Monthly Archives: May 2013

Should a strategy be a short description or a long plan?

The strategy should be a short detailed description with an associated completion date. It is much easier to manage and complete a strategy when it is brief and well defined. This insures that everyone understands the strategy and there is little room for interpretation. Keep in mind that the success of MBO is due to everyone having clear cut objectives and strategies. This is best accomplished with less verbiage versus more.

Dan Stewart
Mr. Objectives
Twitter: @MrObjectives

How many strategies do you recommend for each objective?

The employee should develop the strategies to redeem each objective and then review these strategies with the manager. The employee and manager should then meet to agree upon each strategy as well as its associated deadline. The rule of thumb is to develop the least amount of strategies required to insure the success of the associated objective. The simpler you can make the strategies the higher the success rate.

Dan Stewart
Mr. Objectives
Twitter: @MrObjectives

Does the manager set the objectives or the employee?

Objectives are created to insure that each employee is working toward a common goal that benefits the organization. The power behind MBO is that the manager and the employee create these objectives as a team. The result is that the employee has direct ownership of each objective as well as the associated deadlines for completion. When this process is followed, the success rate of completing all assigned objectives is very high.

Dan Stewart
Mr. Objectives
Twitter: @MrObjectives

How big can a team get, before it gets too large?

The key to the size of a team is how many employees can be effectively managed by one person/manager. I think it becomes difficult for any one person to effectively manage more than 10 employees. If each of these 10 employees is a manager then they can also manage about 10 employees and the team can continue to grow in increments of 10 per manager.

Dan Stewart
Mr. Objectives
Twitter: @MrObjectives

Do you use a time management system?

Absolutely, in fact I don’t think any manager can be effective without using a time management system. One of the most important things required to insure success with Management By Objectives is the follow up to the key strategies associated with each objective. Each key strategy has an associated completion date and as managers, we need to make sure we monitor the progress at agreed upon times prior to the actual completion date.

There is nothing worse than a manager who assigns objectives and then does not follow up with the employee on the agreed upon dates. This says to the employee that the objectives and strategies are not really important to the manager or the team. On the other hand, a manager who always meets with the employee at the agreed upon review times is reinforcing the importance of completing all objectives on time and it also a great way to maintain employee morale at a high level.

Dan Stewart
Mr. Objectives
Twitter: @MrObjectives

How long does a typical employee review take?

A well-structured employee review usually takes about 45 minutes. The key to a well-structured review is having a defined set of objectives that the employee has agreed to at the beginning of the year as well as documentation on how the employee has performed in completing these objectives. Using Management By Objectives provides all of this information.

Dan Stewart
Mr. Objectives
Twitter: @MrObjectives