Some of the training courses that look at SMART objectives in more detail include Management Skills for New Managers, Leadership Skills Training, Performance Management Training & Appraisals Training.

Goals, aims and objectives are often confused.  All describe things that you want to achieve, however I see goals and aims as broader, more aspirational intentions whereas an objective is a narrower more defined task you need to achieve in order to meet your long term goals and aims.

All managers and leaders must be able to set effective objectives for their staff, whether they are to achieve project or task objectives, personal development objectives for people to grow in their role or performance standard objectives aligned with a competency framework, values or behavioural guidelines.

When setting objectives for your team you will need to ask yourself:

• What are my team’s targets and goals for the coming period?
• What standards do I need the team to maintain / improve?

Setting SMART Objectives

SMART is an acronym for the five characteristics used for setting effective objectives, they must be:

S: Specific
Objectives relate to a desired state of affairs in the future, and it is important that this desired state of affairs can be defined reasonably precisely. So the first quality of good objectives is that they should be Specific in describing what has to be done.

M: Measurable
The value in having a standard is that the individual, the manager and the organisation can see how well the standard is being achieved by monitoring progress. So an objective should be Measurable and its achievement should be reasonably verifiable by a third party. This does not eliminate the use of some subjective methods of assessment.

A: Achievable
Another quality of a good objective is that it is Achievable.  Meeting objectives should bring about a positive benefit in personal development and job satisfaction, the way jobs are done or in the standards of performance achieved. For an objective to be achievable it must be realistic given the skills of the individual, the resources available and so on. So an objective should be stretching for an individual; too difficult an objective may create adverse effects and too easy an objective is unlikely to increase job satisfaction or be of benefit to the organisation.

R: Relevant
For an objective to be effective it must also be Relevant to the goals of the team, project, department and organisation and add value within this context.  Some people use ‘Realistic’ here however we feel that this is covered under Achievable.

T: Time Bound
Any objective must have a deadline by when it is to be achieved. How else can an individual and/or the manager agree that the task has been achieved? So, an objective must be Time Bound. Communication is fundamental to the success of objective setting. There must be a constant review of what is possible, especially with conflicting demands on resources and changing priorities.

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In this short video our trainer explains how we teach Decision Making skills on our Management Skills for New Managers Course in Brighton, Sussex. She provides us with her 3 Decision Making tips and we see her in action with a group of delegates:

“I thought the Management Skills course was really excellent and thought provoking, and I learned a lot. In particular, I think the trainer was excellent. She imparts knowledge, gets everyone involved and makes participants think and learn through this process.  She also is obviously hugely knowledgeable in her field and has practical experience in what she discusses.”
Philip Wilkinson – Business Link for London

If you’d like more information about our Management and Leadership Courses please feel free to contact us.

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Growth in use of Social Media for Business

Social Media networking has really come of age in 2009, as we saw just before Christmas with Rage Against the Machine scoring an unlikely Christmas number one off the back of an astonishing Facebook campaign supported by twitter using the tag #ratm4xmas.

But the use of Social Media has gone way beyond band promotions and teenage twittering! Using Social Media networks has become a very important part of the marketing mix for businesses, helping them to connect with their customers online in a way that was impossible just a few years ago.

We’ve seen a huge amount of interest from business in how they can use Social Media effectively, and we’ve been writing about it extensively on this blog (see the Social Media News section for a range of articles, hints and tips!).

We’ve also launched a new Social Media training in Brighton, Sussex, which has already proved popular.

Leading us nicely on to…

New Training Courses!

In addition to the new Social Media training course, we’ve been busy developing a number of new courses this year, including:

Joomla training and WordPress training courses – essential training for budding bloggers using these ever popular CMS platforms

Podcasting training to help you establish a professional video and audio presence online.

ITIL Training – we became an ATO for ITIL V3 Service Management training in February 2009.

We’ve also comprehensively overhauled our PRINCE2 training courses in line with the new PRINCE2 2009 Methodology.

NEW Free Training Resources Section

We’ve been especially generous this year, and have been giving away tutorials, tips and how to’s for FREE in our new Free Training Resources section.

This has proved extremely popular – especially our interactive PRINCE2 Quiz, and we’ll be adding a whole load of new free content in 2010 – watch this space!

Training still important in the recession

Whilst the  economy has been in recession, we’re pleased to report that by and large we’ve found that organisations have still been investing in training for their staff through the downturn and we’ve had a busy year.

