Ah, the annual ritual of objective-setting! Loved by so few, undertaken by so many. Do you get a slight knot in the pit of your stomach, just thinking about it? You're not alone... Most managers dread it because they're not 100% sure of what they're supposed to do. Promoted with little training, they're just supposed how to design objectives. how to develop soft skills. Sure it's easy, right? On top of that, there's the niggling feeling that the process doesn't make much of a difference. It's a tick-box exercise managers are forced to do. Sound familiar? Here's a little secret for you... The usual SMART theory is based on setting a goal for ...but performance objective-setting naturally involves setting a goal with i.e., we're dealing with two processes - SMART Communication. Based on insights arising from the author's own management experience, developing hundreds of managers and designing performance management processes, enter the SMART world of objective-setting and: