Goal Setting Template — SMART Goals, OKRs & Employee Goal Examples
Vague goals produce vague results. A structured goal setting template gives individuals and teams a consistent framework to set meaningful objectives, track progress, and review what was achieved — whether you use SMART goals, OKRs, or something in between. Preview the template below or use the interactive version in FigJam.
What is a goal setting template?
A goal setting template is a structured document that helps individuals and teams define, track, and review their goals. It provides a consistent framework — whether SMART goals, OKRs, or another format — so that goals are specific, measurable, and connected to a clear timeline and owner.
The problem most organisations have with goal setting isn't that people don't care about goals. It's that without a shared structure, goals get written in too many different ways to be comparable, reviewed too infrequently to be useful, and disconnected from each other at the team and company level. A template solves the structure problem. What goes inside the template — the specificity of the goals, the honesty of the review, the conversation between manager and employee — is where the real work happens.
See the Template in Action
Explore the template below to see how it's structured. To use the fully editable version, open it in FigJam, where you can copy, customise, and collaborate with your team.
How to set goals that people actually commit to
Write goals with the person, not for them
The fastest way to produce a goal that someone doesn't care about is to write it for them. Goals set collaboratively — where the employee has genuine input into what they're committing to, not just approval of what's been decided — produce significantly higher engagement and follow-through. The manager's role is to connect individual goals to the team's direction, challenge goals that are too safe or too vague, and ensure the commitments are realistic given the person's actual workload.
Make the metric non-negotiable
"Improve customer satisfaction" is not a goal. "Increase NPS for the onboarding flow from 32 to 45 by the end of Q3" is a goal. The discomfort of naming a specific number is the point — it forces a real conversation about what success looks like before the work starts, rather than after it ends. Every goal in the template should have a clear answer to "how will we know this is done?"
Connect individual goals to team goals
One of the most consistent drivers of disengagement is the feeling that your work doesn't connect to anything bigger than the task list. When individual goals are explicitly linked to team or company goals — even with a one-line explanation of why this goal matters at a higher level — employees understand why their work matters, not just what it is.
Review progress monthly, formally quarterly
Goals set in January and reviewed in December are not a goal-setting system — they're a documentation exercise. Monthly progress check-ins, as a standing item in 1:1s, keep goals alive between formal reviews. Quarterly reviews are the moment to assess honestly: is this goal still the right goal? Has the context changed enough that the target needs to change too? Did the person hit it, and if not, why?
Recognise progress, not just completion
The most common failure in goal-setting culture is that recognition only arrives when a goal is fully achieved. The months of sustained effort, the pivots made when the original approach didn't work, the discipline of showing up to a difficult goal consistently — none of that gets named. Teams that build recognition for progress into their goal-review cadence — not just completion — produce more resilient goal pursuit than those that treat the finish line as the only moment worth acknowledging. Karma makes this concrete: a `@name++` in Slack tied to a specific milestone in someone's goal progress — "halfway to the Q3 NPS target and the approach you took to get there is worth naming" — is more motivating than a congratulation when the quarter closes.
40 goal setting examples for employees and teams
Use these as starting points — adapt the metrics and timelines to your context.
Individual performance goals
Communication and collaboration goals
Leadership and management goals
Growth and development goals
Team and project goals
Recognition and culture goals
Objective: Build the strongest onboarding experience in the market
Objective: Become the most recognised team for culture in the company
How goal setting connects to recognition and employee engagement
Goals and recognition are more connected than most organisations treat them. The standard view is that goals drive performance and recognition rewards it — two separate processes that happen at different points in the cycle. The more accurate view is that goals without recognition produce disengagement, and recognition without goals produces appreciation that doesn't build toward anything.
The gap shows up clearly in how people experience goal-setting cycles. A goal set in January, reviewed in December, with no acknowledgement of progress or effort in between is demotivating — not because the goal wasn't meaningful, but because the sustained effort required to pursue it went completely unseen. By the time the year-end review arrives, people have often mentally disconnected from goals they originally cared about.
