One of the greatest objections organizations face in developing strategy is that it ends up being a great process that produces a report that sits on the shelf. In other words there is no execution of the strategy. As Louis V Gerstner, Jr., Chairman, IBM said, “The fundamental issue, in my opinion, is execution. Strategy is execution.” The ability of an organization to deliver upon its strategy will depend upon how well its people get behind and support it.
For an organization to effectively execute its strategy it has to translate that strategy into clear performance goals and take the time to have meaningful discussions with staff about performance expectations and actual results. By using a performance management and reward system that clearly defines individual performance expectations consistent with the organization’s strategy and rewards achievement will enable the organization to get the leverage it needs.
Although many organizations do not do a good job of rewarding the right performance, there are a few basic rules that can help improve your odds of success.
- Integrate performance management and reward into your actual strategic planning sessions. Developing clear strategic objectives (i.e. specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time limited) for the organization that can then be translated into specific annual organizational objectives and then individual objectives. For some individuals their performance measures may contribute indirectly to the achievement to the annual organizational objective. This is okay as long as the individual believes it contributes to the achievement of the annual organizational objective.
- Ensure the individual objectives have buy-in from the person responsible for them and that the individual believes that he or she has an ability to influence or achieve the objective themselves.
- Make the performance management and reward system for the Executive Director a priority, and one that is closely tied to the achievement of the annual organizational and strategic objectives.
- Measure what’s important. As the old saying goes “if you want to improve it, measure it.” Saying that volunteer satisfaction is important to the organization is one thing, measuring it and holding individuals accountable through their performance measurement and reward system is another thing all together. Doing this can put teeth into what the organization says, lets both staff and stakeholder know the organization is serious about this.
- Develop stretch objectives, follow-through and reward. Stretch objectives are a tough thing to set. If everyone perceives the target as impossible they won’t buy into it. On the other hand, objectives that are too easy provide no motivation. Once established the Executive Director and Board have to follow-through. The Executive Director would accomplish this by doing such things as coaching staff, allocating resources as necessary, obtaining timely reporting, understanding variances and making changes as required. The Board can follow through by ensuring time and accurate reporting from the Executive Director. Further involvement is often dependent on the organization’s governance model.
In establishing objectives it is important for clear and open communication to ensure buy-in and support at the Board, management and staff levels.
Ron Robinson is the president of ABARIS Consulting Inc. He can be reached at (519) 472-9788 or rrobinson@abarisconsulting.com. This article is provided free of charge, for information purposes only and is not intended, represented or to be inferred as providing advice. ABARIS Consulting Inc. makes no warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability for accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information provided in whole or in part within this article.
