How to get objectives achieved

People often ask me how you go about getting the objectives achieved, once you have agreed them. It’s all very well spending all that time writing SMART objectives and goals, but there’s no point if you don’t follow through.

One very simple way is to have regular review meetings. They don’t have to be onerous. In fact, it’s much better if they are not.

All you need to do is get together, with either your whole team or just an individual. Then you check the progress against each objective.

You simply ask:

• What has happened so far
• Where you are against the plan
• What help is required to make sure you meet the deadline.

Now, if you have never done this before, the first few meetings will take quite a while. However, as you gain experience, the meetings will become shorter and shorter.

How often should you have the meetings?

The answer is always “more often than you think”.
Once or twice a week is usually a good starting point. The key is to ensure success, rather than catch problems and then have to deal with them.


Steve Jobs did this at Apple twice a week. It didn’t do Apple any harm.

Dos and Don’ts for meetings

• Do fix a regular time every day/week
• Don’t cancel the meeting if someone is off
• Do stick to the point
• Don’t get dragged into the detail and start working on the issues in the meeting
• Do arrange a separate time to work on problems that are identified
• Don’t blame people
• Do reward people for bringing up issues and talking about them openly

Should unemployed people take boring jobs?

Today I heard people on the radio commenting about young unemployed people and whether they should take ‘boring jobs in factories’, especially if they are well educated. Some thought they should not have to take these jobs.

There are two problems with the view that you should not have to do this as a well-educated person:

The assumption that everyone should have great jobs that they like
The assumption that jobs in factories are boring and bad

On the first point, I think we need to admit that there are times when we all need to do jobs we don’t particularly like. If you are like me you will have done plenty of these.

I have cleaned, been a barmaid, a waitress, an usherette (which is why I have seen Bambi 16 times) and worked in a factory amongst other things.
I soon learned that the people where you work and your attitude both make a big difference to how much you like your job.

These jobs were OK

When I was cleaning I quite enjoyed it. If I had a job like that now I know I would love doing it whilst listening to my ipod (there weren’t such things in those days).

When I worked in factories I met plenty of people who enjoyed their jobs. This does not mean they were bad, stupid or boring people. They were great people. At least one was a member of MENSA.

Camaraderie

In most of the factories where I worked the camaraderie was fantastic and many of those people were extremely skilled.

It’s always easy to look down on a job you don’t know much about.

There are always going to be things you have to do that you don’t like. I hate filling in my tax return and doing my expenses, but I know it has to be done. So I do it.

I don’t really like doing the washing up either, but I do it.

Too much TV

I wonder sometimes if people watch too many TV series where the characters have fantastic jobs or become instant successes and millionaires. So they forget that most successful people have had to start off doing jobs they didn’t particularly want or like. For many people, that’s how life is. So you have to make the best of it.

If you are a manager, you should be doing your best to ensure that people enjoy their time at work. It is possible to arrange this, even for people in jobs that don’t seem to be much fun.

Instant success

This is very rare. JK Rowling worked for years before she was a successful author and was rejected many times. Steve Jobs was not an instant success. They had to work hard.