Important role for a new manager is to set goals for your team members. So four tips to help you set good, effective goals. The first tip is to play to people's strengths. When you can set people goals, targets, objectives, and whatever you call them, that play to people's strengths and preferences. It's far more easy to develop people's strengths than it is to overcome their weaknesses. And when you play to people's strengths, and they're far more willing and enthusiastic in doing that work.
The second important thing is to be very clear to define what done looks like and indeed to set out what I call the evidence procedure the procedure by which you will assess the quality of their work set out for them measures of quality from adequate through good to excellent exception. That way people can calibrate the amount of effort they choose to put in. And you can assess them in a way that is fair, they will should be able to assess their own performance, they should be able to understand the assessment that you give them. Because one of the biggest demotivates work in the sense that we're not being treated fairly. The third thing is essential. in week one, we talked about the importance of your time management.
If you're expecting other people to manage their time, you must give them a clear time target to work to. That way they can schedule their work around your understanding of your level of time priority, and make sure they deliver things on time. You may well have members of staff who not so good at this. So give them a simple piece of advice. If you want it by Friday, recommend they put it into their diary for Tuesday or Wednesday. So they've got Some contingency should something crop up.
And the final thing is to write it down. If I'm going to set you goals, and I need to be sure that you and I have a common understanding of what it is I've asked you to do, so I'll write it down. And that way, we have that record of what precisely I've said to you. So there can be no doubt when I assess your performance, whether you have met the requirement that I've laid out. So for tips, for simple but effective goal setting, firstly, play to strengths. Second, define what done looks like.
Thirdly, set a time limit. And fourthly, write it down.