{"id":1773,"date":"2021-07-16T10:58:39","date_gmt":"2021-07-16T05:28:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/?p=1773"},"modified":"2021-07-16T12:54:16","modified_gmt":"2021-07-16T07:24:16","slug":"ishtiak-ahmed-taher-lead-consultant-worksmart-consulting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/ishtiak-ahmed-taher-lead-consultant-worksmart-consulting\/","title":{"rendered":"Ishtiak Ahmed Taher, Lead Consultant, WorkSMART Consulting"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_1775\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1775\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1775 size-medium\" style=\"margin-top: 30px;\" src=\"https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/1585209077124-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Ishtiak\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/1585209077124-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/1585209077124-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/1585209077124-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/1585209077124-594x594.jpg 594w, https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/1585209077124-250x250.jpg 250w, https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/1585209077124.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1775\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ishtiak Ahmed Taher, Lead Consultant, WorkSMART Consulting<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/ishtiaktaher\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ishtiak Ahmed Taher, SHRM-SCP<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is an expert consultant and trainer in leadership, reward &amp; performance management, workplace communications, human resources management and labor law-related subjects in the corporate sector in Bangladesh. He has more than two decades of experience as a trainer and HR professional in Pharmaceuticals, Shipping &amp; Logistics and Development sector in Bangladesh. Ishtiak\u2019s core competencies include, but not limited to, Organization Development, Performance Management, Total Rewards, Learning and Development, and Labour Relations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ishtiak worked across organizations like Square Pharmaceuticals, Maersk Line, Zuellig Pharma &amp; Expo Lanka Group, United Nation\u2019s World Food Program (WFP) etc.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An MBA graduate from the Institution of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka; Ishtiak has also an LLB from National University. He is also a certified SHRM-SCP (senior certified HR professional) and also a certified SHRM Certification trainer from the prestigious SHRM (Society for Human Resources Management, world\u2019s leading forum for HR professionals and HR certification body, based in the USA).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Currently, Ishtiak is the Lead Consultant at <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.worksmartbd.com\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">WorkSMART Consulting<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a management and HR consulting firm in Bangladesh.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ishtiak can be reached at <\/span><a href=\"mailto:iat1502@gmail.com\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">iat1502@gmail.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this interview, Ishtiak shares with us, his insights on different aspects of Goal Settings:<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><b>In your opinion, should goal settings be a collaborative process between managers and employees? What are the advantages of having a collaborative goal-setting process in an organization?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Goal setting is perhaps the most critical component of an organization\u2019s overall performance management process. And no doubt, goal setting at individual employee level works best when there is a collaboration between the employee and his or her manager. This collaborative approach is not a mere \u201cnice\u201d thing to do, there is a clear business case why it is imperative for both the manager and the employee to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/worksmartbd.com\/2021\/06\/23\/your-performance-objectives-are-smart-but-are-they-properly-implemented\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">collaborate<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some of the most important advantages of collaboration while setting performance goals are:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is a great opportunity for the manager to discuss the overall business strategy with the employee. He can explain how the team&#8217;s as well as the employee&#8217;s works contribute to the achievement of this strategy.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The employee gets an opportunity to be heard as she can share her observations about the goals. As the person on the ground, the employee may explain how she can effectively influence and contribute to the goals as well as explore further opportunities. She can also explain her concerns about any specific aspect of the goals. In response, the manager can also share his or her concerns with the employee.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This collaboration helps both parties to make a threadbare assessment of each goal, its relevance to the strategy, resource requirements and prioritize among goals.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The manager and the employee get an opportunity to discuss about the employee\u2019s personal development needs.\u00a0 They can jointly formulate a plan to bridge the competency gaps for the employee to effectively achieve the goals.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both parties agree on periodical milestones that need to be achieved to eliminate \u201cdrift\u201d from achieving the goals<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As the manager gets the opportunity to collaborate with all the team members, s\/he can get a bird\u2019s eye view to ensure there is an equitable distribution of goals within the team. No team member should be over-burdened with unreasonably difficult goals relative to others.