The teams that avoid this are the ones that treat recognition as part of the goal-setting cadence rather than separate from it. When progress toward a goal is named publicly — in a 1:1, in the team channel, in the quarterly review — the goal stays alive as something worth pursuing. The recognition is not a reward for completion; it's evidence that someone is watching, that the work matters, and that the effort is connected to something the team values.
This is where Karma integrates directly with goal-setting culture. The peer kudos sent in Slack for hitting a milestone, the culture analytics that show which team values are being embodied in how people work toward their goals, the recognition data that gives managers real evidence to use in quarterly goal reviews — all of it makes recognition a structural part of goal pursuit rather than an afterthought at the end of it.
Frequently asked questions
What is a goal setting template?
A goal setting template is a structured document that helps individuals and teams define, track, and review their goals. It provides a consistent framework — whether SMART goals, OKRs, or another format — so that goals are specific, measurable, and connected to a clear timeline and owner. Used well, a goal setting template turns aspirations into commitments with accountability built in.
What is the difference between SMART goals and OKRs?
SMART goals are individual objectives that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) are a goal-setting framework that pairs a qualitative objective — what you want to achieve — with measurable key results that define what success looks like. SMART goals tend to be used for individual performance goals; OKRs are more commonly used for team and company-level goal alignment. Both formats work well in the template — the structure accommodates either approach.
How do you write good employee goals?
Good employee goals are specific enough to be unambiguous, measurable enough to be tracked, connected to the team's or company's broader objectives, and realistic within the timeframe. They're written collaboratively between the manager and employee — not handed down — so the employee has genuine ownership of what they're committing to. Each goal should include a clear success metric and a review date. The most commonly skipped element is the connection to a higher-level goal: one sentence explaining why this individual goal matters at the team or company level.
How often should employee goals be reviewed?
Quarterly reviews are the most common cadence for employee goals — frequent enough to catch goals that have become irrelevant due to changing priorities, infrequent enough that people have time to make meaningful progress. Monthly check-ins on progress are useful between formal reviews, ideally as a standing item in the 1:1 agenda. Annual goal reviews alone are not sufficient — by the time December arrives, goals set in January have often been quietly abandoned or made irrelevant by shifting context.
What is employee goal setting software?
Employee goal setting software is a tool that helps organisations set, track, and review employee goals at scale. It typically includes features for creating individual and team goals, tracking progress, connecting goals to company OKRs, and reviewing goal completion as part of a performance cycle. Karma's culture analytics complement goal setting software by tracking whether the behaviours and values that drive goal achievement are being recognised day-to-day — closing the loop between what people are working toward and whether the effort is being seen.
How does goal setting connect to employee engagement?
Goal setting improves employee engagement when goals are co-created rather than assigned, connected to meaningful outcomes rather than arbitrary metrics, and reviewed regularly with genuine feedback. The missing link in most goal-setting processes is recognition: employees who make progress toward goals but receive no acknowledgement for it disengage faster than those whose effort is noticed and named. Combining clear goals with consistent peer recognition — connecting what someone is working toward with appreciation for how they're showing up — is the most reliable engagement formula available.
Other templates
One-on-one Meeting Template
Run productive one-on-one meetings with a structured agenda for feedback, goal tracking, and employee development.
Ready to get started?
If you're ready to get started with Karma, sign up now and explore the benefits of the recognition for your team. You can also reach out for a free demo.
Karma bot privacy policy
Effective date: 18 August 2026
This Privacy Policy explains how Sliday LTD ("Sliday", "we", "us", or "our") collects, uses, shares, and protects personal data. It covers both the Karma application (for Microsoft Teams, Slack, Telegram, and the web) and the https://karmabot.chat website.
Who we are and how to contact us
The data controller is Sliday LTD, a private limited company registered in Cyprus under company number HE450506, with its principal place of business at Pavlou Valdaseridi 2A, 1st floor, Larnaka, Cyprus, 6018.
For any privacy-related enquiry, or to exercise your data protection rights, contact us at hi@karmabot.chat.
