Management by Objectives.

We see MBO making a comeback. Quite right, it’s Drucker.
https://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/the-only-management-technique-you-need-right-now.html

We would modify it in six ways for the 2020s:

1. Don’t delegate. Authorise and invite… servant manager not command and control.
2. If they’re knowledge workers, then define the objectives for each team, and reward each team, not each individual. Knowledge workers don’t work alone.
3. You cant always be precise. In complex or chaotic situations you have to explore. Then the objective is broad, even vague.
4. You might like to link it to OKRs, which clearly relate.
5. All teams are inter-dependent, it is very rare for a team to control its outcomes, so don’t measure teams by MBO, KPI, OKR…
6. And finally, you need to adjust those objectives often, iteratively, for a VUCA world. That’s agility. You don’t get to step back and watch it unfold.