by Philip Lop

Created on: September 06, 2010

If you want a team that performs well, you need to set objectives. This isn’t a paper exercise. It’s not something to be completed because ‘somebody in HR’ told you that you had to. If you’re committed to treating team members fairly and you want them to perform well (and demonstrate your skills as a team manager) then you need to set objectives.

In a well-developed organisation, objective setting should be the basis of a management cascade. That is, the board should agree the strategic objectives for the business or company and each level of management and staff beneath this should have personal objectives that underpin and/or contribute towards these strategic objectives. A board director might have responsibility to deliver an increase in market share, but he needs the staff members that are actually interacting with his customers to manage the customer journey that delivers this objective. Think of it like several rows of horses pulling a cart. If one of those horses is harnessed on a different side of the cart, he’s going to pull things in a different direction, limiting the progress of the cart overall.

Trade unions don’t always like objectives. They see them as a tool to harass, bully and intimidate staff members and, in the wrong hands, they can be misused in those ways. But that’s a bit like banning forks because one person decided to stab somebody in the eye. The purpose of the fork remains unchanged and is still vital to the effective process of eating a meal. An objective is vital to the progress of team results. It’s also a commitment of honesty and sincerity. It’s about an organisation (and its managers) agreeing with its team members what they will be expected to deliver and what the rewards might be. Nobody should be frightened of this process.

One of the most established and best-known principles for setting objectives is called SMART. It has, sadly, become a bit of a buzzword over recent years and is frequently mocked, but if objectives are agreed according to the SMART process, then the chances are that they’re really good business drivers.

SMART stands for:

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Realistic

Time-Bound

The SMART objective setting process effectively begins when your manager is awarded his/her objectives for the year – but if that doesn’t happen, then he/she can still set SMART objectives for you.

Objectives must be SPECIFIC. There can be no ambiguity over

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