Goal setting
The major outcome of strategic planning, after gathering all necessary information, is the setting of goals.
The goals for an organisation are based on its vision and mission statement. A goal is a long-range aim for a specific period. It must be specific and realistic. Long-range goals set through strategic planning need to be translated into activities, that taken together, ensure the goal is achieved.
Rather than being a once-off activity, setting objectives involves a continuous process of research and decision-making. Knowledge of yourself and your unit is a vital starting point in setting objectives.
To be effective, goals should follow the "SMART" format. That means they should meet these criteria:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Results oriented
- Time sensitive
As goals are set within the organisation, finding the right amount of "stretch" -- for growth -- is crucial.
"Too easy" goals do not boost performance, so they are of little value. Studies show it is best to challenge employees. You should expect them to challenge themselves with goals that are attainable only after considerable effort.
A "good" goal says exactly what you want to accomplish. If you want to achieve a certain sales target you have to make it specific. It is not good enough to say that you want to increase sales by as much as possible. It’s much better to cover it in specifics – sales to increase by how much, in what region, with what product, through which sales channel?
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Being specific helps to make your goal measurable. You need something by which you can gauge your progress and tell you when you’ve reached your objective. |
To be worthwhile, goals need to be challenging. Your goal should require you to do something that will allow you to grow and improve yourself. “Good” goals are stimulating. They encourage the individual to commit to actions that really need a big effort.
It’s best to set goals regularly. It’s fine for goal setting to be part of your annual performance appraisal, but you need to set goals more often than once a year.
When someone starts a job, you will probably want to set goals for the first two or three months. As the person gets more experience, you can set goals for longer periods.
It is important that managers and staff set goals together. They need to agree on the importance of goals, and the manager can ensure that the staff member is comfortable that he or she can meet the goal.
At the same time, the manager and employee can decide from the start how they are going to know that the goal was met. If the goal involves something that doesn’t involve numbers, it is important to talk about how each party is going to be convinced that the goal was achieved.
It is also important to avoid setting too many goals. Three main goals are plenty to keep anyone busy. Five goals should be the absolute most.
Perhaps surprisingly, while motivating constructive behaviour, goal setting can motivate unethical behaviour, especially where rewards are involved.
The relationship between goal setting and unethical behaviour seems to be strongest when people fall just short of reaching the goal.
There are numerous examples where executives have been caught cooking the books to meet the quarterly goals that have been set for them. Salesmen report phoney sales, or exaggerate them, manufacturers ship unfinished products, and service centres perform unnecessary repairs – often in order to meet internal or external sales targets. It seems that people with unmet goals are more likely to misrepresent their performances than people without specific goals.