For some businesses, redundancies have been an unfortunate necessity, and laying people off has often led to skills gaps that have needed filling via training. Managing redundancy effectively has been an important concern for many businesses and our Managing Redundancy training course has helped many in this difficult position.

Maintaining up to date skills also puts organisations in a great position when the economy recovers, motivates staff and engenders loyalty to the company, helping businesses to retain top talent. For these reasons we’ve seen investment in training continue – especially our ever popular Management Skills and Leadership Skills training programmes, which provide the core skills for running your business effectively.

Companies who have stopped investing in training in 2009 are likely to find themselves at a disadvantage in 2010.

Train to Gain Grants Continue to Help SME’s

This year has been especially tough for smaller businesses. Thankfully we’ve seen lots of them benefit enormously from Train to Gain grants which can help organisations access training that they would not otherwise be able to afford.

If you haven’t already taken advantage, the good news is that the scheme will be continuing in 2010. You can find out if you qualify and apply for a grant here.

PHEW! As you can see it’s been a busy year for us, and we’re looking forward to helping business across all sectors with their training requirements in 2010.

All that remains is for us to wish you all a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

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“You can’t solve a problem with the same mindset that created it.”

One of the hardest things about being a manager is managing yourself. Over 140 delegates per year come through our public Management Skills for New Managers training course here in Brighton, and before we teach them about managing a team we first cover a range of techniques for managing yourself .

One thing we’re often told by attendees is that they find it easier to give advice to other people than to think about their own approach to problem solving and to give themselves advice.

This short article describes a simple but highly effective 3-step process to reaching objective solutions for yourself. Visit our Free Resources section for a range of other Management Skills Resources and Leadership Resources

What Advice Would You Give?

To quote Albert Einstein, “You can’t solve a problem with the same mindset that created it.” We all know what it feels like to give others good advice, but when it comes to giving ourselves advice it doesn’t seem to be as simple. It can be difficult at times to employ clear thinking when we are so personally involved. Especially in emotionally charged situations such as dealing with personality clashes, handling conflict and managing stress. However, I believe that people do have the resources within them to meet their own needs – it’s just a matter of accessing them.

It used to be said that talking to ourselves is the first sign of insanity. Now however, it is used as an effective self-management tool known as ‘Imaginary Dialogue’. We all talk to ourselves, we all answer ourselves; and from time to time we all argue with ourselves too. The type of relationship we have with ourselves affect the type of relationships we have with others and the world in general. If we want to be good at managing others, then we need to lead by example and be good at managing ourselves.

Follow this simple process in giving yourself objective advice and support for the next 21 days and you will be amazed. You will feel more supported, you will be less stressed, and, because you’ll be so level-headed, you’ll be able to effectively manage sensitive situations. Once we have learned how to truly be there for ourselves, we then can help others to do the same.

How to do it

Use the following 3 simple steps to objectively reach your own solutions or help others to do the same. The process can be used repeatedly with every ‘yes, but….’ answer preventing you from achieving your goal. In order for this technique to be effective, it is a good idea to get into role and step outside of yourself, so that the problems you are having are momentarily not yours. Really try to act as though you are giving advice to someone else instead of yourself. This may take practice but it does get easier.

Step 1. What advice would you give to a colleague if they came to you with the same issue, concern, problem as you have yourself? Remember, this advice is not for yourself.

Step 2. What is stopping you from taking your own advice? Identify your personal obstacles.

Step 3. What advice would you give to a colleague if they came to you with the same obstacle/s? Imagine a colleague has come to you with the same obstacle/s you identified in question two. What advice would you give them now?

Be honest. Think about, write or talk about your answer/s. Step 2 and 3 can be repeated until you get to the heart of the matter with a personal step by step action plan. For example:

Step 1. Be assertive and tell him how you feel.

Step 2. What’s the point, he won’t listen.

Step 3. How will you know if you don’t try? Give it a go.

Step 2. Yes, but what if he tells me I’m being too sensitive.

Step 3. It’s OK to feel the way you feel. Be specific and explain the situation.

Step 2. Yes, but what if I get flustered and forget everything.

Step 3. Plan and rehearse what you are going to say.

Using this technique

This transformational technique can be used with anyone, at anytime and on any given subject. Depending on the situation you may choose to substitute “What advice would you give to a colleague…” with “What advice would you give to your best friend…” or “What advice would you give to your child…” This can be really powerful in helping yourself and others answer from a position of care. Use the What Advice Would You Give technique to empower individuals or teams, to use their initiative, deal with difficult situations and build confidence. Remember the more we help others to manage themselves, the less we need to manage them.

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