Revisiting Objectives

by Brice Alvord

Many organizations have lost sight of what makes objectives effective and therefore useful to improving the company’s bottom-line. Effective objectives are the result of two things:

1. A commitment by the performing manager to a set of results
2. An agreed upon set of standards (Too often forgotten when writing objectives).

This blog explains the process for deriving a set of objectives from the fundamental work of the department or individual.

Developing Successful Objectives

The secret of success with objectives is:

• An objectives system will be effective only to the extent that all members employ the same defined procedure.
• The preparation of good objectives is not self-teaching (practice does not necessarily lead to improvement)
• Fairly rigid disciplines must be learned and practiced
• Expertise can only be gained by a willingness to extend the effort

Problems With Objectives

Problems with objectives can generally be traced to the following three areas:

• The construction of the objective (how they are worded).
• The negotiation process (how they are established)
• The extent to which they are made a part of the day-to-day operation (How they are used).

Types Of Objectives

There are two types of objectives in the Accountability Focused Management program:

1. Time limited objectives
2. Non-time limited objectives

Time Limited Objectives

A time limited objective is a commitment to a result or condition that is to exist at some specified point in time and where its accomplishment can be determined yes or no. Time limited objectives are the objectives most managers are the most familiar with. They precisely define what is to be accomplished within a defined time period.

Non-Time Limited Objectives

A non-time limited objective is a commitment to a result or condition that should continue to exist and where its accomplishment can be determined yes or no. Non-time limited objectives are the hardest to write, because they contain no time constraint. Each one must be stated so that its accomplishment can be determined, yes or no at any given point in time.

Non-time limited objectives do not have to be rewritten every planning period, because of their continuing nature, the merely need to be updated as needed.

Non-Time Limited Objectives Format

The non-time limited objective is developed by stating the Continuing Vital Activities in the form of a two part statement having a result commitment and standards using the same format as a time limited objective.

Role Of Non-Time Limited Objectives

The role of non-time limited objectives is to:

• Provide on-going guidance to subordinates
• Separate the boss’s work from that of subordinates
• Assure better understanding of the work to be accomplished by each party
• Simplify and reduce the number of objectives
• Measure how well managers perform management work

Measurement Factors

Measurement Factors answer the question: What do I want to measure? There are four universal measurement factors for measuring fundamental work:

• Quantity
• Quality
• Timeliness
• Cost

You are not limited to these four, you can have additional measures, but for the most par, you will want to measure these four factors as a minimum.

Measurement Sub-Factors

Sub-factors are indicators that answer the question; “How will you measure the Fundamental work?” Examples include:

• Amount of product produced
• Cost to produce
• Time required to produce
• Amount produced on time per project schedule

Results Commitment

The results commitment states the overall results that a performing manager needs achieve for the on-going success of the department. The Results Commitment does not contain any standards or any other measurements. Results commitments are written to reflect the conditions that will exist when the fundamental work is completed.

Examples of Typical Results Commitments

Some examples of results commitments include:

• Products meet competitive quality standards
• All work will be accomplished in accordance with company safety standards
• Service will be equal or better than industry standards
• Costs to produce will be maintained at a competitive level
• Products will be delivered on schedule and under budget.

Standards

Standards clarify the acceptable level of performance needed to attain the results commitment .Standards must be balanced between quality and quantity for people to be fully accountable. In other words it is important to balance the standards between what will be done and other standards stating how well it must be done. Standards also must have both a time and quantity dimensions

Time and Non- Time Limited Objectives

Time is the single element which separate time limited and non-time limited objectives. Cost standards while similarly structured are different, they are measurable at any point along the way, making them useful for non-time limited objectives. This seemingly small difference makes it possible standards which are typically considered un-measurable.

Acceptability of Standards

For each result commitment there are “standards” which meet the following conditions

• For each measurement factor mentioned in the result commitment, there is at least one standard.
• Each standard is measurable in time and quantity
• Each standard is concise (just a few words or numbers
• Each standards is easy to revise (numbers are at the end of the statement

Objective Format

The following illustration shows how you would build the result commitment from your fundamental work (from mission statement)

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