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This opportunity of being heard and being able to actively taking part in the goal-setting process brings a sense of ownership within the employee. This also makes him or her more engaged and committed towards achieving the goals.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Overall, collaboration makes the goal-setting process very transparent and establishes clear accountability and mutual trust among the manager and the employee. As a result, this also enhances the likelihood of achievement or even exceeding the targets set against the goals.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Is it always practical and effective to have a collaborative approach of goal setting? What are the challenges of collaborative goal setting?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Collaboration between the manager and the employee is always the best way of setting performance goals. But, in certain circumstances, this approach of collaboration may become very challenging. For example, if the organization is dealing with some very turbulent business scenario where its very survival is at risk, that may not be a great time for collaborative goals setting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is also an element of \u201cnegotiation\u201d in the collaborative goals setting process. So, like \u201cgood faith bargaining\u201d, the collaboration between the manager and his\/her employees should be done in good faith. IT is not unusual to see when there is pre-existing bad relation between the manager and the employee. This lack of mutual trust is reflected on how they approach the goal-setting process. The manager may see this process as an opportunity to impose unreasonable goals on the employee. On the other hand, the employee may also disagree with whatever goal the manager may bring on the table. In summary, instead of collaborating with each other either both of them see this occasion as an opportunity to manifest their hostility to each other. From my experience, I had seen goals are being \u201cping-ponged\u201d between the manager and the employee without any clear end in sight.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Direct intervention is required from the manager\u2019s manager with full support from HR to resolve such stalemate.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Are sub-goals essential to set effective goals for the employees? Why? <\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Given that we are currently passing through some \u201cfootball fever\u201d (simultaneous hosting of major tournaments like EURO 2020 and Copa America 2021), sub-goals are like the build-up and the assist that lead to the goal in footballing parallel of performance management. So, while goal is the final desirable outcome, sub-goals are the behaviors or tasks that will help to achieve that over-arching goal.<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These are the smaller tasks, which combined, help you achieve the primary goal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let us consider a scenario in a manufacturing plant. There is an alarming rate of work-related injury incidents in this plant where you are the Production Manager. The Director Operations, your manager, sets following goal for you:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cReduce work-related injury incidents by 70% across the plant within next 12 months\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You discuss the goal with your manager, go through the work-injury incident log, analyze the reasons and agree jointly to set following sub-goals:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Review the existing safety SOPs, benchmark them with the available best practices and bring in changes where necessary<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Design and deliver adequate work-related risk awareness trainings for all workers in the plant<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Install necessary warning signage to aware workers about the existing risks<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Conduct a thorough risk assessments of different installations throughout the plant<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ensure availability of adequate PPEs and their proper usage by the workers<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Install a thorough process of regular inspection, reporting and record-keeping of all inspections<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Conduct weekly safety meeting to analyze progress on work-injury incidents and take further actions<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you accomplish the tasks mentioned above as sub-goals, you are expected to achieve the primary goal of reducing work-related injury incidents across the plant.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To sum up, if we try to reach a stretched goal in one giant leap, the risk of failure is much higher. And we then might have to choose a trial-and-error approach which could be both time consuming and also drain out our resources without yielding the desired result. Instead, if we break down the goal into smaller tasks or sub-goals, not only we will achieve our goal much quicker, we will also have better control over the process of achieving the goal.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>What is a zero-target goal? Is zero-target goal desirable?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The phrase \u201czero-target\u201d may evoke some confusions among us. The usual question that comes to our mind, \u201cDoes zero-target mean no target? But, how can a goal become a goal without any target?