As a leader, you have expectations for your team. You want to see a specific level of performance and efficiency, and using a goal management approach (MBO) can help you manage your team effectively.
When the goals of the organization are not communicated to employees, they cannot meet expectations. This leads to micromanagement and instills the belief in your employees that you don’t trust them or their ability to get results. Over time, this generates resentment, erodes job satisfaction, and increases the turnover rate as employees go out in search of greener pastures.
If you’ve seen this situation several times throughout your organization, it’s time to look at your leadership style. Do you provide your employees with the knowledge they need and clearly communicate what you want to see? Are you offering opportunities to help them strengthen their skills? If not, change your mindset and company culture to goal management and watch your employees meet the challenge.
To help you better navigate to the information you need, we have links to different parts of this story:
What is MBO?
What is the purpose of MBO?
Examples of MBO
Advantages and disadvantages of MBO
How to incorporate MBO into your organization
What is MBO?
The term “goal management” refers to the creation of tangible goals for an employee to achieve for the betterment of the organization.
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What is the purpose of MBO?
MBO ensures that employees receive clear communication about their roles and responsibilities, and that they understand the role they play in the overall health of the organization. Not only does it help them to be clear about what is expected of them, but it also gives them a sense of purpose as they approach how they affect the rest of the organization and help them fulfill their mission.
In companies that operate in silos where from one department to another, people don’t know what anyone else is working on, they have less chance of success. Employees can be easily discouraged when they can’t see the bigger picture. Management by objectives aims to break down these walls for great transparency between organizations.
Examples of MBO
If this sounds like something you’d like to try, you might be wondering what are some examples of goals you can set.
While specific goals may differ depending on your specific industry, product, and business, there are some general goals you can start with. While any department can use MBOs, we will look at three specific cases.
Examples of MBO sales
- Decreases the sales cycle from four to two months
- Increase average sales to $ 10,000
- Get 15 new customers over a specific period of time
MBO marketing examples
- Increase the likes on social media by 40%
- Increases website time by five minutes
- Generates 500 new leads a month
- Get five multimedia locations
Examples of BMO customer service
- Decreases call time to less than five minutes
- Increase customer satisfaction by 30%
- Reduce call manager intervention by 10%
Examples of human resource MBOs
- Improves the retention rate by 15%
- Implement a leadership training program for outstanding employees
- Increase employee satisfaction by 30%
Advantages and disadvantages of MBO
Like any management style, goal management has its pros and cons. Let’s take a closer look:
Advantages
- Employees can understand and appreciate their individual impact on the company as a whole.
- Expectations are clearly communicated and based on key outcome areas (KRAs) tailored to each employee.
- Employees understand what success is like and what they need to achieve to achieve it.
- Teamwork improves and finger pointing decreases.
- Employees know that their responsibilities and tasks are less likely to go through cracks.
Disadvantages
- Managers may rely too heavily on MBOs and a management style. While it can revolutionize your organization, it has its limitations and is not always appropriate.
- With exaggerated goals and objectives, non-measurable aspects of the work environment (such as teamwork, positive customer interactions, etc.) may be less practiced and valued.
- With a constant focus on numbers and metrics, employees can feel anxious about their performance, which could make things worse.
As you can see, goal management can help your organization move in the right direction. However, it is not a cure for all the challenges your organization may face. Let’s take a closer look at how to use this leadership style for optimal effectiveness.
How to incorporate MBO into your organization
It helps to develop an MBO strategy before we dive in, so let’s review how to implement MBO in your own business.
MBO steps
Define your goals
What do you want the company to achieve and for what period of time? These goals should be shared with everyone in your organization.
Create and communicate employee goals
How do your employee’s responsibilities influence the organization’s goals? This will allow you to create specific goals and objectives to achieve.
Monitor your performance and progress
Check the performance of your employees regularly. Are they getting the numbers you assigned them? Are they constantly working to achieve a bigger goal?
Evaluate your performance
Without periodic performance reviews, your employees cannot measure their performance and whether changes need to be made.
Provide feedback
If employees are doing well, let them know. You can do this privately or publicly to inspire others. If they don’t meet your expectations, provide these comments in private so you don’t disparage them in front of your peers. You will also need to give them steps to improve their performance.
If they are not achieving their goals, it may be because those goals have not been communicated properly or because they do not have the right tools to do what is expected. Have a conversation to assess whether any of these factors are at stake and then do whatever is necessary to remedy the situation.
By following these steps, you can implement a successful goal management culture and see an improvement in your team’s performance. This works for a sales environment, as well as for customer service or any other department in an organization.
When it’s time to inspire your team and give new life to your organization, consider incorporating goal management into your company culture. You may be surprised at how well your employees take this new system. Once they understand your expectations, they will be in a better position to meet or exceed them.
