Your objectives are a reflection of your commitment to the role and how much you value personal development. There are ‘official’ objectives you want to have and then there are real objectives that will make you a better person and professional. The choice is about the goals you set and the pursuit of excellence that you wish to follow.
You can set very aspiring goals but if they are unrealistic, you will fall short. You can set weak goals but those may not challenge you enough.
Setting measures for your objectives is probably more difficult than just writing them up. Each role will have a different set of measures basis the expectations and goals the organisation has set for the function or team. What must you consider while setting measures for your communication role objectives?
Here are a few pointers that will help you think through what matters.
Milestones vs hard targets: Often the work you do may not have a direct relation to the organization’s performance. In that case look for milestones that demonstrate tangible progress towards specific determinants of performance and your goals. It can be for example, related to productivity, engagement, motivation or communication satisfaction. These milestones must be closely related to the everyday tasks on hand and the long term view expressed by the objective.
Quality vs quantity: It isn’t about how many objectives and the number of tasks you completed while achieving your goals. It is important to measure the quality of the outcomes considering communication as a function is about relationships, content, channels, climate and other variables. Consider what behavior you want to focus on.
Dependency vs individual contribution: In a communication role there is bound to be dependencies on not just your team members but also stakeholders to get work completed seamlessly. Knowing which elements involve others and which can be done independently will determine how you craft measures for your objectives.
Control vs influence: When you own a specific project you have greater control over the outcomes. It can get difficult to measure when you need to influence the direction of initiatives that are owned by a stakeholder or a colleague in your team. In such scenarios you need to evaluate the value of your effort in the engagement. Think about the key levers you want to tap during such initiatives.
Short term vs long term: Your measures need to weigh if they are in the near term or something planned for later in the year. For the long term goals break them down into smaller, achievable elements.
There are three parts to delivering on your objectives. Setting objectives is one aspect of the journey. Making them work is more crucial and finally, communicating progress and closing the loop is key.
We often do the first two well but forget to track the journey and make note of our progress leading to mismatched expectations when a performance review conversation takes place.
Most importantly, having regular conversations about your progress with your leader and peers can see you achieve more than you expect.
What are your views?