Privacy matters are overseen by our Legal Advisor / Operational Security Manager, Stas Kulesh. A dedicated Data Protection Officer has not been appointed, as Sliday LTD is not required to appoint one under Article 37 of the GDPR; privacy responsibilities are held by the Legal Advisor.
Personal data we handle and where it comes from
From the Karma application
When your organisation installs and uses Karma, we process the following personal data, obtained from Microsoft Teams / Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) and from your use of the application:
- Display name — from Microsoft Teams / Microsoft Graph
- Email address — from Microsoft Teams / Microsoft Graph
- User Principal Name (UPN) — from Microsoft Graph (
/me) - Microsoft Entra (Azure AD) object ID and tenant ID — from Microsoft authentication
- Profile photo — from Microsoft Graph (
/me/photo) - Team and channel names — from Microsoft Teams
- Karma activity (karma given and received, associated messages) — from your use of the app
Where Karma is used with Slack or Telegram, the equivalent identity and workspace data is obtained from that platform instead.
From this website
- Contact details you give us — such as your email address and name when you subscribe to updates, request a demo, or contact support
- Usage and device data — IP address, browser type and version, pages visited, date, time and duration of visit, referring page, and similar diagnostic data
- Cookies and similar technologies — see "Cookies and website analytics" below
Why we process personal data
We process personal data to:
- Identify you and link you to your organisation's Karma workspace
- Operate the core recognition ("karma") features, leaderboards, and adaptive cards
- Display your name and profile photo within the app
- Deliver notifications and service communications
- Administer subscriptions and billing
- Provide customer support and respond to your enquiries
- Monitor, secure, maintain, and improve the service, and detect and address technical issues
- Send newsletters, marketing, or promotional material where you have chosen to receive it — you can opt out at any time via the unsubscribe link in any email, or by contacting us
Lawful basis for processing
We process personal data on the following lawful bases under the GDPR:
- Performance of a contract — to provide the Karma service to your organisation
- Legitimate interests — to operate, secure, and improve the service, where not overridden by your rights
- Consent — for marketing communications and for non-essential cookies and analytics, where consent is required
- Legal obligation — where we are required by law to retain or disclose data, including for tax and accounting purposes
Where your organisation is the controller and we act as processor, processing is carried out on your organisation's documented instructions.
Who we share personal data with
We share personal data only with the sub-processors listed below, each of which is necessary to deliver the service and is engaged under an appropriate data processing agreement. This is the complete list of sub-processors with access to personal data. We do not sell personal data.
Service sub-processors
- DigitalOcean — application hosting and managed database
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) — profile photo storage (S3)
- Cloudflare — edge delivery and web application firewall
- Microsoft — authentication, the Teams platform, and Microsoft Graph
- Stripe — subscription billing and payment processing
- Sentry — error monitoring
- MailerLite — notification and marketing email delivery
We do not store or collect your payment card details. That information is provided directly to Stripe, our payment processor, whose use of your personal information is governed by its own privacy policy (https://stripe.com/privacy). Stripe adheres to the standards set by PCI-DSS as managed by the PCI Security Standards Council.
Website analytics and marketing providers
The https://karmabot.chat website additionally uses:
- Google — Google Analytics 4 and Google Tag Manager, for website traffic analytics (https://policies.google.com/privacy)
- Meta (Facebook) — Meta Pixel, for advertising measurement (https://www.facebook.com/privacy/policy/)
- Ahrefs Web Analytics — privacy-focused website traffic analytics (https://ahrefs.com/legal/privacy-policy)
- ProfitWell (Paddle) — subscription and revenue analytics (https://www.paddle.com/legal/privacy)
- MailerLite — newsletter sign-up forms (https://www.mailerlite.com/legal/privacy-policy)
- Calendly — demo and meeting scheduling (https://calendly.com/legal/privacy-notice)
We may also disclose personal data where required to do so by law or in response to a valid request by a public authority, or where necessary to protect our legal rights, prevent or investigate wrongdoing, or protect the safety of users or the public.
