Objectives are the foundational building block of Employee Engagement
Increasing Employee Engagement improves business performance in almost every way. There are 12 Employee Engagement items that collectively drive business performance. The critical thing to remember is that they must be addressed in the right order for engagement to be increased sustainably.
The first two bedrock foundation items that must be in place before any other actions (think training, development, team building, coaching etc…) will be effective are:
- That people know what is expected of them at work
- and they have the necessary materials and equipment to deliver it
The reason they must be in place before anything else is simple: There is no point in investing in training and development of people, teaching them new skills or how to work effectively in teams if they don’t know what is expected of them.
"In life, as in football, you won’t go far unless you know where the goalposts are." - Arnold Glasgow
A key part of building this foundation is the process of setting objectives, a process that many organizations are going through right now. Specific, clear goals that are agreed between manager and employee make it easier for individuals to focus their efforts on achieving things that are of value to both them and the organization. It also provides a focus for the manager to provide targeted support and coaching. Helping direct reports deliver their goals is what makes managers successful.
Objective setting should deliver four key outcomes
- A set of goals for each team member that have clear outcomes and are relevant to the work they do
- The goals are agreed between the individual and their manager and both are committed to their delivery
- A process is agreed by both the individual and the manager for regularly discussing progress on goals, ideas and help needed to resolve issues. Delivering this process can become an additional goal for the individual and the manager
- The manager commits to taking a personal interest in helping the person succeed
The objective setting process provides the platform for engagement. Done well, it forms a commitment between the manager and the employee that spells out what the employee will deliver and how the manager will support the employee in delivering it. In the best performing organizations this agreement is viewed as a contract which both parties are expected to seriously commit to and deliver. The best managers are those who, by encouraging, helping and engaging their people, have teams that deliver high performance and who continue to thrive.
So what are the ingredients that will deliver these outcomes?
There are a number of basic tips, such as keeping to 3-5 objectives, making them stretching but achievable and making them SMART (specific, measurable, actionable, results oriented, and time bound). These are the mechanics of the goal setting process that will be set out in an Objective Setting Roadmap that will follow as part 2 of this blog.
But for now let's focus on a number of more critical challenges to do with how the process is undertaken that have a greater influence on whether it is successful or not.
1. Employees goals must be linked to business priorities
Before goal setting is commenced at any level of the organization there needs to be agreement from the top down on the key priorities of the business for the next 6-12 months. This does not have to be in the form of a strategic plan – it can just be a set of agreed priorities for the business that have been agreed by the top team and rolled out to all managers. This creates a framework that enables goals to be set across the organization that work together to contribute to the priorities of the business.
2. Employees must be involved in developing their goals
Employees often feel demotivated and disengaged if their goals are assigned to them by their manager or the connection to business priorities is not clear. Their work takes on real meaning and purpose if they are able to see how it contributes to the business priorities.
To start the goal setting process the manager should share these business priorities with their team and ask them to prepare for their goal setting discussion by drafting goals which would contribute to them. The goal setting session should start with the manager setting the scene around the business priorities and leading a discussion about how the employee’s work fits in with and contributes to the organization’s goals. This should then move on to a discussion on goals that would contribute to the business goals and help improve the employee’s individual purpose as well as.
3. Focus on business outcomes, then work back to individual goals
While some goals are within the complete control of an individual others require collaboration across other individuals and teams. To avoid ending up with goals that are a small fragment of a key outcome, start with the desired business outcome and think about who the employee needs to work with or is dependent upon for the goal to be able to be achieved. Suggest getting input from these people before finalizing goals. The thinking outlined in our earlier blog use your KPIs to predict overall business performance is helpful here.
There is no point in agreeing goals that are dependent on action from other individuals or teams if they do not have them on their goal list. Either persuade them that it is important and develop a project goal with the individual goals specified or focus elsewhere.
4. Agree a performance management process and stick to it
The important outcome of the goal setting discussion is an agreement between the manager and the employee that has two parts:
- An agreement on what the employee’s goals are and how success will be measured
- An agreed process for discussing progress, resolving problems and providing coaching, suggestions and advice. This should include a target for how frequently this will be done (e.g. monthly, quarterly, six monthly) that suits the goals themselves, the individual and the manager
"Success isn't a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire." - Arnold Glasgow
The best results will be obtained if the manager takes a genuine, personal interest in the employee and coaches their performance, their learning and their personal development to help make them successful. This means discussing their personal goals, values and growth aspirations and understanding the person as an individual.
5. Use tools that enable the process to work
For busy managers to get serious about this process and make it work they need to have tools to make it possible. Without them, regular coaching and progress conversations simply will not happen, regardless of how good their intentions may be. The work demands on people’s time make it impossible to regularly review and coach with a paper-based system. This is a critical make-or-break point. Tools that simplify the process, facilitate discussions and capture the outcomes are needed. Without them, regular on line discussion and follow-up that excites people about achieving goals that are important to them does not happen. Then the chances of building employee engagement and capturing the business performance gains that flow from it really do go out the window.
This is where Mariner7’s online performance platform comes into its own. It makes it possible for this foundational process to be completed on a regular basis:
- Set goals and agree the review process
- Have quick and regular online catchups (similar to a Facebook chat) or face to face meeting to discuss progress, help required, personal development needed and to provide coaching and ideas. Either the employee or the manager can initiate these at any time
- Review the goals to check they are still relevant. Amend or add new goals after discussion and agreement
- Actions agreed in face to face meetings can also quickly be recorded in the system and goals can be added or changed by agreement as things evolve
- Employees can get an overall assessment of how they are doing from their manager at any time
- Individual learning and development plans can be discussed and agreed in a similar way to the goal setting process
- The online catchups that have been going on throughout the year can be viewed while completing an annual or six-monthly review
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