Deploying Goals: The Key to Effective and Aligned Management
Reference literature in the field of management states that there is no management without a goal. A goal is fundamental to defining the paths an organization will follow, its priorities and measuring progress towards a result. A goal must necessarily have an objective, a value and a deadline. Goals are specific and must be measurable in order to quantify their progress and possible achievement, as well as having an associated period for their realization. It is also important to note that there are standard goals and improvement goals, both of which are essential for guiding an organization's progress and success.
Standard targets are targets that must be maintained and will vary little in value, while improvement targets are the famous market targets, influenced by the expectations of consumers who are always looking for better quality products that cost less and deliver more and more accurately, so improvement targets are targets that must be achieved if the company wants to survive in the market.
Where do the goals come from?
Within an organization, those responsible for setting a goal and establishing the company's long-term direction are the company's strategists, i.e. the top management (President and Board of Directors) looking outside the organization to ensure a company's future.
Once the long-term goals have been defined, it is of the utmost importance to break down the goals to take them from the strategic level to the operational level. Just as important as the phase of planning long-term goals is the deployment of annual goals to be inserted into routine management and consequently achieved by the operation. By breaking down goals, a company creates a clear connection between all levels of an organization, whether its verticals, teams or individuals within it. This helps to ensure that everyone is working in the same direction and contributing to the company's overall objectives.
What is goal development?
It is a methodical process that aims to align high-level strategic goals with measurable goals at all levels of the organization, from top management to operational teams.
In goal deployment, strategic objectives are broken down into intermediate and operational goals, which are distributed across various areas and hierarchical levels of the company. This process ensures that all employees understand how their daily activities are directly related to achieving the highest organizational goals.
How do you set goals and break them down?
In order to define a company's goals and, consequently, develop them, it is necessary to carry out a few phases of analysis in order to understand the current situation and, consequently, define where we want to go.
A target can come in many forms, whether it's an external benchmark or analyzing the company's own data, for example: comparing by time series, by department, by region, by product family, by team, etc. We need to identify gaps, i.e. the difference between a value and its benchmark, whether this is a result from another similar company or by evaluating the company's own results by establishing a statistical indicator(best value, 3rd quartile, 1st quartile, average, etc.) with the current result over a given period, so we have the size of the opportunity for improvement and then define the percentage of capture of this opportunity, according to the manager's appetite and level of control of the process, thus having a target.
After analysis, we keep in mind that these goals need to be rolled out to other levels. This process not only facilitates organizational alignment, but also promotes employee integration. It allows teams to understand how their work contributes to the company's larger objectives and provides a monitoring mechanism for checking and adjusting performance over time.
Benefits
The deployment of goals helps to measure and track the organization's performance, as well as aligning daily activities with strategic objectives. This allows leaders and managers to quickly identify any deviations and make the necessary changes to continue moving towards their objectives.
Setting goals also increases employee motivation and engagement. When employees know that their work is fundamental to the company's success, they feel more involved and committed to the organization's success. This results in a more productive and collaborative working environment in which everyone works together to achieve a common goal. In addition, if targets are monitored in a generic way, it will be more difficult to target specific actions for each problem.
But the deployment of goals needs to be communicated at all levels of the organization in a clear and transparent way, to ensure that all employees have the opportunity to help the company succeed.
Fundamentals for Organizational Success when deploying goals: Engagement, Understanding and Measuring Results.
- Engagement: By defining responsibilities and deadlines, a culture is created within the organization among team members, which can not only optimize performance, but also strengthen the collective work of employees.
- Understanding the company's actions: The communication of the goals unfolded in a way for all levels of the organization, makes the employees have a clear understanding of how their work.
- Consistent and well-measured results: If you don't measure it, you don't manage it, and by being able to measure results at several different levels, it greatly benefits a company to achieve consistent results
Conclusion
In summary, goal deployment is an essential practice for companies seeking to align their long-term strategic objectives with their current efforts. Companies can increase operational efficiency, improve organizational performance and create a more engaged and motivated work environment by establishing a clear and well-defined goal deployment.
Although the deployment of goals requires continuous dedication and effort to implement, the long-term benefits for the company and its team members are significant.
