No matter who your employer is, nor in which industry or filed of work, you should be required to either set goals and objectives or achieve them. These goals and objectives should be the result of strategic planning were strategies, initiatives, task leaders, a budget, and timeline are established.
In turn, strategic planning is the prime tool of the workplace to achieve your employer’s vision and mission while utilizing the employer’s values. Thus, the employer’s vision, mission, strategic plan, and goals/objectives lay in the heart of your workplace’s function. Anything and everything should be done in light of these four elements, though within a flexible work-frame.
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It is clear that goal-setting is a highly appreciated and sought-after skill that employers seek in leaders, managers, and employees. We would suggest that goal-setting follow the acronym of S.M.A.R.T., resulting in “smart goals” or rather “s.m.a.r.t. goals”. Simply put, it is the s.m.a.r.t. way to go about things. It does not matter which goals you are setting, why, for whom, etc.
S.M.A.R.T. goals allow you to both set high quality goals for yourself and other and engages you and others in the assurance that these goals will be achieve or were achievable when planned. S.M.A.R.T. goals are widely and commonly used in academia and research, yet can be utilized by anyone on a daily basis. Still, do not be surprised if you find out that people have not heard of them, or are inexperienced in using them.
Time to learn what S.M.A.R.T. stands for and how to set and use S.M.A.R.T. goals. S.M.A.R.T. is an acronym that originally stood for: Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic, and Time-related. Since 1981 when it was first published by George T. Doran the letter “A”, “R” and “T” were also used for “attainable”, “achievable”, “relevant”, and “timely” accordingly.
Specific – each goal/objective relates to a specific area of function, improvement, need, etc.
Measurable – the achievement of the goal/objective must be provable with high certainty. If numeric values can be assigned as part of proving the achievement, that is preferred.
Assignable – relates to making sure that it is clear who is in charge and accountable for achieving the goal/objective.
Realistic – relates to goals that can actually be achieved.
Time-related – when can the results be achieved?
When addressing the specificity of a goal/objective, the more specific the goal and what exactly needs to be achieved is clear, the better. Let’s examine several examples of goals set and analyze them according to the S.M.A.R.T. acronym:
Example #1: “We will improve by 6%”. This goal does not indicate which specific area should be improved, it does not indicate who will achieve this goal, it is not clear if this goal is realistic, and there is no indication of the time-frame to achieving this goal. It does however have a measurable aspect to it, since an increase of 6% could be measured if data collection processes and tools are in place correctly.
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Example #2: “We will improve by 6% within a year”. This goal does not indicate which specific area should be improved, it does not indicate who will achieve this goal, and it is not clear if this goal is realistic. However, there is an indication of the time-frame to achieving this goal, and It does have a measurable aspect to it, since an increase of 6% could be measured if data collection processes and tools are in place correctly.
Example #3: “We will improve our sales of oranges by 6% within a year”. It does not indicate who will achieve this goal, and it is not clear if this goal is realistic. However, there is an indication of the time-frame to achieving this goal, it does have a measurable aspect to it, since an increase of 6% could be measured if data collection processes and tools are in place correctly, and it is clear that we must increase the sales of oranges.
Example #4: “The produce department will improve our sales of oranges by 6% within a year”. It is not clear if this goal is realistic. However, there is an indication of the time-frame to achieving this goal, it does have a measurable aspect to it, since an increase of 6% could be measured if data collection processes and tools are in place correctly, it is clear that we must increase the sales of oranges, and it is clear that this goal is set for the produce department to achieve.
In regards to the increase of oranges’ sales being realistic or not, it should be determined based on reliable data collected by the goal-setter or based on external reliable data that would indicated that a 6% increase in the specific sales of oranges is realistic for this business specifically. Of course, concluding that data is reliable is a multifactorial process.
When the acronym uses the letter “A” to represent the word “achievable” it relates to several ideas:
§ Do the technology and/or means exist at all? – have they been invented yet?
§ Do the technology and/or means exist within the workplace (if they exist at all)?
§ Do we have the skills and resources needed?
The “realistic” component relates to the actual chances of the goal being achieved. While addressing the realistic part of a goal, you must ask yourself “what are the chances of this actually happening?”. Hurdles could include the lack of technology, knowledge, time, skills, costs, etc. that turn the goal into unrealistic. The more multifactorial a goal is, the greater the chances that it won’t happen…
The measurable aspect of a goal usually relates to a numeric value-based outcome or the reason indicated as the cause for the outcome. For example, if we use once more the example from above, yet add what should be the cause of the increase in oranges sales, the aspect of being to measure the achievement of the goal becomes more complex. Let’s examine:
“The produce department will improve our sales of oranges by 6% within a year due to customer-service satisfaction”. While it is clear that this is a S.M.A.R.T. goal, it will require collecting data that will show that the increase (if achieved) was solely due to customer-service satisfaction. Thus, it is possible that the sales of oranges will increase by 6% within a year due to the efforts of the produce department, and yet it might not be proven to be due to customer-service satisfaction alone.
It is clear that a strategic plan on behalf of the produce department needs to be created and well implemented to achieve this goal, and to be able to measure and prove its causes.
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