Many times planning stops at Goal-Setting. Then managers are surprised when (if) the goal is completed it is late, over budget, below quality and the people fight the entire process. Roles (who will do what) and Procedures (how the work will get done) are necessary steps in the Goal Achievement Process. Ignore these steps at your own management peril!

Contact Mike to make your goals a reality, making your team and leaders better.

• image by by alshepmcr

“Great planning is done, you have your SWOT results, you created excellent QQT/R Goals for the next year with all of your subordinates. You know your goals for the next 18 months…how do we make it all work?”

“Well Mike, the goals are done and it should just happen, right?”

“Has that ever worked before, Just Happened, anywhere?”

She stares at the ceiling.

“Well no! But what else can I do, we established the goals and achieved agreement on them.”

“Remember the workshop on GRPI, Goals-Roles-Procedures-Interpersonal Relationships.”

“Yes, I got that chart right here on my desk. What about it?”

“We have to determine the Roles that people will fill in achieving those goals. How might you ensure that team members accept their roles, know exactly what other members expect of them, and know what they can expect from other members.”

“Ahhh…so I as the manager have to decide and clarify the Role Responsibilities and coordinate the time-frames for completion, now I see what that means.”

“Role-Responsibilities what’s that mean to you with these goals?”

“It means working with the team and each individual to create clear-lines of authority in how the work will get done. For example Sam and Anthony are both working on the Customer Service & Sales integration training BUT they both report to different departments and managers. I need to clarify in what way, when and how they can work together, what amount of time can be dedicated to this task in combination with their other tasks, and who can ask who to do what work and how they can agree, disagree, complain and make decisions as needed.”

“WOW that sounds like alot to do, is it worth the time?”

“YES! if this clarity and agreement upon Roles and Procedures is not established NOW…I will be dealing with it later when the team members are fighting. Then that will screw everything up.”

“Great, lets talk about how to go about clarifying and Roles and establishing procedures for getting your goals done.”