it is development. If no, it is performance, and it needs the performance apparatus.
| Development goal | Performance improvement plan | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Build a capability beyond the current requirements of the role | Bring performance up to the existing requirements of the role |
| Timeframe | One quarter to a year, adjustable | A defined window, commonly 30 to 90 days, not open-ended |
| Language | Growth, stretch, next step | Standard, expected level, required improvement |
| If it is missed | Reassess, extend, or replace the goal | A stated consequence, up to and including termination |
| Where it lives | The development plan and check-in notes | The personnel file, with dated manager notes and the employee's acknowledgement |
| Who initiates | Often the employee, ideally co-created | Always the manager |
Performance Goals Examples, Side by Side With Development Goals
Performance goals state the result the role is paid to produce. Development goals state the capability being built underneath it. The clearest way to write both is in pairs, one line each, so the review conversation covers output and growth without blurring them together.
| Role | Performance goal (the result) | Development goal (the capability) |
|---|---|---|
| Customer support | Resolve 20 tickets a day at or above the current satisfaction score | Take over the two hardest ticket categories currently escalated to the lead |
| Sales | Close the quarterly number with an average discount at or below the standing limit | Run the renewal conversations for the three smallest accounts without the manager present |
| Operations | Close the month within five business days for three consecutive cycles | Write the close as a procedure another person could execute unaided |
| Marketing | Deliver the agreed campaign calendar on schedule for the quarter | Own the reporting: build the dashboard and present the read on what worked |
| Engineering | Ship the committed roadmap items inside the estimate | Lead one design review and take the first pass on a system decision |
| Manager | Hit the team output number and keep voluntary turnover at or below plan | Hire and onboard one person start to finish without help |
Bring both columns to the evaluation. Goals that measure only output tell an employee that growth is optional, and goals that measure only growth leave the standard unspoken until the day it is missed. The performance review is where the two get read together, which is the reason to write them together.
How to Track Development Goals Without HR Software
Tracking development goals at a growing business does not require a performance management system. It requires a document, a calendar, and consistency.
| Tracking Method | How It Works | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Shared Google Doc | One document per employee with goals listed by phase, status column updated during check-ins | Companies with 5-20 employees, getting started |
| 30-60-90 day plan template | Structured template with goals, metrics, and review dates built in | Any size, combines goals with the broader onboarding plan |
| HR platform with goal tracking | Goals assigned as tasks within the onboarding workflow, completion tracked automatically | Companies with 15-100 employees, 5+ hires per year |
The critical factor is not the tool but the cadence. Goals that are written down and never reviewed are decoration. Goals that are reviewed weekly in Month 1, biweekly in Months 2-3, and formally assessed at Day 30, 60, and 90 are management tools. Schedule the reviews before the employee starts. Reviews that are not on the calendar do not happen.
What Development Costs and the Rules for Paying for It
A development goal that requires time or money and has neither attached is a goal you have quietly declined to fund. Two numbers make the difference between a plan that runs and a plan that stalls in week three.
The first is hours. Decide how much working time a development goal is allowed to consume and say it out loud: two hours a week is roughly 100 hours a year, which is enough for a certification plus the practice assignment that makes it stick. Without a stated number, the employee assumes development happens after hours, resents it, and stops. The second is dollars. Set a per-person annual figure and publish it, even if the figure is small. A stated $300 budget gets used; an unstated "ask me and we'll see" does not, because nobody wants to be the first to ask.
Once real money is moving, three rules apply that most small employers never hear about until they get them wrong.
| Rule | What it means | Practical consequence |
|---|---|---|
| Working condition fringe benefit (IRC Section 132(d)) | Training that maintains or improves skills required in the employee's current job is generally excludable from wages with no dollar cap, provided it does not qualify them for a new trade or business | Job-related courses, conferences and certifications can usually be paid directly without becoming taxable income |
| Educational assistance program (IRC Section 127) | A written plan lets you provide up to $5,250 per employee per year of educational assistance tax-free, including education not related to the current job, and student loan repayments. The cap is now subject to inflation indexing, so confirm the current year's figure | Degree programs and general education need a written Section 127 plan; without one, the reimbursement is taxable wages and gets payroll tax treatment |
| FLSA training time (29 CFR 785.27) | Training counts as hours worked for a nonexempt employee unless all four conditions are met: it is outside normal hours, attendance is voluntary, it is not directly related to the current job, and no productive work is performed | A development goal that sends an hourly employee to a job-related Saturday course is almost certainly paid time and may push the week into overtime |
That last row is the one that catches growing companies. Assigning a development goal makes the training non-voluntary by definition, and if it is directly related to the current job, the second and third conditions both fail. Budget the wage cost of the hours alongside the tuition, or the $1,200 certification turns into $1,200 plus eleven hours of overtime you did not plan for.
