In Indonesia, full-fledged large-scale social regulations (PSBB) began in April, and many companies have switched to working from home or used shift systems to reduce work attendance. On the other hand, the company's business must move forward, and it is necessary to set goals and business plans for that purpose. Goal setting, which is usually done at the beginning of the fiscal year, is generally connected to personnel evaluation. The employment situation where we used to work in the same workplace and follow up as necessary has changed completely, and now we have to check and evaluate progress behind the scenes. What should we be careful about?

[SMART goal setting]

Japanese people have a relatively strong tendency to want to evaluate not only the results but also the process. This is very different from the European and American methods, which are said to be business-based. It is first necessary to consider where to focus the evaluation, and to set goals that will enable that evaluation. In general, it is often said that you must set SMART goals. SMART is an abbreviation consisting of Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Related, and Time-bound. This means clearly specifying what you are going to do, setting achievement indicators that can be objectively evaluated in the same way by anyone, choosing things that are in line with your business goals, not just dreams but things that can be achieved with effort, and setting goals that will allow you to systematically set a time frame and measure progress. I think the thing that bothers me the most is Measurable, which is an index that objectively evaluates results. It is best to be able to express your goals numerically, but unlike sales targets, it is difficult to quantify goals, especially for back-office workers. Let's devise ways to set achievement status from a different perspective, such as reducing the number of mistakes and responding on time. The key point is that at least the manager and the employee can draw the same picture of their accomplishments.

[Regular progress confirmation is key]

It is said that humans are basically lazy. If something is not seen or heard, it tends to end up not being worked on until the final deadline, like summer vacation homework. The key to preventing this is to regularly check your progress. We regularly check the difference between the plan made when setting goals and the actual progress, and provide direction corrections and support. If you see each other in the same workplace, you can tell by looking at their faces whether they are having trouble or whether things are going well, but when working from home becomes the norm, it becomes difficult to follow up in a timely manner. Therefore, it is recommended that you have regular conversations regardless of whether there are any problems. For example, if you set a meeting to confirm goal progress on the first Monday of every month, employees will review their goals and plans each time and try to achieve as much results as possible before the meeting. It is possible to have a weekly report and include a progress report on goal achievement, but there are things that can be learned through talking, and there are things that can only be supported through direct conversation, so we recommend talking as much as possible.