\u201d. Your confusions are completely justified. But we are not talking about \u201cno-target\u201d here, rather we are referring to a goal whose target is \u201czero\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let me explain. Which employer would not want to have a \u201czero\u201d work-related injury record? Which business would not want to have \u201czero\u201d bad review in social media? Which football team would not want to maintain a \u201cclean sheet\u201d in every game they play? The list can go on. So, in case of a metric where any positive number corresponds to a negative value, a result of \u201czero\u201d is usually a positive thing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, a drive for \u201czero-target\u201d should be seen in perspective. As mentioned before, in certain scenario, a target or a result of zero is desirable. But the question is, up to what point?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let us consider the work-related injury incident example I discussed in the previous question. The scenario explains that the plant had an alarming rate of work-related injury incidents. Let\u2019s say the number was 500 in last calendar year. And further insight shows that there is a culture of complete apathy towards workers\u2019 safety. So, a bit of initial investigation confirms that a massive effort is needed to eliminate the work-related injuries. The situation demands a complete \u201cculture-shift\u201d within the entire workforce.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, while a result of \u201czero\u201d injury incident throughout an entire calendar year is desirable, but is this target practical here? Here a zero-target may contradict the \u201cA\u201d (i.e. Achievable) component of SMART goal. And this unrealistic target may also drive wrong behaviors among the supervisors in the plant. They may completely give up on safety as they see this as an impossible goal to achieve or worse, they may resort to \u201cunder-reporting\u201d of work-related injury incidents.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, it can be said that while a \u201czero-target\u201d goal in certain scenario in business is a desirable outcome, but its likelihood of success should be judged in context of the existing benchmark.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Should all goals be measurable? How to incorporate measurable parameters to otherwise subjective goals?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Global management guru Peter Drucker famously said, \u201cYou can\u2019t manage what you don\u2019t measure\u201d. So, yes, all goals should be measurable. In a good performance management system, all goals should be as objective and measurable as possible. As leaders, our responsibility is to try to eliminate any subjectivity from the performance management system.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, the reality is performance and goals are not always about numbers. Frequently we come across goals that are qualitative or subjective in nature. Author Douglas W Hubbard, in his book <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to Measure Anything<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> said, \u201cLike many hard problems in business or life in general, seemingly impossible measurements start with asking the right questions\u201d. So, that is the first step towards measuring a subjective goal. And we also must remember that concept of measurement is about \u201cuncertainty reduction\u201d and not necessarily \u201ccomplete elimination of uncertainty\u201d. Simply put, \u201csome measurement\u201d is better than \u201cno measurement\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, how do you measure \u201cvalues\u201d of an employee? In such cases, we can take the help of a tool named \u201cBehaviorally Anchored Rating Scales\u201d or BARS. According to <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PerformYard<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cBARS, are a type of performance management scale that use behavior \u201cstatements\u201d as a reference point instead of generic descriptors commonly found on traditional rating scales. Designed to add the benefits of both qualitative and quantitative information to the appraisal process. BARS measures an employee\u2019s performance against specific examples of behavior that are given a number rating for the purpose of collecting data.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, for measuring an employee\u2019s compliance with company\u2019s values, a BARS can be developed like the one shown below:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1776\" src=\"https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Screenshot-2021-07-16-121407.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"740\" height=\"155\" srcset=\"https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Screenshot-2021-07-16-121407.png 967w, https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Screenshot-2021-07-16-121407-300x63.png 300w, https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Screenshot-2021-07-16-121407-768x161.png 768w, https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Screenshot-2021-07-16-121407-594x125.png 594w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can reinforce above BARS by adding more examples and explanation to make it more user-friendly for both the managers and the employees. However, this is just an example. Many organizations are using or exploring more advanced statistical tools to make their respective performance management system as objective as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ishtiak Ahmed Taher, SHRM-SCP is an expert consultant and trainer in leadership, reward &amp; performance management, workplace communications, human resources management and labor law-related subjects in the corporate sector in Bangladesh. He has more than two decades of experience as a trainer and HR professional in Pharmaceuticals, Shipping &amp; Logistics and Development sector in Bangladesh. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1778,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1773"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1773"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1782,"href":"https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1773\/revisions\/1782"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grosum.com\/topTalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}