#82: Goals & Planning
Study of historical data at CNPL, my observations on goal setting and goal achievements have gaps that can be categorized into two; namely Goal Identification and Planning.
Goal Identification: Many a times some of the teams chose goals which are not closely aligned to the tasks those they do and therefore, the goals are more of desires rather than needs of the team. There is another inherent problem within it. The goals are stated at very macro level and not enough thoughts and effort spent in detailing the goals. Thus, the goals are either not achieved or shown as achieved but not at desired level.
Goals, according to me, should be based on GAP Analysis. The gaps that are biggest should be the ones that should be addressed first. We did gap analysis few years back. It would be great to do another round in order to identify gaps.
Gaps could be further classified broadly into technical knowledge gap, skill gap, process gap and delivery gap. Leads could measure or rate the team strength in each of these and identify where they could focus this year in order to improve. Thus, Gap identification is critical to Goal setting.
Goal Planning: Planning for attaining goals is critical for achieving success.
For better planning, each goal should be analyzed by breaking them into smaller units in terms of what is the objective of the goal, what the goal aims to achieve, where it will be applied within the projects that team handles, will it result in adding value or cut cost or improve efficiency, how the progress will be measured and rated, who will control the project progress, at what point in time will it be escalated, how to stay focused, what kind of motivation will drive momentum, how to make it visible across the company and lastly, how to celebrate achievement of goals.
I am sure that most teams have not thought in these lines of planning. It is time that we spend some time to redefine goals if required and make plans. I hope to see better planning from the leads this year and thus, I would map these plans into KRA.
