Accountability

Goal-Setting

I.

Goal-Setting
Related Concern: Core team members submit crammed work,
and are unprepared for the meetings relating to their tasks like
budget hearings.

a. Goal setting is a process that provides a benchmark to

determine success. To accomplish goals, the goals must be set
properly. Goal setting is a process that starts with consideration
of the goal in mind, and includes passion and hard work in order
to achieve it. (Mind Tools Team) One method of setting goals is
backward planning, a type of goal setting wherein the steps are
created from an end to current approach.

b. In the context of the client, the process of goal setting allows a

team to not only set the long-term goals, but also keep teams in
track to reach the said goals. Also, goal setting provides a team
the basis for project evaluations so that they can improve on
further projects. Setting short-term goals and action plans allow
the clients future project managers be more efficient and
organized.

c. Backward Planning

1. Set Goals That Motivate You

1. When setting goals for the team, be sure to set goals
that motivate all the members of the team. Relate
them to high priorities of the organization, so that
committing to the goals will be easy. It always helps
to always ask why it is valuable to the team when
setting goals.
2. Backward Planning & Making an Action Plan
1. Given that the organization has projects with goals
already determined as well as thrusts, a backward
planning method of goal setting is applicable. Along
with this is the creation of an Action Plan to reach
the goals that have been created.
2. In backward planning, the team starts with their end
goal in mind, and from there, create steps to reach
that goal, following an last-first order of creating
steps (a reversed direction from a traditional plan of
start-end)
3. The backward planning model fits the context of the
client since the an issue that they have with projects
is the steps they take to reach goals. The model
points out milestones that need to be achieved in the
process, and helps decide on a timeline for
completing tasks

d. As teams to the projects and as officers of the organization, it is

important to and plan out the tasks that have to be
accomplished to reach the goals of the project and the thrusts of
the organization. These steps will lessen the cramming of
project teams, as they have deadlines that are more incremental
in nature, instead of being one big deadline at a certain point in
time of a project.

e. Source: Mind Tools Team. Mindtools: Essential skills for an

effective career. n.d. 25 November 2015. Retrieved from

https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_90.htm
Orfano, Finn. Bright Hub Project Management. 21 April 2013.
25
November
2015.
Retrieved
from
http://www.brighthubpm.com/project-planning/52528-backwardgoal-setting-and-project-management/

II.

Accountability
Related Concern: Core team members do not do the duties
asked from them, the task is often handed to project managers
and the other core team members that are active in the project

a. Accountability is the guiding principle that defines how we

make commitments to one another, how we measure and
report our progress, how we interact when things go
wrong, and how much ownership we take to get things
done. (Hickman, Smith and Connors)

b. The client finds it difficult to manage the heads of the different

projects that the organization has. The delayed and crammed
output by the project heads is caused by the lack of their sense
of accountability towards the task they have taken responsibility
to do. By imparting the importance of being accountable, and
stressing how being accountable is not taking the blame when
negative matters happen, the project heads will realize the
importance of committing to the tasks they take up, promote a
more positive outlook towards being accountable to their tasks,
and allow a more efficient and manageable environment.

c. In relation to the previous key point of the process of goalsetting, accountability instills the sense of duty and
responsibility to accomplish the tasks that have been set by the
team, and tracking the progress made. It is in accountability and
in being accountable for the responsibilities that the team takes
that the success of the projects and fulfillment of the thrusts of
the organization are achieved.

d. Source: Hickman, Craig, Tom Smith and Roger Connors. The Oz

Principle:
Getting
Results
Through
Individual
and
Organizational Accountability . New York, NY: Penguin Publisher
Group, 2010.
THOUGHT PROCESS
After diagnosing the outcomes of the exploratory meeting, the main things
that can be addressed through a short-term engagement with the client is
goal setting and accountability. The framework for the content outline is as
follows: a hard-skills topic, which is then supported by a soft-skill topic that
builds and supports the foundation created. The first topic is goal setting.
After that, accountability will build on the foundations started by the
module on goal setting, and provide the participants with the sense of
responsibility and duty to achieve the goals that they have set.
We decided to cater goal setting as that is one of the issues that the client
would like Ateneo CODE to address, which is an improvement in the way
they handle their projects. With a solid backbone on goal setting, task
assignment and delegation, teams have the ability to be more efficient and
autonomous. We also decided on accountability as most problems from
projects come from the root where the people in charge of the project do
not necessarily feel the importance and value of the responsibility that has
been given to them. Furthermore, given that the engagement is short-term
in nature, a complete overhaul to the project management system may not
be feasible; instead, the team found it more realistic to address the
problems of the people in charge of the projects.