It is that time of the year when semesters wind down and everyone is looking forward to the summer and graduations. I am off to Florida later this month to attend my wife’s nephew’s high school graduation, and of course play some golf. I was talking to a friend from India this past weekend when my wife was at UConn commencement about how different things were back home. We did not have graduation ceremonies for high school or for finishing undergraduate degrees! We all wrote our final exams and the results were published in newspapers (now they are available online). The day after the results, newspapers carried stories about the disappointed souls – some of them way too disappointed because they did not get the highest ranks in their respective schools! I completed my Masters degree in Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, where we had a commencement, primarily due to the foreign connections of the IITs. Things are beginning to change there.

For administrative staff in Higher Ed, this is also the time when performance reviews are done and goals are set for the upcoming year. Having worked in Higher Ed for 25 years, I know that these processes have been relatively new. I was a skeptic about this whole thing when we got started, but over the years, I have come to understand the value of the process.

So, what are goals? I suggest you view this short video. I like it because it is concise and explains what a goal is,  how it cascades down, through an example.

The video provides the best advise – “cut the semantics out”. Sometimes, we spend a lot of time debating what a goal is- is it the “day job” or is it the “big projects”? My suggestion is, start with an actionable item that follows the SMART categorization – make it specific, measurable, attainable, realistic/relevant, time bound.

I like the cascading approach. Let us look at the institutional strategic plan and set organizational goals. These organizational goals should then act as a guide for the individuals to be able to set theirs. They are more thematic than SMART goals themselves.

The other part about this video I like is the use of increasing or decreasing in the goal and not “maintaining”. Of course, decreasing needs to be used in the right context! I love the suggestion by one of our staff members which I have taken the liberty to modify: “Decreasing the time from inception to production of applications through the rapid application development techniques”. This can be a theme upon which individuals can set goals that are SMART – specific process improvements and/or application development techniques that will be used to create a number of relevant (and requested) apps that have significantly increased impact (measurable) on the users during the next year (time bound). The attainability is going to be based on the choices of the various parameters – the goal here is to “reduce the time to market”, the outcome of which is increased output; output is not necessarily to be measured by the sheer number of apps, rather the quality of them and the impact it will have on the community;  any process improvement involves others, so, having a conversation with those who are likely partners to help you achieve this goal and sharing this goal and the plan with them is essential.

A worthwhile goal such as “I will work to increase the adoption of service x by y% by June 30, 2012” crosses the attainability boundary and needs careful vetting. Assuming that the person specifies the service well and it is relevant to the organizational goal, this passes all but the attainability test. There is a big unknown here – the service adoption is not in the hands of the person who sets the goal, so the specified increase may not be achievable. Training and some of the Library Services are good examples of this.

In both of these cases, we hear from the community the need for new or increase in services, but when we offer, there are not many takers – of course, I am oversimplifying this, but I am sure everyone can relate to this frustration. The critical part of a goal like the one above is to make sure that these services are in line with the organizational theme, but offer creative and different solutions to try to achieve them while setting the metrics at more modest and attainable levels. This is why some of these require a lot of consultation with the manager and others.

So, why do this? In very simple terms, it helps us focus better and also develop a plan. As we all know, it is not that we come in the morning, check the goals document, and plan the day. Many of us get pulled in all different directions every day, because this is the nature of what we do. Trying to balance this with the larger goals that everyone sets is the trick that we all have to learn and execute. Too often we don’t reflect on all of our collective achievements because there is so much to do and so little time. Goals help one reflect back on the achievements – when you sit down to do the self evaluation, it provides a basis to brag. This is why I like the term brag sheet!

And, I have asked all LTS members to have one common goal – meeting reduction. In my opinion, we all spend way too much time in meetings, which all seem to be hourlong, for some reason. I suggest that we find a way to reduce these to be more focussed – meet only when necessary, involve only those who are absolutely needed, schedule it for a reasonable time (if you can get the job done in 30 minutes, make it a 30 minute meeting; some may require more time, so schedule it accordingly), and develop action items.

Of course, not all meetings fall in this category because several of us meet from customer relationship development/management, which need to be dealt with differently. Many of what I do is this – take the message about all the good work that the LTS staff do to others. This is not an excuse for me to reduce meetings, so it will be my goal too!

Since I have committed to meeting reduction, I need to think what I will do with all the free time that I will have! Just Kidding 🙂