What is Goal Alignment

Despite the fact that creating employee focus, motivation, and improved outcomes through performance review is widely encouraged, such a constraining and potentially isolating activity is also equally derided. This chapter outlines that many obstacles in performance review can be overcome through inclusion of focused goal pursuit, which has a simple, collaborative, flexible, personal, and organizational learning and improvement emphasis whilst combining both rigor and responsiveness. An overview cycle is offered for performance review with such an embedded focused action research (FAR) approach. The overview cycle and FAR approach are underpinned by three key principles encouraging: depth of learning, stretch in challenge, and collaboration based on dialogue and openness. The chapter moves beyond outlining processes and principles to briefly drawing links to recent thinking from the neuroscience and neuroleadership fields on regions of the brain relevant to goal pursuit. Finally, an example of the FAR approach illustrates practical application in leadership.