Amending objectives
Featured in the Setting Objectives and Seeing Them Through training manual
By Beverley Williams
Category: Performance Management
Credit price: 4 download credits (Single user)
In an ideal world our carefully thought out SMART objectives would progress and be achieved directly in accordance with our plan. However, as very few of us live in an ideal world we need to be prepared to make amendments where needed as our objectives progress. Think of each planned objective as a little boat setting out on a journey. You have carefully chartered the course, checked supplies and set sail. If your journey is short and across calm waters, it is feasible that you may not need to adjust the rudder during your trip. However, if your journey takes you across a choppy bay with a stiff breeze and there are obstacles to negotiate, you will need to keep your hand on the rudder and make constant small adjustments. This doesn’t mean that your trip is a failure or that your planning was inadequate or unnecessary. You have completed the journey successfully, learned a little more about the waters you were sailing in and kept all potential problems under control. This activity helps participants understand that keeping their hand on the rudder and making the necessary adjustments while objectives progress is an integral element of seeing objectives through. The training activity also provides a step-by-step guide to implementing changes and reviewing the objective setting process where appropriate.
You open the training activity by explaining that although we’d like to plan our SMART objectives carefully, and then stand back while they proceeded in direct accordance with our plan, this is very unlikely to happen. You ask the participants to compare the process of setting objectives and seeing them through with setting out on a journey in a small boat and making the necessary adjustments to the rudder as they travel. Then you continue to use this analogy throughout the training activity. Next, participants work in pairs to consider reasons why things may not work in direct accordance to the plan. You take responses, and then gain agreement that the key is regular reviews in order to find problems before they find you. You introduce participants to a step-by-step guide to implementing necessary adjustments and to reviewing the objective-setting process where appropriate. Then you involve participants in a discussion to examine the most effective attitude to adopt when reviews show that adjustments have to be made. Finally, you close the training activity by inviting one or two action points from each participant.
Who is it for: This training resource is intended for use by trainers to enable participants to examine situations when objectives require amending and looks at how to implement them.
| Resource Type: | Activity |
| Min Group Size: | 4 |
| Max Group Size: | 10 |
| Typical Duration: | 01:55:00 |
| No of Pages: | 22 |
Resources: View standard resources for Fenman training activities
Purpose: This training resource is most suitable for use by trainers with participants who are responsible for helping others to set objectives – that is, manage others in some capacity. Participants should already have covered ‘Objectives: What they are and why they exist’ and ‘Introducing the SMART objective’.
Download the training activity, Amending objectives as featured in the Fenman training manual; Setting Objectives and Seeing Them Through