SHRM developed this guide using the same general-purpose AI tools it describes. The prompts are intended as starting points and may need to be adapted, reviewed, and validated for your specific use case.
AI can help you get more done with the HR work you already do, from drafting and summarizing to organizing information and generating ideas. But it does not know your organization, your people, your policies, or your obligations unless you provide that context. This prompt gives you a starting point, with space to add the unique information AI needs to support your work.
Prompt — Audit Goal Quality
Replace everything in brackets before you run the prompt.
Audit the quality of these goals.
Our goal standard: [paste, or describe what a good goal looks like here]
Organizational priorities goals should support: [paste]
Goals: [PASTE — INCLUDE ROLE, LEVEL, AND TEAM; REMOVE NAMES]
Give me:
- The proportion meeting our standard, with the most common failure modes and counts for each.
- Which teams or functions show a consistent pattern of weak goals and what the pattern is.
- What proportion connect to a stated organizational priority and which priorities have no goals pointing at them.
- Any goals across different teams that appear to contradict each other and quote both.
- Five examples of genuinely strong goals I could share as models.
Rules:
- Judge against my stated standard, not a generic one.
- Do not rank or score individuals or managers.
- Give counts, not impressions.
- Where a goal is unclear rather than weak, say so — those need a conversation, not a rewrite.
Write in plain, everyday language. Do not use jargon or invented terms; if a simpler word exists, use it.
Optional, if available: give the AI your organization's style guide, brand voice guide, or writing standards document alongside this prompt so the output matches how we write.
Check Before You Publish
Before you publish, review the AI-generated draft carefully. You are responsible for the final version.
- Check facts, figures, dates, requirements, and other details against the information you supplied or the original source.
- Paste in any legally required or compliance-sensitive language yourself. Do not let AI generate it.
- Confirm nothing was invented, assumed, or taken out of context.
- Verify that the final version reflects your organization, your audience, and the purpose of the work.
Use your judgement as an HR professional. AI can assist with the work, but you make the final call. Looking for more prompts? Explore the AI Prompts Guide for HR for more prompts and templates to support your HR work.
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