Surface Ripples

What's The Point?

A fascinating letter by Michael Heppell has just appeared - well worth reading.

Michael's concept is not difficult - if you have a purpose in life, you will be motivated. The problem is how many people really have a purpose in which they truly believe and which stretches them to display their ingenuity and resourcefulness.

For the majority of corporate workers in large organisations, their purpose is usually set from the top. The goals are often not set with the company's true position or capabilities in mind and simply reflect a set "formula" - i.e. achieve x% revenue increase/cost reduction/productivity improvement/staff performance and so on.

Of course, there are exceptions to this and companies who really "get it right", but for the majority, goal-setting and performance appraisal are usually another "box ticking" exercise completed by harried managers based on scant information/observation. As a result, people do not "buy in" to the process and live their corporate lives finding ways to "get around" the system.

Ram Charan in his book Know-How discusses the art of goal-setting and of aligning everyone's interests so that all know what must be done, what resources and are available and what must be achieved by when. Charan also illustrates how to ensure that things are kept on track and/or changed if need be.

Have you thought of what your copmpany's and your mission really are? How will you achieve them and how will you help others achieve theirs? Is your process meaningful and embraced by all or is it just "box-ticking" to keep HR happy? If the latter, you are probably keeping someone in a job who doesn't deserve it...

Labels: Strategy

posted by William Martin @ 18:51