Attention Leaders and Small Business Owners!
Picture this for a moment – you are about to enter your
yearly performance review. You have no
idea where you stand. How does that
feel?
Let me answer this for you – it feels pretty terrible. Your feelings about it range from “I’m doing OK” all the way to “I’m getting fired”. It’s
probably causing you some anxiety, and causing you to generally hate
performance review time. Assuming your
reviewer feels you are performing OK, you will probably get some mediocre
feedback, and leave the review session just to work another year and end up in
the same anxiety filled discussion with your supervisor next year. It’s no wonder that most people hate
performance review time.
Now…picture that you were given 5 distinct goals and
objectives to achieve above and beyond your daily tasks and your boss outlined
what success looked like against all 5 goals.
Going into your review, whether you nailed all 5 or not, at least you know
where you stand and can appropriately prepare for the discussion with your
manager. Now, let’s take it a step
further and brainstorm…what could make this process even better in terms of
managing your performance? Let’s say you
got to be involved in the setting of those annual goals – how would you feel
then? It would be pretty fair to me at
the end of the year, particularly when I had a say in the goals that I set out
to achieve. In addition to feeling fair,
I would be appreciative that I knew exactly what I had to do to meet (or even
exceed) expectations at work. In this
scenario, it’s up to me how successful I am in my career.
Academia calls this process “management by objectives” or
MBO. It a process first conceived in the
1950’s, and while some consider it a dated process, I argue that it still has a
place today. I would caution that if you
use MBO, you should be aware that context can sometimes be lost if not properly
managed (i.e. availability/quality of resources and relative buy-in by
leadership/stake-holders). I also argue
that ensuring goals are SMART is essential to making the process effective.
Are you ready to make a change in your leadership
style? Are you interested in
implementing MBO for your team or organization?
Not exactly sure where to start?
I recommend business owners look at what the organization needs to
accomplish over the course of the year for you to define it as a successful
year. This is an entire process unto
itself, deserving of another post.
However, I would assemble your leaders if applicable, and ask where they
want/need to be at the end of the year for their piece of the puzzle to be
successful. They should be prepared for
such a meeting by gathering any necessary information from their
subordinates. Make sure the voices of
your front line are heard when setting organizational goals – you’ll be further
along as a company, and likely better serving your customers. Be prepared for, and encourage brainstorming –
organization of the company level goals can come later. I’ve seen companies come away from these
sessions with anywhere from 5-50 organizational goals (depending on the size
and complexity of the organization).
Now we know what needs to be achieved, but we need to decide
who is going to achieve what. If you have
leaders in your organization, divvy up the responsibilities according to who
has strength in particular areas. If
those leaders have teams, then it is their responsibility to divvy up responsibilities
among team members to help the department best achieve results. Now, we remember that MBO is an inclusive process. So while the organization may dictate WHAT
needs to be achieved, the employee may have great ideas regarding HOW. Actually, they probably should…that’s why you
hired them, correct? While
collaborating, it is the responsibility of the manager to ensure the goals meet
SMART criteria (specific, measurable, attainable, results-oriented, and
time-bound). Call on staff to be
creative in the ways they help solve the company’s problems, but make sure it’s
done in a way that does not compromise values which may be important. Running someone else over in order to achieve
your goals is not the right way to go about it.
Also remember that if you have staff that is frustrated by processes
needing improvement within the company, finding a solution can be part of their
goals. Call on your staff to do more
than identify problems, make sure they’re helping you solve them also. Again, this should be why you hired them.
Ask your employees to be honest about their performance
against goals and objectives. Most of
them will be, and may even be harder on themselves than the manager by not
accounting for circumstances outside their control. You must do this as their leader, and
re-calibrate them if it happens to keep them on track to achieving what is
necessary. I recommend a minimum of a
mid-year session to review goals and help make sure everyone is on the same
page. Remember, I called this a process
earlier, which means it’s ongoing, and not an event. Some managers use the event model to assess
performance and give feedback in a manner where they just can’t wait to see the
expression on an employee’s face when they read it. That’s not the point of performance
management, and is a waste of your company’s time. You should never feel surprised in a review
session – you should know EXACTLY where you stand because you have been measuring
yourself and receiving feedback regularly.
If your organization would like assistance with implementing
MBO or goal setting processes, please contact me today!
