It's really simple, actually:

Change like this *must* start at the very top and roll down. If the executive team adopts personal objectives to which they are held to account by the Board and then, themselves, set personal objectives for their subordinates to which they then hold them to account, the process will cascade down easily.

I've seen this try to get implemented several times in different organizations and fail and every time it fails it's down to the simple fact that the executive team think their time is too valuable for it to have to affect them and what cascades down is the attitude that it doesn't matter and no one really cares.

Totally agree with Robey. In addition make it easy, relevant to your work, individual circumstances and development. Make it centre around the normal workplace discussions. I would also encourage managers to link up with peers to check for consistency. Finally the job holder needs to see how it benefits them so they engage with identifying achievements and development needs. The most difficult issue is linking with pay so I will leave that out unless you have a separate question.

We took over a number of council run care homes in desperate need of a change in culture and practice. They already had what they called 'supervision', but it was really like a little cosy chat with grandad or grandma. Sort of share you worries, hopes and aspirations. It achieved little if anything and wasn't valued - other than as a nice time waster by most of the staff.

So we decided MBO/Appraisals were the way to go..
1. So we gave presentations to the staff, with myself another trainer and the CEO about what we wanted. The whole process was explained as per Robey - its a cascade system downwards.

2. We were also going for Investors In People at the same time so we explaining links between the two processes.
3. I ran the practical workshops for the managers and some of the carers. Once that was done no one could really see the relevance of their existing 'Supervision" system but we decided to keep the name and replace the content with MBO/Appraisals and kept any paperwork to the minimum, with mainly notes covering what objectives, training needs and support agreed had been made with manager/subordinate.

All in all it went down better than was expected but that may have been that the existing 'supervision was seen to be a waste of time with no relevance anymore.