Hi Nicky,

We’re definitely seeing a move to agile objective setting.  Objectives are set at an individual (owned and driven by employee) or Team (the best work happens in teams!) usually taken from bigger organisational ‘goals’.  Objectives are short-term and limited to just a few and discussed, reviewed and adjusted on a regular basis i.e. weekly, monthly.   We would say not to get hung up on setting SMART objectives as the focus ends up on the process rather than the outcome. We’ve just launched a new product A Box of Meetings which includes tips on how managers can set team objectives.  However, if you feel the ambiguity of this is a step too far and you want a process many organisations swear by OKR’s (Objectives and Key Results) as a more simple alternative to SMART including Amazon, Adobe and LinkedIn.  You can read how Google use OKRs and see a case study from BMW and also a case study from Clydesdale & Yorkshire Bank who use software developed by Clearview which manages their whole approach to performance management with the aim of focussing on setting near-term goals.

Hope that helps and interested to hear about your plans?!

Karen

Hi Karen,

A follow-up question.  What’s your view on SMART?  Any alternative models?

Thanks,

Nicky

Hi Nicky

We are just in the early days of implementing OKRs, I’ve implemented them in my team as a test and they are have been really well received. We were struggling with people understanding how the strategy related to their job, and by moving to OKRs, the strategy has become much clearer. We have team OKRs, rather than individual ones and RACI each key result so everyone knows who is accountable and who is responsible – we were struggling with accountability, there was a high degree of Teflon! That has disappeared in the team now and the trust levels and adult behaviour in the team have sky rocketed. We are just rolling this out company wide and so far it has been well received.

We use MS Planner to document all ours as we use O365 and it’s simple and transparent.

Hope that helps

Maggie