Why is having a clear objective necessary to achieve positive results? What does enthusiastically supporting the planning process involving activities have to do with achieving objectives? Have you established clear, concise objectives and the activity-based goals needed to realize them?
In most organizations, we “manage by objective,” but the vast majority of our objectives are really activity-based goals. Activities are not objectives, they are how we achieve the objectives. Objectives are the end game or the real goals.
If you have a friend who is overweight, you might point out that dieting is an activity, not an objective. Have objectives been defined? Appropriate objectives could be to lose 15 pounds in two months and keep it off for at least three months. We must choose measurements that fit the challenge.
Hudson Valley organizations can benefit from pursuing objectives with relevant, specific activities and metrics. These include tracking, such as using a scale to monitor weight loss. By learning which activities are most and least effective, we can emphasize the right activities creating motivation and provide the encouragement needed to make even more progress.
To improve performance, begin by focusing on objectives and not activities. By focusing on objectives rather than activities, people can reach such objectives as:
Ӣ Improved customer service
Ӣ Increased sales
Ӣ Improved total quality
Ӣ Reduced expenses
Ӣ Re-engineered core competencies
Ӣ Engender continuous improvement.
Of course, many objectives are difficult to measure. For example, “being customer-driven” or “being the most innovative.” There is no universally recognized measure for customer satisfaction or quality. There are, however, a few activities for measuring success.
The first is speed and time. Pick a starting and stopping point. Suppose you measure the process from the time a customer”™s order is received until the time of the delivery. Although the measurement is simple, it doesn”™t tell you much. You may well deliver faster than your competition, but if customers are unhappy when they receive the order, your activity to do it faster hasn”™t accomplished much.
Now, suppose that you measure the process from the time of first contact until complete customer satisfaction. This is a more complex measurement, but the activity tells you crucial things about how you”™re doing toward meeting the objective. However, to meet a new objective, you and your people must believe it can be done.
In “The Three Laws of Performance,” authors Steve Zaffron and Dave Logan point out that, how people perform correlates to how a new objective appears to them. This answers the question, “Why do people do what they do?” When a new objective is set, people must see it as possible and see the necessity of creating a new future.
Zaffron and Logan tell about Northrop Grumman and their aerospace operation in 2001. “To continue growth, the comÂpany needed to enter new markets, such as reusable launch vehicles and space exploÂration systems. Grumman hadn”™t done anything in aerospace since the Apollo lunar module 40 years earlier.”
Northrop Grumman realized it had to alter the way that the new objective was viewed by its people. “If it occurred far-fetched, people”™s actions would be detached, cautious, perhaps cynical and resigned. But if the market opportunity occurred as doable, important, and worthwhile, then people would put in the extra effort.” Grumman was successful and became a viable prime contractor for NASA”™s human space flight program.
Having a clear objective along with a can-do attitude, enthusiastically supporting the planning process and acquiring new skills is absolutely necessary for achieving positive results. Reach all of your objectives by utilizing activity-based goals.
Questions for discussion:
Ӣ Why is having a clear objective necessary for achieving positive results?
Ӣ What does enthusiastically supporting the planning process involving activities have to do with achieving them?
Joe Murtagh is The DreamSpeaker, an international keynote speaker, meeting facilitator and business trainer. For questions or comments, Joe@TheDreamSpeaker.com, www.TheDreamSpeaker.com or call (800) 239-0058.
