“And the next step in your musing about next year?” I asked.

“At some point, the musing stops,” Lauren replied. “With our vision clearly described, we, now, have to get specific. We have to lay in some goals. The mood turns to targets, checkpoints, outcomes, benchmarks, whatever you want to call it. It’s a goal. Something at a specific Quality standard, at a defined Quantity, within a Time deadline, with specific assigned Resources. QQTR.”

“And who sets these goals?”

“We set them together, each person according to their Time Span of Discretion,” she continued. “My goals have longer Time Spans than our managers. Our managers’ goals have longer Time Spans than our supervisors.”

“And what if there is disagreement on what the goal should be?”

“In the end, we have to be in agreement about the goal, but, as the manager, it is my job to set the context and support why the goals are necessary. The accountability is up to me, to determine the tasks and activities of my managers and supervisors.”