Introducing Objectives: track goals with flexibility

Focusing on providing tools for everyday compliance and performance management, that work for people at every level of a business, has been the foundational and ongoing purpose of Inform People. Reviews are one of the original modules we have provided and through their various iterations they have proved an essential tool for feedback and gathering statistics on performance, training requests, competency and a direct route to discovering what steps can be taken to support underperformance and promote excellence. 

With the formal approach to Reviews, there is structure and schedules that usually fit most business approaches. Whether that is a set of annual reviews, 360 reviews, induction or exit interviews, even quarterly staggered review programmes – we’ve supported clients through them all. 

Over the years though, we realised that we had a gap in our goal tracking and objective setting options – logging and responding to agile Objectives that are ad-hoc and ongoing – that don’t fit the standardised structure or which need to exist (in tandem) more frequently – outside the formal review options. 

With this in mind, and seeing the potential that a Calendar view of activity could bring too, we set out to develop our most recent features. 

In full these are:

• Calendar
• Entries
• Tasks
• Objectives

Calendar

Firstly, the Calendar approach is the core of these new features – it gives each action a target date. Whether this be logging situations that occurred previously, setting personal tasks for self improvement, marking visits or occasions, or the targeted goal dates of specific Objectives. 

With a simple interface, the Calendar allows easy navigation to select the date needed and by picking the + sign on any day – to start adding an Entry, Task or Objective. Most of these can be added by a user or their manager – but Objectives are restricted to Management creation only. 

Entries

An Entry is a straightforward ‘Note’ on the Calendar.

They require:

• A title (to help identity them)

They can:

• cover a Single Date or a Range
• have a Start Time (with or without specified End Time) 
• include a detailed description
• be any colour based on your own preferences
• be Private if visible only to you, or Publicly shared with an individual’s manager or wider
• be added in the past, present or future

Once added to the Calendar an Entry can have additional Files and Notes added, but unlike Tasks or Objectives, an Entry  does not need any form of approval or completion – it just exists.

A Note on Notifications

Managers (or people in similar roles) who are adding Entries, Tasks or Objectives to their colleagues will have the additional option, when adding anything to the Calendar, to Notify the person in focus. 

These messages will be, by default, delivered as Private Messages to the Virtual PA of whoever’s calendar is being updated. Depending on an individual’s communication settings, this may also pop up as a push notification on the Virtual PA app, and yet again be sent as an email to their personal email – if they have that option turned on. 

This will allow an Entry or a Task to be used as a Notification of an external visit; pick the date, explain the situation, and alert someone of the occurrence through their Calendar. If they just need to know, an Entry will suffice or if they need to complete a Task beforehand to prepare or just acknowledge when the visit goes ahead, then adding a Task might be more appropriate. 

Tasks

This leads us neatly into further expanding on Tasks and the ways these can be used to log upcoming activity required. Either for self motivated task management or Manager assigned activity – which needs at least some form of sign-off and approval. When adding a Task for a colleague, a Manager can choose whether Evidence is Required (or not) – whether that be an attached file as proof of achievement or just a typed note within the Task itself. 

Inform People’s approach is to provide a framework that our clients use in the way that best suits them – so though we envision Tasks being used as a target driven log of specific kinds of activity, it has mostly been designed as a very simple interface that can be adopted for use in a variety of different ways to suit a company’s goal setting processes. 

Objectives

More formally, there is also the option to set up Objectives – a more strictly permission enabled option within the Calendar (and embeddable into Reviews too) where Managers can set flexible Objectives, directly on a colleague’s Calendar at any time and not tied to a strict Review period. 

The creation page for Objectives uses the same format as Entries and Tasks – the main difference when it comes to completing an Objective is that when reviewing completion of an Objective, a person’s Manager has the opportunity to give a final Rating. (Ratings will use a client’s standard rating system which is customisable on platform set-up). 

 

This is where Objectives have the ability to extend beyond merely task tracking and enter into true performance management.

We understand, from years of providing compliance and performance management software, that there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to health and safety, HR or business management. From company to company, department to department and location to location – managers want to handle their teams their own way. We also understand that disparate approaches, decentralised methods and data silos can create a headache in Head Office.

Hopefully, by adding this approach to goal setting and Objectives, our tailored system will allow busy Management a more flexible routine for check-ins and targeted activity for self improvement while also streamlining and standardising the visibility of all Objectives. Even if the standard ‘once a year’ appraisal is working absolutely in your favour, this Calendar approach to Objectives gives additional ongoing visibility of targets and a formal sign off process too. 

Tracking and Reporting

 

Outside the Calendar view for Entries, Tasks and Objectives there is also an Overview page for Tasks and Objectives – as these are the goal driven and targeted options that need easy access to check and update. Clicking on a tile takes you to a Search result list of any Task or Objective that fits that status. The search can then be adjusted further if required.

Complete Objectives also show a Rating in the results column which makes for easy oversight by Managers when sitting down with a colleague to review progress and set future Objectives. 

 

It’s time to embrace a dynamic approach to Tasks and Objectives 

Tasks and Objectives should be a welcome inclusion into the day-to-day VPA usage of all colleagues, managers and Head Office teams alike – it holds the potential to increase the operational efficiency of progress reviews, goal setting and incremental performance management. 

Our tailored platform approach gives businesses the tools to meet the multifaceted demands of enterprises spanning diverse geographical locations, allows for additional accountability to ad-hoc tasks, embraces the unique needs of certain job roles (some colleagues might need a more light-touch approach to goal setting than others) and maintains centralised oversight, maximising productivity on a national scale.

With a framework to use as it suits your company goal; the agility and adaptability of Entries, Tasks, and Objectives can empower organisations, and the people that make them powerful, to thrive.

If you want to discuss your current performance management approach and see exactly how the Virtual PA could work for you and your teams: book a call here.