Management By Objectives Stories

What should I say to an employee who consistently misses milestone dates?

Daniel Stewart — Wed, 11 Jun 2014 22:42:44 +0000

The manager should be asking the employee why the milestone dates are being missed and then working with the employee to alleviate any issues that are identified. If it is determined that there are no external issues that are causing the employee to miss milestone dates, then the manager should look at reassigning the employee to a job where they can be successful or possible dismissal.

Dan Stewart
Mr. Objectives
Twitter: @MrObjectives

What should HR do with the Employee Report?

Daniel Stewart — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 19:19:43 +0000

The HR Department should keep a copy of the Employee Report along with any other employee information in the employee’s personnel file. The Employee Report will show that the employee fully understands and agrees with his or her assigned Objectives, Strategies and deadlines for completion and will also document how the employee has performed against these agreed upon items.

Dan Stewart
Mr. Objectives
Twitter: @MrObjectives

How should I use the Employee Report for reviews?

Daniel Stewart — Mon, 26 May 2014 15:52:09 +0000

Atlas Objectives provides an Employee Report that documents performance for all agreed upon Objectives, Strategies and associated Milestone dates. The Employee Report automatically tracks progress for these performance criteria and can be printed at any time. This is a great report to use in the employee review meeting because it provides an unbiased view of performance.

Dan Stewart
Mr. Objectives
Twitter: @MrObjectives

Explain primary versus secondary objectives.

Daniel Stewart — Fri, 16 May 2014 13:42:30 +0000

Primary Objectives are required to redeem the overall goal of the department or company. These Primary Objectives must be completed to insure the success of the organization. Secondary Objectives are objectives that will enhance the performance of the organization but are not critical to its success. Secondary Objectives should have completion dates that fall after the Primary Objectives dates.

Dan Stewart
Mr. Objectives
Twitter: @MrObjectives

How often should I reach out to employees who are doing well?

Daniel Stewart — Thu, 08 May 2014 18:38:56 +0000

The best practice is for a manager meet with his/her direct reports once a week. This can be a relatively quick meeting to review progress on all assigned objectives and to discuss potential road blocks and or delays. At the very minimum this meeting should take place on a monthly basis. It is extremely important that each employee know that their manger cares about their assigned objectives and is willing to do whatever it takes to make the employee successful.

Dan Stewart
Mr. Objectives
Twitter: @MrObjectives

What is Management by Exception?

Daniel Stewart — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 15:25:40 +0000

Management by exception is a management style where the manager interacts with the employee only when the employee does something wrong. This could range from violating a company policy to not completing an assigned duty or missing a task deadline.

In order to effectively manage by exception, the manger must set clear goals, objectives and associated deadlines for each employee. By utilizing the principals of Management by Objectives this can be accomplished, but it is still recommended that the manger meet with each employee on a regular basis to review progress on all objectives and proactively offer help with any potential issues.

Dan Stewart
Mr. Objectives
Twitter: @MrObjectives

What should a manager do if an employee is constantly missing milestones?

Daniel Stewart — Tue, 08 Apr 2014 16:35:08 +0000

The first course of action is for the manager to meet with the employee to determine why the milestone dates are being missed. Each meeting should be documented with the reason for dates being missed along with an agreed upon action plan to correct. The meeting notes and agreed upon action plan should be dated and signed by the manager and employee.

Dan Stewart
Mr. Objectives
Twitter: @MrObjectives

How can a manager tell if he or she has created too many objectives for an employee?

Daniel Stewart — Sat, 29 Mar 2014 18:15:47 +0000

When an employee completes their strategies and milestones for each assigned objective, they will set a meeting with their manager to review. The purpose of this review meeting is for the manager and employee to agree on the strategies and milestones developed and also agree that the objectives assigned can be completed within the time required. If it is determined that all of the assigned objectives cannot realistically be completed within the time required, the manger will reduce the number of objectives assigned.

Dan Stewart
Mr. Objectives
Twitter: @MrObjectives

What if two employees share the same objective?

Daniel Stewart — Sat, 15 Mar 2014 19:19:25 +0000

Two or more employees could be asked to work as a team to complete a common objective. In this scenario, the employees would work together to develop the strategies to redeem the shared objective. Once the strategies are developed, each employee would agree on the strategies they would be responsible for completing.

Dan Stewart
Mr. Objectives
Twitter: @MrObjectives

How do strategies and milestones differ from project management?

Daniel Stewart — Wed, 05 Mar 2014 18:26:43 +0000

Strategies and milestones are developed by each employee to insure completion of their key objectives. Project Management is a tool used to detail each step of a project to include a time line for each step. Therefore, a strategy for completing an objective could include the use of a Project Management tool.

Dan Stewart
Mr. Objectives
Twitter: @MrObjectives