How they transformed the business
Step 1: Defined Strategic Goals
This was a facilitated workshop with the senior management team to review, agree and document strategic goals for the next 1-3 years. These were recorded in MyObjectives.
Examples: Increase total sales revenue by 50% by the end of Year 3. Increase market share in the Mobile Social Care Systems sector by 10%. To move up and right in the Gartner Magic Quadrant (Vision/Execution) every year.
Step 2: Communicated to staff
Guided by their consulting partner, the board communicated the vision and strategic goals to every member of the company. This made the goals visible, and most importantly, connected the work that everyone in the company is undertaking with the business strategy.
Example: Company meetings were held in every office with presentations from board members. Strategic goals were published on the company page on the intranet. All staff understood the goals and how their own role contributed towards some or all of the goals.
Step 3: Aligned Strategic Goals to Business Objectives
In many organisations, objectives are defined by the budget (for financial operating model) which is year-on-year and sets expenditure limits based on projected revenue. To move a company towards strategic goals, the business objectives must be aligned to strategic goals. Some objectives will be linked to the budget as well as the goals, other objectives, particularly non-financial measures, will have an indirect link to the budget but a direct link to the goals. The operational management team used a series of facilitated workshops to define quarterly business objectives which supported the budget and aligned to strategic goals.
Example: To increase market share (Goal) they needed to win new accounts at a faster rate than customer attrition. Objectives were needed to act on slowing customer attrition and winning net new business.
Step 4: Set Quarterly Objectives
Each department or team reviewed their existing budget (BAU) and defined specific objectives (SMART) that moved them towards the strategic goals. These were initially planned quarter by quarter. Objectives are recorded in MyObjectives and each one linked to one or more Strategic Goals.
Example: Customer attrition was initially 5%. They set a target to reduce this to 2% over a two-year period. The first Objective defined was to measure reasons for attrition, to complete within the first quarter. The next Objectives would be to prioritise corrective action and set up early-warning systems to anticipate and prevent customer loss.
Step 5: Defined Tasks
The next quarter Objectives were broken down into specific measurable tasks that moved the team towards the Objective. These were recorded in MyObjectives
Example: To identify reasons for customer attrition by running a quantitative survey and follow-up qualitative interviews on recent customer losses by the end of the first quarter.
Step 6: Assigned Responsibilities
They assigned RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) names to each task to ensure the progress towards completion was to be managed, measured and communicated. These were recorded in MyObjectives.
Example: Set up a new target customer database: led by Sally Jones, Head of Marketing; supported by Field Sales and Inside Sales; reporting to the Sales Director.
Step 7: Monitored Progress
Progress reporting is a combination of physical events and status flags in MyObjectives. Review meetings were arranged proportionate to the timescale: weekly stand-up meetings; monthly progress meetings and quarterly review meetings when the next quarter’s objectives were also agreed.
Each team defined their own reporting method. Some could be easily measured (e.g. number of accounts added), others needed to be estimated (e.g. build a competitive product database – 50% complete).
Example: after week two, the team had made great progress. They had loaded the list in the CRM system and the status was Green Flagged (“will be complete by target date”). The progress was so good they had decided to add another task which was to clean the list and create customer segmentation, ready for campaigns to start the following month.
Step 8: Celebrated achievement
People are motivated by knowing the goals, understanding their contribution and seeing progress towards achievement of objectives. By recording individuals’ contributions to tasks and team achievement of goals, scores can be shared and compared. This enabled individual and team achievement to be recognised (and rewarded!) which provided additional motivation to achieve future goals. The scoring system in MyObjectives is normalised so each team performance can be compared.
Example: the marketing team over-achieved against a very important task. This was highlighted and they became the “Star Players” of the month. The company also subscribed to Perkbox so each member of the Star Players was awarded an Amazon voucher, providing a tangible and visible reward with minimal administration and company-wide recognition of achievement.
Read more about MyObjectives