Knowing How to Set Objectives or How to Give Meaning to Your Management
14 April 2016
Read by 4547 persons
Setting objectives for your team is a necessary, unavoidable, and strategic act that every manager faces.
How to set objectives?
Common sense should prevail. Indeed, to be able to set objectives, these must imperatively be both:
Simple. The risk or even the traps that many managers fall into is that of plurality. It is not a question of getting lost in a multitude of objectives and wanting to perfectly manage actions. Quite the contrary. Simple and identifiable objectives will in fact be more credible. Conversely, overly ambitious objectives would only demotivate the employee.
Easy to define and understand. If we want them to act as a real guideline, there must be no ambiguity, no hesitation, no complexity.
Why set objectives?
There are three main dimensions to objectives:
A dimension specific to the manager. Indeed, the construction of objectives is a strong management act because it allows the manager to position himself as a leader by:
- instilling his will precisely to his team and thus strengthening his leadership,
- directing action in coherence with the strategic and operational axes chosen by the company,
- conducting a framed, channeled action, therefore likely to be evaluated.
An organizational dimension
Organization designates the action of the one who draws, structures, arranges and arranges. Organization is above all the search for results. It is an act that helps to coordinate teams, program the means to be deployed and measure the actions carried out.
A human and psychological dimension
Setting objectives is to put in place this powerful mental engine that will facilitate everyone's commitment within the action. More motivated, more involved, employees will draw the best of themselves while feeling positively empowered.
This is why objectives must be dated, written, quantified and achievable. Indeed, if the bar is set too high, discouragement will prevail.
Finally, in a complex and uncertain environment like that of most companies today, the manager will sometimes and certainly be led to adjust and rethink his objectives during the year.
This presupposes regular meetings dedicated to these objectives with all the employees involved. And to choose, it will ultimately be more appropriate to set few objectives, but with several monitoring points for each of them.
Philippe Montant
CEO ReKrute
How to set objectives?
Common sense should prevail. Indeed, to be able to set objectives, these must imperatively be both:
Simple. The risk or even the traps that many managers fall into is that of plurality. It is not a question of getting lost in a multitude of objectives and wanting to perfectly manage actions. Quite the contrary. Simple and identifiable objectives will in fact be more credible. Conversely, overly ambitious objectives would only demotivate the employee.
Easy to define and understand. If we want them to act as a real guideline, there must be no ambiguity, no hesitation, no complexity.
Why set objectives?
There are three main dimensions to objectives:
A dimension specific to the manager. Indeed, the construction of objectives is a strong management act because it allows the manager to position himself as a leader by:
- instilling his will precisely to his team and thus strengthening his leadership,
- directing action in coherence with the strategic and operational axes chosen by the company,
- conducting a framed, channeled action, therefore likely to be evaluated.
An organizational dimension
Organization designates the action of the one who draws, structures, arranges and arranges. Organization is above all the search for results. It is an act that helps to coordinate teams, program the means to be deployed and measure the actions carried out.
A human and psychological dimension
Setting objectives is to put in place this powerful mental engine that will facilitate everyone's commitment within the action. More motivated, more involved, employees will draw the best of themselves while feeling positively empowered.
This is why objectives must be dated, written, quantified and achievable. Indeed, if the bar is set too high, discouragement will prevail.
Finally, in a complex and uncertain environment like that of most companies today, the manager will sometimes and certainly be led to adjust and rethink his objectives during the year.
This presupposes regular meetings dedicated to these objectives with all the employees involved. And to choose, it will ultimately be more appropriate to set few objectives, but with several monitoring points for each of them.
Philippe Montant
CEO ReKrute
