When will it all happen?
Featured in the Setting Objectives and Seeing Them Through training manual
By Beverley Williams
Category: Performance Management
Credit price: 4 download credits (Single user)
Timescales and deadlines need to be set for all objectives in order to provide guidance and motivation, and to allow workloads and other projects to be planned with maximum accuracy. Timescales can be extremely straightforward – for example, by the next meeting – or they can be far more involved requiring a full planning process to take place – for example, setting up a new department. Objectives that relate to development may have no finite end in many cases. However, milestones can be set and progress still needs to be monitored at regular stages. Ensuring that objectives are Time-bound begins with realistically assessing the complexity of the task or project, and balancing this with the urgency of the need and the priorities of other objectives. This activity emphasises the importance of including interim steps to check timings before agreeing final timescales where appropriate.
You begin by emphasising the importance of ensuring that the objectives agreed are Time-bound, and explain that the timescales involved will depend on the complexity of the task or project, the urgency of the need and the priorities of other objectives. You ask participants to think about why objectives need to be Time-bound and encourage their responses. You introduce the four main categories of simplicity/complexity, and then run an exercise that asks participants to categorise and plan timescales for some examples. Then you move on to tackle timescales for a large-scale project, using the example of ‘project cup of coffee’ before running a full-scale planning exercise to assess the time needed to carry out a staff attitudes’ survey for 100 people. Finally, invite participants to give their personal key learning points before ending the session by distributing a key learning points handout, giving emphasis where appropriate.
Who is it for: This training resource is intended for use by trainers to emphasise to participants the importance of including interim steps to check timings before agreeing final timescales where appropriate when ensuring that objectives are Time-bound.
| Resource Type: | Activity |
| Min Group Size: | 4 |
| Max Group Size: | 10 |
| Typical Duration: | 02:50:00 |
| No of Pages: | 29 |
Resources: View standard resources for Fenman training activities
Purpose: This training resource is intended for use by trainers with participants who are involved in the objective-setting process and who are familiar with SMART. While this is of particular importance to line managers, all other members of staff will be able to contribute more fully to the objective-setting process if they have worked through the training activity. Ideally, participants should already have covered, ‘Objectives: What they are and why they exist’ and ‘Introducing the SMART objective’.
Download the training activity, When will it all happen? as featured in the Fenman training manual; Setting Objectives and Seeing Them Through