Setting objectives

Every year every employee should be set objectives. The idea is that after a year a person should have learnt to do what they do better, and this should create some capacity to take on some new activity. Ideally, this activity should provide an interesting challenge for the individual as well as adding value to the organization. Good objectives should be ‘SMART’: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-limited. In other words, it should be clear to everyone what the person will do, by when and how it will be measured. The objectives need to be within the control of the individual. Commonly, the objectives require the individual to gain some new skills and so they may be linked to their personal development plan. For example, a secretary may require training if his or her objectives are to start to take minutes of meetings or a consultant may need training if he or she is to become an appraiser.

Job planning

It is very helpful for every member of staff to understand what they have to do at different times in the week. Everyone needs some form of timetable. For senior medical staff this has taken on considerable complexity as different aspects have become enshrined in the National Terms and Conditions. For junior staff the timetable has become complicated by the competing requirements of service and training, and the European Working Time Directive. At the centre is the issue that medical staff are given a great deal of discretion in deciding their work patterns. This allows flexibility to respond to clinical need and encourages a broad range of very valuable contributions, but creates difficulty in documenting activity and demonstrating value for money.