Give your managers authority. To climb Mount Everest or achieve what you’re trying to do, it’s really not one big goal — it’s hundreds of small goals and directives that are achieved along the way. What I do is I sit down individually with my direct reports and come up with objectives that make sense in achieving the overall goal. This is done face to face and periodically.
If you’re setting goals right and the communication is clear with your direct reports, they can drive those goals down to who reports to them and so on. That is the way it really should work. Although I do communicate to the company generally in companywide meetings, in general, I don’t encourage too much direct communication with employees who don’t report directly to me. I try to support managers so that they can do their jobs. I try to not undermine their authority.
Through periodic company-wide meetings, you get a sense of how these goal-focused messages are being filtered down, what the overall sentiment is. If the communication is not where it should be, communication with management to address that message may be necessary.
Obviously, overall company performance also tells you something. Is the company moving forward, is it achieving its goals along the way, or is something not right? That can be a pretty good indication that perhaps the message isn’t flowing.
Be willing to adjust. You also need to remember that goals might need to be adjusted. In today’s world, you really have to be pretty nimble. Steering a company is like steering a ship. Sharp turns are not advisable, but small turns along the way may be necessary to get to where you want to go. Every once in awhile, you might have an event that requires a much different objective than where you started. But that is usually few and far between. Usually in the initial business planning process, if you’ve done it right, if you have a good understanding of the market, you probably have the right goal. It might just be a question of timing or continued commitment in getting to that goal.
I use a very collaborative process in that regard. I have lots of ideas, but I always test them against what the management team thinks. Generally, we come to a collaborative solution to the issue. It’s very important to get commitment from the team so that the turns can be made effectively.
When you’re talking about making those turns and what can and can’t be allowed to move, I don’t think anything is a ‘never.’ I have a pretty open mind when it comes to business and life, and I don’t think you ever say ‘never.’ You have to look at the environment and see what is there. In general, the original business concepts that you came up with, the core of your plan, that is probably valid. Things might happen along the way to persuade you that perhaps they are not, but generally speaking, it’s through failure that you learn of a better way to get to the goal that you want to reach. Generally speaking, you need commitments for goals and to not give up on them too soon.
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