Set Better Objectives for Far Better Results.

By Mo Bellio

Susan, a supervisor, is worried.  John, her employee, just agreed to reduce his order entry errors.   Despite their lengthy discussion, Susan is worried, uncertain whether John will be able to accomplish the objective. 

Reviewing their conversation, Susan thinks she covered all the bases.  She told John how important it is for him to eliminate his errors.  She told him he needed to reduce errors by 30% within one month.  Still, Susan wonders what she will find when she checks back with John in four short weeks.

Susan did what most managers would have done in her situation, and yet many employees will fail at objectives like these.   If you find that your employees struggle with critical objectives, the following tips can change things quickly.

1) Set Short-Term Objectives: Most managers set objectives that won’t be measured for a week, several weeks or even a month or more.  Instead, we recommend setting objectives that last an hour, a half-day or a day.  Let’s say that John makes 3 errors per hour.  That’s about 24 each day or over 500 in a month.  Put the focus on eliminating the three errors.  Once the employee achieves this, the manager and the employee can set another similar objective, perhaps just a bit longer each time.  Anyone can reduce their errors by three.  Few employees can break a 500-error habit!

Some managers try to break their employees’ month-long objectives down into weekly, or even daily, objectives.  Even a segmented objective, however, can still seem overwhelming to the employee.  The easiest approach is to start small and help the employee create quick wins on which to build.  Small gains, small successes will multiply.

2) Pull the Objective’s Importance from the Employee:  In our example, Susan told John the importance of reducing his errors.  Unfortunately, this can seem a little preachy or parental after a few times.  Instead, try pulling the objective’s importance from the employee.  “John.  Why would you say it’s important to reduce these errors?”  When John answers he is much more likely to buy into the need to achieve the objective and make the necessary improvements.  Involving employees in important discussions like this makes buy-in much easier.   Employees will also appreciate you for keeping them involved.

When asked about the objective’s importance, what if John had answered, “So I can keep my job!”  Even if John’s statement were true, the point here is not to intimidate, but to gain buy-in.  In this case, we recommend responding in the following way.   “John, what I’m more interested in is why reducing errors is important to the customer, or to you and the company.”   This question focuses employees on the value of the objective.    Pull the objective’s importance from employee for quick and more complete buy-in.

3) Be Specific: Today, it seems that many managers are fearful of being too specific or too directive in their communication with employees.  They do not want to be labeled as “micromanagers.”  Being too general when setting objectives, however, is a blueprint for disaster.  We recommend that managers and employees agree completely on what the employee will do, how much, by when and what it is going to sound like or look like.  But this doesn’t mean that the manager must list exactly what she is expecting.   Successful managers involve employees here, too.  “John, for the next two hours, what steps can you take to eliminate order entry errors?”  A question like this will help an employee sketch out the critical actions necessary to complete the objective.  If the employee is stuck, a manager can add, modify or suggest steps to help complete the picture. 

Most importantly, the manager and the employee must leave the objective-setting conversation with the exact same image of what must be achieved, and the exact same road map of how to get there.

Implementing these three easy steps will have you well on your way to greater employee productivity and reduced stress in your managing assignments.

Mo Bellio is the president of the Florida Corporate Training Center, located in Plantation Florida.   His training organization provides the very best workshops in the areas of trainer training, managing and coaching, and call center telephone sales and service skills.  Since 1991, the Florida Corporate Training Center has helped companies around the world increase sales, improve training and improve internal communication.  Their clients include AT&T, American Express, AvMed Healthcare, British Airways, HBO, SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals, Sprint and many more.  If you'd like more information about training for your organization, please contact us.