Writing a Process Objective

An objective is the guidance

Writing a process objective may turn the process management clearer or confusing. It is not unusual to read ethereal and abstract objectives, some of them well intended and others rather excessive. The objective cannot be limited to fulfill a procedure: its purpose is not just to follow a certain method, but achieving something. The objective guides the process management and all that involved people will do to get the expected results.

Start with the obvious and then qualify it

The obvious process achievement is a good place to start: to sell for sales, to provide for purchasing and so on. But the objective is not just doing that; there are requirements about what must be achieved, so to qualify such results with requirements add content and clarity to the process objective: it is not just purchasing, but doing it on time, what is needed, meeting specifications, from a good supplier and within a budget –for instance. Effectiveness, efficiency, timeliness, economy, safety, environment can be subjects from which requirements can be extracted to complete what it is obvious about the process. Namely, a process must perform effectively, efficiently, safe, clean; these words construed for the particular process will produce a complete and clear objective.

Must be aligned

And it is also important to review the objective formulation to check that its achievements are connected to the company directives, for it is in the company operations where the collective achievements are built. The strategy can tell the process what it must achieve, so that managing it contributes to reach collective goals.

Clean wording

Check the wording. If it is confusing, the intention of clarifying the process purpose will be lost; if it is tangled, the reader must make an extra effort to understand it. It is not needed to state it all in just one sentence. Take the time and space necessary to be straight and clear.

Summarizing, the objective starts with what it is obvious for the process and completes it with effectiveness, efficiency, alignment to directives and other subjects that, applied to the process, help defining a clean horizon for the process management.