32 / MANAGING A TEAM
Setting goals and planning
Planning is a key skill for any manager and starts with having a good
understanding of the organization’s objectives. It involves establishing
a strategy for achieving those goals using the personnel available, and
developing the means to integrate and coordinate necessary activities.
Knowing your goals
Planning is concerned with ends
(what needs to be done) and means
(how those ends are to be achieved).
In order to create a plan, managers
must first identify the organization’s
goals—what it is trying to achieve.
Planning and monitoring
Goals are the foundation of all other
planning activities. They refer to
the desired outcomes for the entire
organization, for groups and teams
within the organization, and for
individuals. In the best organizations,
employees and teams work closely
with their managers to set their own
goals and plan courses of action. Goals
provide the direction for all management
decisions and form the criteria against
which actual accomplishments can
be measured.
LOOK TO THE FUTURE
Write down three SMART
goals that you want your
team to achieve in the next
five years, and then plan
how you will reach them.
Tip
Define your overall goals,
by asking questions such
as “Why do we exist?”
and “What do we do?”
Thoroughly analyze your
working environment, to
identify opportunities you
can exploit and threats
you may encounter.
Use the results to set
objectives that you want to
meet. These will create a
standard against which to
measure your progress.
How to develop and
implement a plan
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SETTING GOALS AND PLANNING / 33
Formulate a plan to achieve
those objectives—what
needs to be done, by whom,
and by when.
Monitor your progress to
make sure you are on the
right track.
Implement the plan,
clarifying roles and
providing support.
Setting your goals
There are five basic rules that can help you set effective goals.
Always make your goals SMART: Specific, Measurable, Aligned,
Reachable, and Time-bound.
Specific Goals are meaningful only when they are specific
enough to be measured and verified.
Measurable Goals need to have a clear outcome that
can be objectively assessed. They also need to have
clear benchmarks that can be checked along the way.
Aligned Goals should contribute to the mission, vision, and
strategic plan of the organization and be congruent with the
values and objectives of the employee implementing them.
Reachable Goals should require you to stretch to reach
them, but not be set unrealistically high.
Time-bound Open-ended goals can be neglected because
there is no sense of urgency to complete them. Whenever
possible, goals should include a time limit.
S
M
A
R
T
Goals are the desired
outcomes for the whole
organization, for groups
within it, and for individuals
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