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Another free Management article for you by Christine Casey Cooper
Titled: What Goals am I Supposed to Support? Get the Management category RSS Feed 
What Goals am I Supposed to Support?
Article Summary: When employees don't understand the goals and direction of the organization, their activities won't support those goals. It is essential that leaders make the goals clear and provide clarity to employees about how they will contribute to those same goals.
Goals should be clear and spelled out for all to see. Not only are they clearly stated, but they are specific in terms of deadlines and specific numbers, like earnings and other quantifiable items. For example, a sales organization would spell out "we are earning $5000 in the month of May." It is expressed in the present tense. An engineering team might spell out "The planning is complete," and "detail drawings are released to the production team." Planning routines like Microsoft Project carry out goals planning in an organized fashion. Several styles are available, but the most popular is the Gantt Chart in which task elements are shown with timeline starting and completion points. As work is completed the bar so indicates. Late starts and late activities are clearly indicated. Actual completion date is shown when accomplished.
There is a cost connected to proceeding with planned goals. This should not be a surprise. Resources need to be put in place in a timely manner so that the goals have some guarantee of succeeding. This could be planned hires, office environment expanded and arranged to receive new staff, and needed equipment put in place to accommodate activities. Computer networking is a must in a modern organization. A plan for success is a plan that includes training of managers as well as individuals in the organization. Rather that react to day to day conditions the organization plan drives activity, which flows from the plan in place. The master plan shows all of this clearly.
Rather than drifting aimlessly day to day, the organization is driven by the plan to meet short term and long term goals, and individual activities are paced by what the plan indicates. Individuals need to know how they are measuring up against the goals in the plan and can get that feedback with periodic reports. This periodic feedback will be cause to put corrections in place so that the goals are met. Corrective actions can be made in the form of short-term staffing adjustments or realignments to meet the needs of the units most requiring assistance.
If there is no discipline in clearly communicating goals, activities will drift aimlessly like a ship without a rudder. Work, any kind of work, will be found to fill the allotted time, and nothing supporting the goals is accomplished. The manager becomes frantic when his goals are not met, and the worker wonders why sparks are flying from the direction of the boss's office. Clearly communicated and published goals and schedules are the answer - and it is easy to learn to initiate, update, and report to those who need to know the goals and the progress against the goals.
Article Source: http://www.upublish.info
About the Author:
Christine Casey Cooper
For more leadership insight and many thoughts on the damage done by poor leadership, visit http://www.CrassCaptain.com.
