Hopefully, all organizations have well thought out and defined strategic plans. The Company Leader should have already created the Associate Goal Card including the appropriate Goal Sets and Categories based on the organization's strategic plan. The Associate Goal Card is important because it is the placeholder for all goals assigned to each associate in V2R. These associate level goals are organized on the Goal Card when they are assigned to the appropriate Goal Set and Category as described in the prior sections.

Nothing is more important than assigning concisely defined goals to each associate, that when achieved, will enable the organization to execute their strategic plan. Remember the old expression "What gets measured, gets done"? The only thing correct about this expression is that it is old. Measurement alone is not enough. This is confirmed by the disappointing results that numerous organizations are realizing from their Performance Management programs shows.

The contemporary expression is "What gets managed, gets done". Measurement alone is just the beginning. Analysis and corrective action must be achieved to derive any benefit from measurement. V2R's "No Excuses" Strategy Execution (NESE) process is built on assigning strategic goals to the most qualified associates and then MANAGING their performance to assure the planned results are achieved

Start Here
Determining where and how to start assigning goals is a daunting task for all organizations. Achieving NESE based on these assigned goals is even a bigger challenge. The biggest mistake an organization can make is expanding the goal assignment process beyond the organization's readiness to understand and accept its responsibility to achieve all assigned goals in a timely and efficient fashion.

An excellent place to start assigning goals is with the organization's most important project initiative. Determining an organization's most important project should be based on the anticipated strategic return achieved from the least amount of effort, cost and/or risk assumed. This is referred to as the goal's ROI.

Once the primary project goal has been selected, the appropriate project team should be assembled and assigned responsibility for their individual tasks that will collectively achieve the project's scope. The organization's limited training and project team resources can then be focused on learning the V2R NESE process while simultaneously working on the organization's most important project.

Be Clear
Consistently naming goals and concisely describing them is very important for achieving associate level accountability. The goal name should be used to identify, not describe a goal. The Verb / Noun (i.e. Assemble Prototype) naming convention works well. Try starting the goal name with the action word or verb that describes what you hope to accomplish. The second word in the goal name should be a noun that identifies the goal

The goal description should function like the goal line on a football field that clearly indicates when a touchdown has been scored. The goal description should concisely communicate what is expected, but also limit the scope of what is not expected. Therefore, only the most important deliverables required to consider a project goal successfully achieved should be included in its description. A goal's description should always appear challenging, but attainable for each associate that has been assigned responsibility to achieve it.

Don't Fear
Once the initial project is launched and is running successfully within the V2R process, the second most important project initiative can be selected. The V2R training process should be repeated for the second project team. The second project should then be launched and managed with the same V2R process.

Additional projects can then be launched following the same process until a critical mass of the organization has developed the required knowledge and has confidence in the V2R NESE process.

Cascading Aligned Goals
After an organization has gained experience driving the most important Project Goals with the V2R process, they should expand this knowledge to define and cascade other strategic, tactical and associate level goals across the entire organization.

The Company Leader is responsible for defining the company level goals and assigning them to the Company Goal Set. These company level strategic goals must align with the strategic plan. Oftentimes these strategic goals are metrics that quantify how well an organization is doing. Sales Growth, On-Time Shipments, Defect Parts Per Million (PPM) and Operating Income are common metric goals. Adding strategic goals to the Company Goal Set automatically assigns them to all associates in that company.

Each Group Leader (or Department Head) is responsible for defining the group level goals and assigning them to the Group Goal Set. These group level tactical goals must align with the strategic plan and the company level strategic goals. Group goals may be metric or rated goals. Adding tactical goals to the Group Goal Set automatically assigns them to all associates in that group.

Each Associate or their Boss is responsible for defining the associate level goals and assigning them to the Associate Goal Set. These associate level goals must align with the strategic plan, the company level strategic goals and the group level tactical goals. Adding associate goals to the Associate Goal Set automatically assigns them to each associate.

Goals should never be assigned to associates that don't have the available time or resources to complete them in a timely and efficient manner.

The following sections cover the more detailed V2R goal parameters that drive the associate level accountability and lead an organization to successfully achieve "No Excuses" Strategy Execution.