Goal-setting ranks high on a supervisor's to-do list. Without goals, employees have no direction or purpose, so it is important for the supervisor to spell out the company's objectives clearly to his subordinates. Supervisors are typically most concerned with short-range goals, according to author and management expert Lester R. Bittel, and these type of goals are generally the most basic objectives a supervisor can set for his team.
Absences are costly and can result in diminished morale and productivity. A 2008 survey by conducted by Mercer and Kronos found that 36 percent of payroll costs were associated with absentee employees. Setting departmental attendance goals to manage absentees due to discontent, stress, personal problems or burnout can result in substantial savings for the organization. A simple objective for improving attendance might be to strive to reduce absenteeism by 15 percent over the last year's attendance records.
Performance and Productivity
A supervisor cannot simply say, "Do the best job you can," when asking for peak performance from his employees, nor can he constantly drive their daily motivation. Goals must be set in terms of specific values that reflect either the individual employee or group performance. For instance, a supervisor in a manufacturing plant might set a basic goal to improve order output from 150 orders to 200 orders each day. Workers are more productive when they understand the importance of the expected outcome and make a commitment to themselves and their supervisor to improve their performance.
Improved Customer Service
If a business is customer-focused and the goal is to improve the company's customer service, the objective might be to "improve the customer service score by 15 points using a direct-mail customer satisfaction survey." A supervisor who is committed to improving customer service skills also might set goals to decrease the time that a customer waits on hold to 15 seconds. Short-term goals provide guidance on a day-to-day basis to help meet objectives such as these. Once goals have been set, the supervisor should discuss the department's progress on a regular basis.
Labor Stability or On-Time Scheduling
Another example of basic goals and objectives a supervisor might strive for is to reduce the turnover rate in her department. If a company has three discharges and two quits in one year, a realistic goal for the next year might be to have no quits for employees who have been with the company for over three years. If the department consistently has problems with job scheduling, the supervisor might ask her supervisees to strive for a 20 percent increase over last year in on-time jobs. With challenging but achievable goals, the supervisor can help foster a sense of accomplishment, increase business and push individuals to thrive in the workplace, according to the website Supervisor Essentials.com.
- What Every Supervisor Should Know: Lester R. Bittel et al.
- Supervisor Essentials: Goals & Motivation
- HR.BLR.com: Survey Reveals Cost of Employee Absence
- Measuring and Improving Organizational Productivity: Robert D. Pritchard
- Supervisory Management: Donald Mosley
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