Cookies and website analytics
Cookies are small pieces of data stored on your device. We use cookies and similar technologies (including beacons, tags, and scripts) to operate the website, remember your preferences, keep the service secure, and understand how the site is used.
The cookies we use fall into these categories:
- Essential cookies — required to operate the website and keep it secure
- Preference cookies — to remember your settings and choices
- Analytics and marketing cookies — set by the providers listed above to measure traffic and advertising performance
You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to notify you when a cookie is set. If you refuse cookies, some parts of the website may not function correctly.
We do not currently respond to browser "Do Not Track" (DNT) signals.
How long we keep personal data
We retain personal data for the duration of your organisation's active subscription and for six (6) months after subscription cancellation, after which it is deleted. This applies to customer account and identity data, profile photos, and karma transaction records.
- Database backups operate on a rolling 7-day point-in-time recovery window, so any backup containing erased data is automatically superseded within 7 days.
- Upon a verified data deletion request, we action it as promptly as reasonably possible and in any event within one month, as required by the GDPR.
- Billing and accounting records may be retained for longer where required by law.
- Operational data — error telemetry, security logs, and backups — is disposed of automatically as it ages out of the relevant service's retention window.
Full details are set out in our Data Retention and Disposal Policy.
Your data protection rights
Subject to applicable law, you have the right to:
- Be informed about how your personal data is used
- Access the personal data we hold about you
- Rectification — to have inaccurate or incomplete data corrected
- Erasure — to have your personal data deleted
- Restriction — to request that we restrict processing of your personal data
- Data portability — to receive your data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format
- Object to our processing of your personal data
- Rights relating to automated decision-making and profiling — Karma does not carry out automated decision-making producing legal or similarly significant effects
- Withdraw consent at any time, where we rely on your consent
To exercise any of these rights, contact us at hi@karmabot.chat. We may ask you to verify your identity before responding.
Making a Subject Access Request (SAR)
To submit a Subject Access Request, contact us at hi@karmabot.chat. We respond to all SARs within one month, as required by the GDPR, unless the request is complex or numerous, in which case we may extend the response time by a further two months and will tell you if we do. We maintain a data mapping process that lets us locate and retrieve all personal data held about a specific data subject across our systems — principally the production database and the profile photo object storage — so that a SAR can be fulfilled thoroughly.
International transfers and safeguards
Karma production data is hosted in the United States (DigitalOcean SFO region). As Sliday LTD is established in the EU (Cyprus), this involves a transfer of personal data to a third country.
Such transfers — and transfers to other sub-processors located outside the EU/EEA, including Microsoft, AWS, Cloudflare, Stripe, Sentry, and the analytics providers listed above — are protected by appropriate safeguards, principally the Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) incorporated into each sub-processor's Data Processing Agreement, supplemented by those providers' certification frameworks, including the EU–US Data Privacy Framework where the provider participates.
Sliday LTD takes all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
Your right to complain to a supervisory authority
You have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority.
Our lead supervisory authority is the Office of the Commissioner for Personal Data Protection of the Republic of Cyprus:
- Commissioner for Personal Data Protection
- 1 Iasonos Street, 1082 Nicosia, Cyprus
- Email: commissioner@dataprotection.gov.cy
- Web: https://www.dataprotection.gov.cy
You may also lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority in your own country of residence.
Security of data
The security of your data is important to us. We apply technical and organisational measures appropriate to the risk, including encryption in transit, access controls, vulnerability scanning, and error monitoring. However, no method of transmission over the internet or method of electronic storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
Children's privacy
Our service is not directed at anyone under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal data, please contact us and we will take steps to remove it.
Links to other sites
Our service may contain links to sites we do not operate. We have no control over, and assume no responsibility for, the content or privacy practices of any third-party site. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of every site you visit.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will post the updated policy on this page and update the effective date at the top. Where changes are significant, we will notify you by email and/or a prominent notice on our service before the change takes effect. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.
Contact us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, contact us:
- By email: hi@karmabot.chat
- By post: Sliday LTD, Pavlou Valdaseridi 2A, 1st floor, Larnaka, Cyprus, 6018