Setting objectives is something every manager has to do. This enables you to express your will to your team and reinforce your leadership, to direct action in line with the company’s strategic and operational priorities, and to get your staff moving by inspiring action.

Setting effective objectives is a driving force for employees, and will encourage their personal commitment to action. They’ll be more involved and give their best.

Setting SMART objectives

An objective defines the goal that an employee or team wishes to achieve through their actions. It is in line with the company’s strategy and lays the foundations for a certain commitment between manager and employee.

To set an effective goal, you can use the SMART method:

Specific: we know exactly what is expected. The wording must be clear and leave no room for interpretation so that it can be understood by everyone;

Measurable: evaluated in terms of quantity and quality using relevant, objective indicators;

Achievable: sufficiently motivating to instil a dynamic of action while being accessible;

Realistic: feasible and non-utopian, in line with the company’s overall strategy;

Temporallydefined: with clearly defined duration, deadlines and reference period.

For example: “I want to increase sales by 5% within 6 months.”

Our experts will introduce you to this method in our small-group workshops “Defining effective objectives”, to help you increase employee commitment over the long term.

Getting to know your employees to set professional goals

When you join a team, the best thing to do is to observe and analyze the habits, work organization and character of each member of staff. This helps them understand how the team works and the company’s procedures.

Beyond this observation phase, you need to get to know your employees. Group cohesion is the key to overcoming any obstacle. You can therefore take advantage of informal moments such as coffee breaks to encourage discussion. This will also enhance well-being at work.

Don’t forget:

• employee motivation ;
• knowledge of their background, character, personality ;
• the talents and difficulties of each individual ;
• differences and opinions ;
• helping each other to overcome weaknesses and exploiting abilities to achieve professional goals.

Involve employees in setting objectives

Objectives set a direction and formalize the company’s expectations. So what better way than to co-define the latter.

In fact, you can rely on your employees to define the major objectives, and then it’s up to you as manager to break them down into sub-objectives and check their feasibility.

This experience proves that setting objectives with employees increases their commitment. They will feel more responsible for goals they have previously validated as ambitious but achievable. Everyone becomes master of their own work, responsible for their own objectives and those of the company.