Introduction
Welcome to 2021! Regardless of what happened last year, most of us start a new year full of optimism. We are confident that this year will be better than the last, that we will meet all the challenges that confront us, and that we will accomplish more. There is a temptation to jump right into the work – to get started doing things right away. But before you go any farther, I suggest you take 4 steps to clarify your objectives and set yourself up for success. Clarifying your objectives will help ensure that you and your team deliver the results expected by your organization…and then some.
In an earlier article, I said that clear objectives were a fundamental building block to your success as a manager. They define your end goals and the results you need to deliver. They are a prerequisite to building an actionable plan.
We create our objectives from a variety of inputs. You may have been given some targets by your boss. Your stakeholders have probably sent some requests. Your company or business unit may have published a list of high-level strategic objectives for the year. In addition, there’s that long list of improvements you’d like to make in your processes and operations. Whatever the source, the total effort required to address all of the inputs more than likely exceeds the capacity of your team and the limits of your budget. (Am I right?)
Sorting through the various and possibly conflicting demands, prioritizing, and clarifying your objectives is critical to ensure that you and your team create an achievable plan to do the most important work.
So let’s get started!
Step 1 – Do Some Housekeeping
Before getting too deep into all the new demands facing you this year, it is important to assess your team’s capacity and identify some ways to increase it. This is the organizational equivalent to cleaning off your desk before you start a new task. A simple and effective way to do this is to evaluate your current activities and projects with a “Start / Stop / Continue” exercise.
Make a list of everything you and your team are doing. Now ask yourself which of those items are powered more by inertia than by intent. What are you doing just because you’ve always done it? If the reason for doing something is no longer valid, then STOP DOING IT!
At various times in my career, I evaluated older information systems and reporting processes that appeared to have exceeded their useful life. It was sometimes hard to determine who was using them or what benefits they provided. My first suggestion was always “Let’s turn it off and see who screams.” We rarely took that drastic action, but the question always prompted us to investigate further. We often found that the thing could be retired without any negative impacts.
For the activities that you decide to continue, think about which ones could be redesigned, streamlined, delegated or automated in order to free up the bandwidth of your team. Every process has room to be improved and made more efficient. If some work is routine and predictable, consider handing it off to an outside service provider or another department.
With tools like Zapier and robotic process automation (RPA) readily available at low cost, automating your workflows and processes can make you and your team more efficient.
Step 2 – Check Your Alignment
Now you can turn your attention to clarifying your new objectives – the work you want to start doing. A good place to begin is to verify that the work you are defining for yourself and your team is aligned with the overall objectives of your company or organization. In many organizations, the high-level, strategic objectives don’t change much from year to year. But don’t assume that’s the case. If your company is executing a pivot or making other major changes, the strategic direction will likely have changed as well.
You should be able to identify a through-line from your work to the overall organizational strategic objectives. If you can’t explain how one of your objectives supports the organizational goals, you should question the validity of your objective.
Another important part of this process is checking alignment with your manager’s objectives. Your manager may have communicated his or her objectives for the year. If not, arrange time to have a discussion. This is a conversation that benefits both of you. A big part of your success is delivering results that help your manager be successful. Having your objectives aligned helps make that happen.
Step 3 – Identify Your Contribution
The next step in clarifying your objectives is to narrow your focus, zeroing in on your specific area of responsibility. Here are two ways to think about this.
First, what is the unique contribution that you and your team can make toward achieving the company’s strategic objectives? What can your team do that no one else can? What is your unique value proposition? There are always many “shiny objects” that can attract your attention – things you see that need to be done, but which are not within your remit. Don’t be distracted! You and your team have a specific purpose within the organization. The work you do should advance that purpose.
Second, how can you help other groups? Few teams work in isolation. More than ever, business is a team sport. We must collaborate effectively to achieve our results. You have peers in adjacent departments. You’ve also got stakeholder groups. There are certainly ways that your team’s unique work could help those groups achieve their goals.
Step 4 – Get SMART
The final step in clarifying your objectives is to state them in a way that is actionable. The SMART method for defining objectives is a simple way to do that. It says that objective statements should have the following attributes:
- Specific – It should state the result that is expected.
- Measurable – It should define how progress and success will be measured.
- Assignable – It should say who will perform the work.
- Realistic – It should answer the question “Can this objective realistically be achieved, given available resources?”
- Time-Related – States when the results should be achieved.
For more information about the SMART method, and a template to help your write them, see my earlier article “Creating SMART Objectives“.
Conclusion
By taking time now to eliminate unnecessary work, ensuring you are aligned with the organization’s objectives and those of your boss, identifying your unique contribution, and using the SMART method, you set yourself and your team up for success. Clarifying your objectives provides a strong foundation on which to build your plans to deliver results for your company.
Let’s have a great year!
To your success,
What’s your most aspirational objective for this year?
Leave a note in the comments below and inspire us all.