I like to say that you are only responsible for one review - your own!
Reviewing the performance of your staff and setting new objectives can feel like a big job, but I’ve got a solution that means that you’ll never be bogged down with the paperwork again and you can be sure that each member of your team has a full understanding of the outcome expected of them, win/win right?
So here's how …
Last week we looked at how you set your business objectives with the four areas (Financial, People, Internal Process and Learning & Growth) which you can read here. From those, you should set your objectives as CEO and share both documents with your team, and ask them to create their objectives and share with you ahead of your objective meeting.
I know what you are thinking, how do I lay the objectives out so that my team understands?
The format that I find most useful and recommend to my clients is the OKR method. OKR stands for Objective and Key Results. You break each objective into the main steps you need to take to complete it successfully, for example:
Objective:- Move to a 5000 Sq Ft Office by September 2020
Key results:
Decide on location by April 30
Engage Estate Agent by May 5
Select new space by July 14
Arrange decoration and furniture by Aug 1
Book movers by August 1
Breaking the key results down like this enables you to keep a track of progress and put things back if they are getting off track, also this process enables you to see if you are being realistic with your timings and see where any dependencies may be. It’s like having a project plan for each objective.
Don’t worry about the system you use to log your objectives, a spreadsheet or word document is fine, it's really the conversation that is important - the documentation is there to ensure that everyone is clear of what is expected and what support is required.
We will talk about the conversation next week.
Need to get your objective setting on point, grab our Online Management Fundamentals Course, where we have a whole module on objective setting with OKR templates to help you. Check it out here.