The fourth objective allows the employee to execute “experimental” strategies, giving him the flexibility to test different opportunities.
Goals and objectives signal to employees what you believe will be important in the upcoming year. Armed with goals and objectives, employees can determine their own goals and objectives for their staffs, ones that are linked to the goals and objectives given to them. This ensures that all employees are linked by common performance standards, ones that senior management believes are most likely to drive the success of the business.
At midyear and at the end of the year, review performance against objectives. Employees must demonstrate that all objectives are being met, using actual metrics and outcomes to prove that they're meeting or exceeding expectations. At the end of the year, salary increases, promotions and/or bonus payouts are based on how employees performed against stated goals and objectives.
Given that we're in the early days of 2010, why not set goals and objectives for your team? This is a good time to communicate to staff members the activities that must be executed in order to achieve excellence.
Kevin Hillstrom is president of MineThatData, a database marketing consultancy. Kevin can be reached at kevinh@minethatdata.com.