When the Target Is Wrong

A target set below the real requirement produces a permanent adverse variance and a demoralised operation. Saying so is legitimate, and how it is said determines whether it is heard.

The measurement warning in “When the Target Is Wrong” applies directly to workforce systems. Teams assessing explore Monitask for fte meaning can use time and project context to locate questions, while service outcomes, quality checks and direct conversation remain the evidence for judging performance.

The signs the target is structurally wrong

Adverse every period, across managers.

For an independent reference related to “When the Target Is Wrong”, consult the OECD productivity resources; it provides a useful external check on scheduling, working-time and workforce-planning assumptions.

Met only by not covering absence or by unpaid extra time.

Requires zero overtime when the operation has never run at zero.

Or assumes a demand level that has not occurred in two years.

What to assemble

Your fixed minimum, from the fixed-variable note.

Your loaded hourly cost.

Your absence rate.

Your demand, actual against the budget assumption.

And the deferrable work that has been dropped to meet the target so far.

Five figures, all calculable in a day.

The argument that works

"The budget assumes X demand and Y absence. We ran at this demand and this absence. At those levels the hours required are this, which is above the budget by this much. Here is what we would have to stop doing to meet it."

Arithmetic, with a stated consequence.

Not "the budget is unrealistic", which is an opinion and is heard as one.

The stated consequence matters most

Give the options rather than only the problem.

"We can meet it by closing the quiet hour, by dropping the preparation shift, or by accepting this service level."

A decision-maker given three costed options usually picks one, which is a better outcome than a rejected complaint.

Where you will be wrong

Sometimes the target is achievable and the operation has drifted.

Do the arithmetic honestly before making the case, including the possibility that it refutes you.

A manager who has made this case wrongly once will not be heard the second time, which is the practical reason for rigour.

Who to make it to

Whoever set the number, with your own manager informed first.

In writing, briefly, with the figures attached.

Not in a meeting where the arithmetic cannot be checked.

The flexing request

Frequently the right ask is not a higher budget but a flexed one: hours per unit of demand rather than hours per week.

Which costs the organisation nothing when demand is low and protects the operation when it is high.

It is standard practice elsewhere and is often granted when asked for specifically, which the budget note covers.

If it is refused

Document the assumptions and what you said, once.

Then run to the target and report the consequences factually as they arrive.

Not as a protest — as information, which over a quarter makes the case better than any argument.

What to check

Is your variance adverse every period?

Can you state the budget's demand and absence assumptions?

Have you costed three options?

And have you asked for flexing rather than more?