Encyclopedia of Leadership

 Key Result Areas (KRAs)

This list of phrases describes the key areas in which the person or workgroup needs to

produce results: “What overall results are you expected to produce within your role area?”

 Objectives

These are specific result- or achievement-oriented statements. They clearly describe, as

quantitatively as possible, what the person or workgroup will achieve within a period

of time. (For more information on writing goal statements, see ☛2.7 Goal Statements).

Indicators or Measures for Each Objective

If objectives were not clearly and quantitatively measurable (e.g., “increased employee

satisfaction”), a leader would list agreed-to indicators of success.

Action Plans

The plans listed critical actions a person would take to achieve objectives.

HOW TO USE THIS LEADERSHIP TOOL

“The design of the ideal business sets the direction. It also makes it possible to set targets—

for efforts as well as results.”

—Peter Drucker, MANAGING FOR RESULTS

Most leaders and organizations fine-tune or redesign the MBO process to suit their organiza-

tional context. For example:

• Role statements are replaced by personal or workgroup mission statements.


• Since modern organizations are complex and knowledge-work is highly interdepen-
  dent, key stakeholders or support networks are identified in individual work plans.


• Rewards and consequences are identified for meeting and not meeting objectives.


• The process is often renamed (e.g., Management of Results) to reflect a results orienta-
  tion.

One reason MBO waned as a common management practice was that large binders of MBO

agreements were generated with considerable effort. People thought that if a little goal setting

was valuable, then more would be even better. The result was that the MBO process became a

massive paper chase, and became bogged down under its own weight. Remember, when it

comes to setting goals, less is often more. That is, fewer goals provide better focus and are more

actionable than many goals. Thus, setting fewer goals often leads to a better results. [☛1.10

The GAS Model]

MBO is a recursive process. As such, ask yourself, “What is my goal for the goal-setting pro-

cess?” Design a process that will be congruent with the results you expect! [☛1.8 Recursive

Leadership]

WEB WORKSHEET

Steps for introducing an MBO-type process into your workgroup or team:

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