New year, new goals & objectives
So that was Christmas, another year over. For many businesses this means it’s time to review the company goals and reset employee objectives. If you are anything like me you know all the stuff about why plans are essential and that good plans have goals and objectives to give context and support to employees. BUT that doesn’t make it any easier to match the right objectives to the right employees.
Before getting onto the subject of how to go about setting objectives, it’s probably worth covering the difference between goals and objectives:
Goals relate to aspirations and are about purpose and vision. For example, a goal could be to expand the business overseas.
Objectives are the steps you take on the path towards achieving a goal. They are measurable, specific and can be used to guide actions. Taking the above goal an employee's objective might be ‘Produce a report by 31 March 2012 that details the trading conditions for our business in each of the top 5 European countries’.
If a goal is truly aspirational it will have lots of objectives that need to be accomplished before it can be ticked off as completed. For many small businesses, goals will be set at the company level and then translated into company wide objectives. These can then be cascaded down into individual or team objectives which is where SMART usually comes in….
Most managers know about SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timebound) objectives but very few actually achieve them – why? Because it’s an over complicated model, created for big businesses with thousands of people who just follow instructions. Small businesses are much more focussed - time is short and processes need to be flexible. In my view SMART has too many letters so I prefer to stick with just two of them – MT. That’s Measurable and Timebound.
Focus on making all objectives:
Measurable - If the objective is measurable you will be able to track the results of actions as progress is made towards achieving the objective. If you can think of a measure then it’s almost guaranteed to be specific enough. If you can’t measure an objective then you won't know when you have achieved it.
Time-bound – this means setting a deadline for the objective. Deadlines should create a sense of urgency and focus. They help to set priority and prompt actions.
The others (SAR) should be covered by common sense:
Specific – who in their right mind is going to set a nonspecific, unfocussed goal? And what kind of employee is going to accept it?
Achievable – if you are going through the process of objective setting then why set someone up to fail?
Realistic – as above, what’s the point of setting an objective that you don’t have the resources to do?
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