How Do We Get Project Managers At Think Beyond Basic Project Goals?

Goals within my organisation look at where we would continue to strive towards. They are long term aims. They are stated in our professional development plan stating:-

Get qualified members. People in teamwork should be excited and willing to succeed; conscientious, extraverted and knowledgeable people with that spark needed to get a good performance towards the proposed goals.

Establish objectives together: Define performance objectives with the team and make sure that all team members understand the objectives and what actions will need to be taken to achieve them.

Goals are integral in helping the company set timelines for fulfilling their core mission (Balanced Scorecard Institute, 2014). The division will focus on goals that focus on the generation of new ideas and how long it takes for these ideas to become business successes. As such, long term and short term goals must be clearly outlined.

Each team lead should be responsible for their team, and each team should be held accountable for the risks involved in their department. They should be aware of the elements of the project they are responsible for delivering and make them accountable by holding review meetings each week to measure progress.

What are goals? The prestigious Oxford Dictionary defines a goal as ‘The object of a person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result’. Simply put, a goal is something that one is trying to achieve. A SMART goal is a measurable end result that is meant to be achieved in a set timeframe. For the purpose of this article, we will look at SMART Goals and their importance.

Outcome Goals. Outcome goals may be referred to as the product of the hiring efforts. These goals advise the organization if the ending results that the hiring efforts has justified for the organization and its organizational effectiveness. Referring back to my employer, at the end of each month a report is provided to top management. With this report, it advises top management of the number of employees who were hired, transferred, promoted, terminated and completed their probationary period. In addition, external data such as each hotel’s financial results are joined as well to provide a comparative analysis of how the staffing goals have impacted the financial day-to-day operations.

Great goals are well-defined and focused. “Obtain two new billion dollar corporate clients in the Boston property insurance market” is more meaningful to mobilize your team than “Get more business.” Ryan Blair, The Goals Guy eloquently states,"Focus creates a powerful force: goal power. The moment you focus on a goal, your goal becomes a magnet, pulling you and your resources toward it. The more focused your energies, the more power you

Throughout everyday life, many individuals create goals to keep themselves motivated and make them feel as though they are achieving a desired outcome. When working with a client, it is important to create goals, giving the client something to aim for. Goals are defined as “an observable and measurable end result having one or more objectives to be achieved within a more or less fixed timeframe” (Business Dictionary,

Throughout my career, I increased my capabilities through a series of challenging projects. Whether designing and constructing an orphanage in Africa or planning a research facility on the Arctic glacier of Greenland, I have learned there is no individuality in project management and everyone involved must function as a team.

Goal clarity is a specific performance objective, phrased in such concrete language that it is

In order to achieve the goals set by the department heads, communication and interaction within the team is important. We would usually begin a project with a whole team meeting and brainstorm ideas. Everyone would be invited to these early meeting to ensure that all members of the team have an opportunity to voice any concerns or make any suggestions they may have. We would also invite the team leaders from other teams that may be involved or affected by the project to ensure the goals are achievable. Once tasks have been agreed upon and set, communicating the progress both up and down the chain is important. I would expect progress reports from my team members on an agreed time frame. I would in turn provide progress reports to my managers and department heads. These reports can come in many forms from Emails, telephone calls, meetings or sometimes one on one conversation. It is important to promote synergy, if a team works well together the final result can often be far greater than the sum of its parts.

The contractor’s objectives on the other hand focused on realising the following outcomes for the project:

Kerzner (2003, p6) states that the definition of project success has to be modified from the previous constraints of Time, Cost and performance to include Completion:

Projects represent a growing proportion of human activity in large, small, private or public organizations. Projects are used to execute and sustain today’s organizational activities. They play a fundamental role as the engine of tomorrow’s innovation, value creation, and strategic change. However, projects too often fail to deliver their promise. (PMJ, 2016).