Not the dishwasher detergent. Actually I’m talking about the concept of the goal cascade. In most cases, this means a manager pushing her goals down to her employees. For many, that’s all it is. Honestly, that’s all I thought it was, too.
But earlier this week, I sat in on one of the all-hands training sessions we had and I realized there’s actually more to it. Technology enabled Goal Alignment doesn’t only have to be a mechanism for a manager that enables her to say “hey employee, this is what I’m working on – you work on it too.” It can actually be a far richer and more dynamic process.
There are two aspects to it, I think. The first is directional. By this I mean Up and Down. Everyone knows goals are most often cascaded down, but what about cascading up? Some progressive companies are realizing that line workers often are closest to projects and problems – and are relying on them to generate important goals that involve lots of people.
The second is transactional. Most often goals are pushed from managers to employees. But what about pull? If employees could go into the goal plans of managers to understand how their work related to the level above them (and even the level above that) – one clear benefit would be visibility. But another would be the ability to pull goals into their own plans – effectively saying “I’m supporting you on this.”
So now we’ve spoken about two important types of cascading – but, when you think about it cascading is essentially copying. The copying of a goal from a manager down through her organization. Or the copying of a goal by an employee from a manager. But goal alignment can also involve linking – the creation of a brand NEW goal that supports a related goal.
For example, if a manger has a goal to “increase sales by 200% in California,” a marketer might create the goal “execute advertising campaign in California” and link his goal to his managers’.
The widely-held belief that a cascade is a simple “copying down” of a goal is true, but not the whole truth. And as companies search for new ways of aligning their oganizations behind shared goals dynamic goal alignment can be an important enabler.
May 7th, 2007 at 5:56 am
Our company has recently joined the SuccessFactors community, and we are working to roll out objective setting to lower level managers and supervisors in the coming weeks. Is there any advice on communicating the importance of goal/objective setting to those who may feel it is not relevant to their jobs?
August 2nd, 2007 at 6:42 am
Anne, You should be clear that by having objectives this gives them direction, focus, accountability and a clear roadmap of what needs to be accomplished. If they don’t have clear goals, how on earth do they know which direction to go in, and indeed how they are going to get there. You need to have some live examples of good objectives that are currently being worked in the organisation, and the relevance these have to the business/departments priorities. Using examples and helping them work through these to see the relevance, should help them see the importance of having objectives. Let them express openly why they feel these are not relevant to their jobs, then tackle each of these issues with a positive message of how objectives are not an obstacle but a tool to help them get through their work priorities. Hope this helps.