Objectives are a tricky thing… whether you’re receiving them or managing them… they aren’t an easy problem set… any day of the year. I’ve been on both sides of the equation and see the arguments for one both sides and have been involved in a number of different programs over the years. The one I always think back to was where people could be rewarded a few extra percentage points for “going above and beyond”. The thing is, when those people went above and beyond, it was above and above and above and beyond and beyond and beyond, translation – they were going to do a great job anyway.
It didn’t measure up.
Objectives have their place, but no matter the system in place, you always feel like there is something is missing, something nagging at you, something you just can’t put your finger on.
And maybe that “thing” is something that cannot be defined in a corporate structure – maybe what is missing are your objectives for you?
Who DO YOU want to be?
How DO YOU want to grow this year?
What DO YOU want to accomplish?
Where DO YOU want to go?
When DO YOU want to get there?
Why DO YOU want to make something happen?
I’ve always done a pretty good job at the looking back thing over my career and taking a pivot or two, but not the setting of objectives for myself, answerable only to myself (not Facebook, Twitter or anyone I work with) and the achievement of said objectives.
And when I say objectives, let’s be clear, these are not task items I need to get done for this week, these are items where I want to push myself to grow and develop.
Maybe that’s where the best place to start is, set your own objectives before people tell you theirs.
