Chapter 17: Objectives and Measurement Criteria

“All our dreams can come true –if we have the courage to pursue them.” -Walt Disney

Imagine that you have an objective “To be recognized as the best function”, and it can be achieved only by identifying the list of things to be done and executing it systematically. Objectives should follow the

S.M.A.R.T principles (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time bound).? Let us understand this through the following examples of Customer centricity, Cost management and Innovation. Objective on

Customer centricity is “obtain a customer satisfaction score of 4 on a 5-point in an annual survey, or 95% of the helpdesk tickets which are closed within 48 hours of receipt.” On the Cost management, the?objective is to “Deliver productivity of 10% over the baseline numbers”. The innovation objective is “Ensure at least two patents are filed every quarter”. The above examples on objectives have the attributes of SMART principles.

To elaborate them, if one has an excellent car which can take him to the places of choice, the first thing he must do is to choose the right route to destination. Google maps also needs start and end points to give the right direction to the destination. Whether it is a personal or professional, we need to have well defined objectives that will help us to achieve the desired results. Otherwise, we keep moving around like driving the car without knowing the destination we were supposed to reach. All of us aspire to be successful year after year. During the appraisal discussions, we discover that the manager finds a good number of areas that needs improvement. I had come across situations

where employees do not give the required attention to write their self-appraisal; or they may just copy the previous year’s appraisal and resubmit the same with a few changes. Can you be successful by having the same objectives every year? Look at your last 3-4 years objectives and review them to identify how many new things you have done. If you find the objectives are the same, then it is time you identify new objectives which follows the SMART principles. My mentor used to tell me to “Identify the few aspects every year that will have my own contribution”; these few new aspects will help us to grow in the organization. Apart from objectives, your appraisal should have a few new initiatives every year which follows the SMART principles.

Once you have set the clear objectives, the next step to be taken is measurement criteria; it is important to draw up a road map with month-wise objectives which you intend to achieve. Irrespective of whether your supervisor reviews it or not, one needs to review them monthly. Then, carry out mid-course correction if required any, to catch up with the activities which are lagging in the schedule. Take the example of cost reduction objective which we discussed above. The measurement criterion for the first month is ensuring that the baseline data is in place and is certified by the finance team. In the second month review the plan vs. the actual data and ensure that all the expenses are correctly accounted for. Identify the variations if any and analyze the reason for the variance. Analyze whether the variance is due to seasonal factors or something unusual expense had happened during the month. This exercise will tell you where you are and what steps need to be taken to get things under control. Once you correct the basic expenses which are accounted correctly to the right cost center or code and doing the month-on-month variance analysis take corrective actions which will help you to be on track by end of the year. ?These regular reviews will help you to put in place a proper control measures based on the measurement criteria defined.

Draw up clear objectives and measurement criteria. During the initial days of my career, I wrote a diary in which “I wanted to see myself as Manager in next 5 years”. ?This provided me a positive signal, then I identified the areas of my strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and followed the steps mentioned below, which helped me to achieve my goal on time.

The recommended five steps in the Objectives and Measurement criteria are:

1.?? Identify the Objectives to the organization’s requirements

2.?? Follow the SMART principles and draw a road map of things to be done

3.?? Define clear measurement criteria to guide you through the journey.

4.?? Do a self-review on monthly/quarterly basis to identify the gaps.

5.?? Identify the knowledge gaps and acquire them.

A professionally written self-appraisal following the above steps will provide you with the clear development needs. Review them and come up with a POA to work on the development needs. This is a continuous process.

We need to diligently to do this exercise every year for finding a meaningful career growth.

Important point to be kept in mind is that your Objectives should be drawn based on the overall organizational plan. Normally, the Objectives of head of the organization or chief executive officer is shared first. Then department head, and individual members of the team prepare their respective objectives.

“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. -Stephen A. Brennan