As part of my course, I’ve come across something called Management By Objectives, the concept of which is actually rather straightforward, but like many academic things, people find the necessity to wrap it up in theory, studies, critical analysis and arguments for and against, so they can make you write about it in an exam setting. I was recently whinging that I had little to write about in here but I’ve been using this theory for the last two months with good effect.

Management By Objectives (here in called MBO) has the basic premise that a task is more likely to be acheived if it is broken down into is constituent parts, which can then be used as targets. So a strategic big goal, such as ‘grow revenues by 20%’ could be split into something like ’service 20 transactions a day’. Day to day attainment leads to the bigger goal.

Everyone has goals. Obviously, some of the big ones take priority. For example, earning enough to pay the rent or mortgage. Earning enough to eat. Behaving well enough so that your partner doesn’t leave you. The motivators for these are pretty clear, and for most people, it’s automatic. Motivation just happens, even though the brain may resent it. But, there are loads of goals that we, as complex beings pursue either conciously, or subconsiously at one time. What about a goal like ‘get a six-pack’, ‘get qualified’? These are big goals where motivation can be big on certain days but the sight of these goals may be lost in the hum of everyday life.

This is where MBO can help. For example, attaining a goal such as ‘qualify with Master’s degree by 2009 end’ is already broken down for you in sorts in the course manual: ‘Study 15 hours a week’. But, by paring this down on to a daily basis, you get ‘Study 1 hour a day’. (Average will still be 15, as library visits mean significantly over).  But, you can put lots of goals on, no matter how small. For example:

Health: I want be healthy>visit gym every day.
Wealth: I want to be rich>investigate alternative source of income
Women: I want a beautiful girlfriend>talk to a beautiful woman every day.

Note that clearly, MBO is not a guarantee of success in the long run. If there was a business method that guaranteed success, I’d like to hear it. The key point is to break down the big task into attainable segments. The key is in the process, and I can absolutely guarantee that you will be better off for doing it.

Here’s how I do it:
- Get a spreadsheet program on the computer.
- On the left column going down, type in all the tasks you have set for yourself.
- Narrow the columns, and number them at the top, for days of the month.
- Print.

You’ll have something like a register now, with loads of boxes for you to tick or cross as the tasks are attained. So this piece of paper is vitally important, so make sure you don’t lose it at any time.

Number of tasks is very important. You don’t want too many, and you don’t want too much. I have 16,  for instance. Most of them are pretty quick but some of them are not. Completing all of them all in one go might take about 2-3 hours but as I spread this throughout the day, I always have something to do right up until bedtime. You’ve got to have balance.

What about failure? Sometimes, you just aren’t going to have the time to do everything, for example if you have prior engagements or other stuff. So don’t penalise yourself too much over this. Be honest with yourself and leave the box blank. Currently, I allow a box to get ticked if I do double the next day (but am not sure of the correctness of this). The key is, gaps are part of the plan. As the month progresses, you can see where the gaps are and maybe find the reasons why. Maybe it needs to be changed, or removed for next month. MBO isn’t an exact science, and there are businesses striving to set goals which are incorrect in the first place.

Of course, while you shouldn’t penalize yourself, there should be rewards for completing every task on the day. I’ll talk about this next time.