How to set objectives for those you manage

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I have worked in management training and development for many years, including providing training in objective setting. Like many others working in this area, I often came across managers and job holders who were very resistant to the idea of objective setting, especially the idea of having specific measures of results. I must confess, I would often find have considerable sympathy for their concerns and objections they made. Looking at an alternative approach helped but didn't really provide an adequate solution, since their were clearly difficulties with both approaches. I then came across a review of the research literature on objective setting. Different sets of circumstances clearly required different ways of setting objectives. All of the elements were there and everything fell into place. Thus, I developed an evidence-based contingency model of objective setting. I have found this model enormously useful in practice. It helps managers and job holders realise why their were finding objective setting. Much of the resistance disappeared and managers and job holders were provided with a tool that they found easy to understand and use. The fact that it was rooted in both management theory and behavioural science research provided compelling evidence of its usefulness.

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