Reaching Your Goals Through Innovation

Elearn

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• Topic: Business
• eBook ISBN:
  9781136369865
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

This series fuses key theories and concepts with applied activities to help managers examine how they work in practice. The books are created with individuals in mind and are designed to help improve management skills. Management Extra can also be used in conjunction with management programmes of study aligned to standards. Each of the books has case studies, self assessments and activities all underpinned by knowledge and understanding of the frameworks and techniques required to improve performance. Management Extra provides managers and trainers with a handbook for action and development. This book explores the concept of spotting good ideas, linking them to the business context and making them work. In doing so you will be reaching, achieving and even exceeding your goals. Key objectives are: to use objectives and goals to help you set direction and monitor outcomes for you and your team; review the organisational context for innovation and how to make things happen; understand the characteristics of successful innovators and your role in championing opportunities for innovation

1 Setting your direction

Making objectives and targets work for you

Why are objectives and targets so important? The answer lies in what they can do for you.

♦ Objectives tell you where you need to go.

♦ Objectives are specific.

♦ Objectives are normally manageable components of a wider aim.

♦ Objectives tell you when and what needs to be achieved – the standards of service required.

♦ Targets define the end game in terms of numbers or finances.

♦ Targets are motivational.

♦ Targets make it clear to people how much they are contributing.

♦ Targets can be broken down into manageable chunks.

Meeting your objectives and targets will enable you to know when you’ve achieved something.

This theme looks at the role of objectives and targets in helping you as an individual and as a leader, to communicate, negotiate with and influence the people you work with to achieve your goals. The strategic importance of this is measurable in terms of meeting what is expected of you and vital in terms of your relationship with your team and their motivation to achieve for themselves, for you and for the organisation.

In this theme you will:

♦ use objectives and targets to help set direction for you and your team

♦ negotiate objectives to meet organisational needs

♦ understand how delegation will help you and your team achieve objectives

♦ monitor the outcomes.

On course

People will only follow if the manager or leader creates a clear vision. As a leader you have to be able to answer the questions:

Figure 1.1 Setting your direction

It’s worth taking the opportunity to involve your team in answering these questions. The more they’re involved; the greater their sense of ownership and commitment will be.

John Adair describes leadership in the following way.

‘Leadership involves focusing the efforts of a group of people towards a common goal and enabling them to work together as a team.’

It’s essentially about pulling in the same direction. Every single team member’s individual objectives must ultimately contribute to the organisational goals. In other words, aligning the business.

Figure 1.2 Aligning goals

This involves cascading objectives down the organisation or up from the individual. From individual targets and objectives to team, to organisational objectives. Individuals should be able to clearly see how they are doing their bit towards the organisational vision.

‘There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.’

Peter Drucker

Your role is to make sure that the objectives of every member of your team align to the team or project objectives. You’ll also need to be sure that the team objectives fit neatly into the bigger departmental and organisational picture. If they don’t fit, they aren’t worth doing.

Defining organisational vision and direction

An organisation’s vision is unique and represents the time, place and business environment in which it operates.

Here are two examples of organisations at either end of a strategic dynamic scale. It is a scale that will have a significant impact on the vision and direction of the organisation.

Organisation 1 is faced with rapid changes in:

♦ technology, consumer behaviour and social values

♦ customers bringing new ideas as a spark for growth

♦ financial returns from a product nearing the end of its life cycle.

In contrast, Organisation 2 takes a longer term approach when:

♦ it operates as a public service organisation with commitments to transferred employees

♦ the existing culture is to reward safe policies that achieve stated targets

♦ new opportunities are measured against prevailing public perceptions.

Their strategic direction might look something like this.

Organisation 1 will need to:

♦ focus on action

♦ take decisions within a short time-scale

♦ manage resources so that they can be committed (or withdrawn) rapidly

♦ clearly define areas of responsibility for decision making.

Organisation 2 on the other hand, is more likely to find:

♦ decision-making involves committees and larger numbers of people

♦ decisions are based on compromise, encouraging slower paced change

♦ the focus is on minimising exposure to risk.

The vision is a clear statement which expresses the organisation’s aims, and often, where it lies on that continuum between dynamic, leaders in the field, who innovate, but expose themselves to risk; and low risk, considered organisations that protect employees from rapid upheaval. The vision also tends to express some of the key things that the organisation values, such as respect, integrity, sustainability and customer focus. Values set the context for the way people in the organisation behave and what is expected of them.

Here are some examples of vision statements.

At Sainsbury’s we will deliver an ever improving quality shopping experience for our customers with great product at fair prices. We aim to exceed customer expectations for healthy, safe, fresh and tasty food making their lives easier every day.

Source: Sainsbury Web site

Sainsbury’s clearly state their desire to be a fair and forward thinking organisation that is looking to move in ways that their customers value. Their vision is one that attempts to appeal to the values of their customers. We will of course form our own views on whether they are able to achieve this in practice.

We believe in making a difference. In our customers’ eyes, Virgin stands for value for money, quality, innovation, fun and a sense of competitive challenge. We deliver a quality service by empowering our employees and we facilitate and monitor customer feedback to continually improve the customer’s experience through innovation.

www.virgin.com

Virgin on the other hand takes the perspective of the customer including elements of fun and challenge and customer feedback. They also focus on employees and they way they work in their vision.

After a year of debate and consultation, our staff and students have articulated a proud ambition and sense of purpose – to work and study in a world-class university which makes a difference. To achieve this, the University has launched a new strategy with a map to help us get there.

www.leeds.ac.uk

Leeds University has proudly articulated its mission to make a difference. They highlight the consensual and co-operative development of the mission, thereby expressing the commitment to hearing and valuing the views of all stakeholders.

These are just the headline statements, but even as headlines they start to define the direction and some of the values underpinning the organisations they represent.

Translating the vision and values into objectives

The organisational vision has two primary roles. To set direction for employees and stakeholders and to help the organisation express what it values to the wider world.

The process of translating the vision into objectives is normally the remit of managers within the organisation. Most strategies set out what needs to be achieved and the level of innovation desired and this can be broken ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Activities
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Series preface
• Introduction: ‘Chance favours only the prepared mind’
• 1. Setting your direction
• 2. Organisational Dynamics
• 3. Innovation champions and improvement
• 4. Tapping into innovation
• References