The goal is to improve employee satisfaction. Not an unfamiliar or unusual objective for most organizations, and usually assigned to HR. Yet what does it mean, and how do we affect the desired outcomes? Now what?
Accountability- no one truly wants it ultimately. While you may sign up for the task and enjoy the status and rewards of the position and role, being accountable is less appealing. You may dream aloud to be the person who steps up and saves the team, yet how many would eagerly step forward when in the position to do so?
Accountability is no more evident in the performance measures that organizations develop. Whether they’re KPIs, OKRs, MVRs, or any other scorecard that organizations develop, one commonality is that most are rife with ambiguity, and a lack of accountability comes with ambiguity.
The initial problem is when asked to provide a measure of performance, individuals creating it will typically state a task or action as the desired result. Yet these rarely bring measurable benefits. The second iteration communicates an output, such as increasing the number of people served or increased media exposure. While they may be steps in the right direction, what is the benefit here?
Measure benefits
If we can develop clear specific measures that focus on the outcomes we desire and behaviors we want to instill or master, we create more specific goals to progress. With that in mind, the organization’s actions will become more appropriate. For example, is the goal to increase media exposure merely, or is increased print and television mentions a goal with the benefit of increasing the number of potential donors who sign up for regular information from the organization? Now we can ask whether what we plan to act on and measure appeals to our desired audience and solicits a call to action.
Be specific
The next step is to be specific regarding the desired outcomes. The use of words such as growth, increase or decrease, effect, change, favorable, reach, and satisfy all denote a direction or sentiment. Yet, the vagueness is subject to interpretation and even manipulation. For example, we may have increased media exposure, but we’ve only had a minimal increase in sign-ups – yes, it was an increase of sorts, but it doesn’t mean there were the wanted results.
Specific, clear outcomes we seek that provide measurable results provide clarity in the goal and direction to take, but more focus on the actions and behaviors to produce desirable products. The guide, while daunting since the performance target is known and measurable, can also be inspiring, and it will eliminate needless activities that do not support the end goal.
We should ask whether we are developing goals to posture or appease an audience – leaders, board, investors, etc. – or are we creating specific measures that will create accountability and inspire it too.
