4.3 Benchmarking or measuring professional development against organisational goals
The purpose of goal alignment is simply to integrate the targets or what may be called Key Result Areas (KRAs) for the enterprise at corporate level with process-level (team) and individual responsibilities, in this case the training and assessment professional.
The corporate and perhaps process-level goals would be reconfigured every calendar year (or nominated planning cycle) and communicated down to the process and the individual level. It should be noted that the process level may cover a variety of bodies from a division or a section in a smaller organisation; a work team that could have a myriad of different configurations; or a strategic business unit.
Each business unit or process-level team would meet to configure operational/business goals that aligned with the broad parameters of the corporate-level goals.
Finally, each department or business unit/process work team unit manager would ensure that KRAs are communicated to individuals participating in setting their own and the work group's goals for the same planning period.
The proposed three levels of involvement would normally be a minimum. Most organisations would, generally, be expected to have planning that span corporate, process/team level and individual levels.
It is important to note that the process of setting individual and team KRAs would also involve setting performance outcome measures. These individual and team outcomes would then reconfigure or augment the successive levels' final definition of performance indicators or outcome descriptions as they were communicated back into the final setting of critical strategic, process and individual performance outcomes.
Activity 5
Goal alignment form
Instructions: Examine your organisation or one you are familiar with. Can you identify a set of goals that 'cascade' down from corporate level, through team or process level to an individual job or personal level?
Hints
Setting Standards of Performance should:
- Define the job in relation to work area and strategic objectives (KRAs);
- Differentiate the job from others in the section/team/work area;
- Integrate the job's performance with the whole section/team/work area;
- Be job related and realistic;
- Be worded in clear and concise language and terms;
- Be framed consistent with organisational culture, procedures and practices;
- Reflect the performance context (location and environment).
Figure 4 Integrating corporate strategic goals with individual performance
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