Target Setting for Success......
Colin Thompson
Managing Partner Cavendish/Author/International Speaker/Mentor/Partner
Target Setting for Success
Setting targets is one of the most important actions we take in management, but how often do we take the time to get this right and do we understand the consequences of getting our targets wrong? In this article we share with you target setting in practice and a ten step process to help you conduct target setting more effectively.
Reconciling two opposing schools on targets
Unfortunately there are two opposing schools on targets, those who think target setting is good and those who think targets are divisive and counter productive. For those schooled in the classical management literature, setting targets as ‘high but achievable’ is the prescription from the last 50 years of motivation research. The ‘high but achievable’ mantra works if the whole of the individual’s performance is delivered personally with minimal interaction with the rest of the organisation, but if the individual forms part of a process, the system may well fail to deliver. Herein lays the dilemma. Fifty years of motivation research suggests targets are useful, whilst a similar period of well-documented practice from the quality movement suggests that targets do not work in this way. The quality movement looks at organisational performance as a process, and if the process isn’t improved, improvements in performance cannot be sustainable.
So how do we resolve this dilemma? During the two year project, they investigated in detail the target setting practices in four different sales environments. The analysis of their successes and failures led them to believe that a more complete process was required that combined aspects of motivation theory with elements from quality management. This ten-step process is presented in the form of a wheel.
The ten-step target setting process
Figure: The target setting wheel
Conclusion
Target setting is part art and part science. It is a difficult process and the risk of getting something wrong is high. Organisations now have the capabilities to improve their target-setting process. However, few management teams seem to recognise the complexity inherent in any well-designed system and the care needed in setting and applying individual and team performance targets. You must make certain that targets are:
allocated appropriately across individuals and teams;
based on rigorous data analysis that takes into consideration more than just past performance;
periodically reviewed;
supported by a specific action plan.
If you do not, then performance targets will not serve as an effective management process.
Finally, you may be thinking that this is a lot of work to set a target. This is true, but the consequences of setting poor targets will adversely affect the performance of individuals and the business for years to come. So, please set your targets for `your success`.
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