Finally, the question every founder asks after paying for a certification: what if they leave? Training repayment agreements exist, but their enforceability varies significantly by state, some states restrict them outright, and recovering the money by deducting it from a final paycheck runs into both the federal rule against deductions that drop pay below minimum wage and state laws requiring written authorization for any deduction at all. If the amount is large enough to matter, have the agreement reviewed by counsel in your state before the employee signs it, and price the risk honestly: for most small employers, a modest annual budget spread across the team beats a clawback fight with someone who has already left.
All three land in the same place in practice: the goal being served, the hours, the tax treatment, and the decision, settled before the money goes out rather than after. Where the goals sit inside a written plan, the one-page authorization sheet in the employee development plan guide runs that decision for a single activity.
Common Mistakes When Setting Development Goals
Five mistakes appear consistently when growing businesses try to set development goals for the first time. Each one is avoidable.
The meta-mistake: treating development goals as a one-time exercise rather than an ongoing practice. The best time to set development goals is during onboarding. The second-best time is after the 90-day review, when the employee proposes their own goals for the next quarter. Development goals are a habit, not a project.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are development goals for work?
Development goals for work are specific, measurable objectives that define what an employee should learn, achieve, or improve within a defined timeframe. They cover both hard skills (technical abilities specific to the job) and soft skills (communication, teamwork, problem-solving). Good development goals are actionable, time-bound, and tied to observable outcomes rather than vague aspirations like 'improve performance' or 'get better at communication.'
What are good development goals for work?
Good development goals are specific, measurable, and tied to a deadline. Examples: 'Complete product certification with 85%+ score by Day 30' (measurable, time-bound), 'Lead one client meeting independently by Day 60' (specific, observable), 'Identify and fix one process inefficiency by Day 90' (impact-oriented). Bad examples: 'Get better at my job' (vague), 'Learn everything about the company' (unmeasurable), 'Improve communication' (no deadline, no criteria).
How many development goals should an employee have?
Three to five goals per 30-day phase is the ideal range. This gives enough focus to make meaningful progress without overwhelming the employee. For a 90-day onboarding period, that means 9-15 total goals across three phases: foundation (Days 1-30), growth (Days 31-60), and impact (Days 61-90). Each phase builds on the previous one, so goals naturally increase in complexity and independence.
Who sets development goals for new hires?
The manager sets the initial goals before the employee starts, based on the role requirements and the 30-60-90 day plan. The employee should review and discuss the goals on Day 1 or during the first week. The best outcomes come from co-creation: the manager defines the structure and expectations, the employee adds their perspective on timing and approach. Goals that employees help shape are goals employees actually pursue.
How do development goals differ from performance goals?
Development goals focus on learning and growth: acquiring new skills, building relationships, expanding capabilities. Performance goals focus on output and results: hitting revenue targets, completing projects, meeting quality standards. Both matter during onboarding. A new hire needs development goals (learn the product, build team relationships) and performance goals (handle 3 accounts independently by Day 60). Development goals are about becoming capable. Performance goals are about demonstrating capability.
When should development goals start for new hires?
Development goals should start on Day 1 of onboarding. The employee should receive their first set of goals (covering Days 1-30) before or on their first day. Waiting until a performance review at Month 6 or Month 12 to introduce development goals means the employee spent months without clear direction on what to learn, how to grow, and what success looks like. The onboarding period is the natural starting point.
How do you track development goals at a small company?
A simple approach works for companies with 5-50 employees: write goals in a shared document (Google Doc, one-page plan), review progress during regular check-ins (weekly in Month 1, biweekly in Months 2-3), and formally assess at Day 30, 60, and 90. No special software required. The key is consistency: scheduled reviews that actually happen, documented progress, and honest conversation about what is working and what is not.
What if a new hire is not meeting their development goals?
First, determine whether the goals were realistic. If the employee is struggling because the goals were too ambitious for the timeframe, adjust them. If the goals were appropriate and the employee is still falling behind, the Day 30 review is where you diagnose the cause: insufficient training, unclear expectations, mismatched skills, or motivation issues. Early identification through regular check-ins prevents small gaps from becoming termination-worthy problems.