How to achieve more by setting SMART goals

To be suc­cess­ful, you need to set goals. Every busi­nessper­son or manager knows this. Still, we often fall short of our goals in everyday life. The goals them­selves are often the un­der­ly­ing cause. The type of goals you set and the way you set them sig­nif­i­cant­ly in­flu­ences your like­li­hood of success. Goals have to meet certain criteria in order to be mo­ti­vat­ing, at­tain­able and ben­e­fi­cial for the company. SMART goals in­cor­po­rate all these criteria.

Sometimes goals are too fuzzy, and other times they’re too un­re­al­is­tic. Sometimes a goal has no deadline, sometimes the deadline is too tight. You can make a lot of mistakes when setting goals. But you still need goals if you want to get anywhere. They provide a sense of direction. In a business context, goals keep employees engaged and ensure that they use their skills and cre­ativ­i­ty to deliver the desired results. Goals serve as a guide for measuring team progress. Last but not least, goals are what motivate the team to act in the first place.

However, goals won’t be effective if you simply set a vague direction and say “Give it your best shot!”. In 1990, after years of research studying goal-setting theory, Latham and Locke showed that goals work best when they meet five specific criteria. They used the acronym “SMART” to summarize these criteria. SMART is made up of the initial letters of the five criteria.

Specific: Ob­jec­tives should be defined as precisely and specif­i­cal­ly as possible. Business goals should be es­pe­cial­ly clear about the desired outcome and shouldn’t leave any room for in­ter­pre­ta­tion. The goal should always be stated pos­i­tive­ly. (Positive statement: “We want to be prof­itable again.” Negative statement: “We want to get out of the red.”)

Mea­sur­able: The goal should be stated so that progress can be verified ob­jec­tive­ly. Define reliable metrics such as monthly sales, the number of con­ver­sions per month, or the number of sales per quarter. However, not every goal can be measured using quan­ti­ta­tive in­di­ca­tors. In that case, use qual­i­ta­tive metrics such as customer or employee sat­is­fac­tion and rank them on a graded scale.

At­trac­tive: Everyone involved has to be “attracted” to the goal so they are motivated to reach it. The chances of success are slim without this com­mit­ment and an emotional con­nec­tion to the goal.

Realistic: You should set realistic goals so that employees can achieve them and accept their re­spon­si­bil­i­ties. Goals can be ambitious, but don’t set the bar too high for the team. A goal that seems un­re­al­is­tic will kill all mo­ti­va­tion right from the start. To define a realistic goal, you have to consider the resources and time available.

Timed: Every goal should have a clear deadline. Employees will be more motivated if there’s a clear timeline for mile­stones. A schedule also coun­ter­acts the tendency for team members to pro­cras­ti­nate and postpone tasks. Let col­leagues know that progress will be checked on certain dates. That will give them extra mo­ti­va­tion to perform.

SMART criteria are one of the most popular tools for setting goals and have many strengths, but they also have some weak­ness­es.

Setting goals, es­pe­cial­ly SMART goals, has many ad­van­tages. Here’s a summary of the main ad­van­tages:

• They make it easier to reach goals: Like packing for a trip, you’ll be better prepared if you know where you’re going. SMART goals are specific, so they’re a good starting point for detailed project planning.
• They create clarity about pri­or­i­ties: Clearly defined SMART goals are es­pe­cial­ly helpful if you find it difficult to set pri­or­i­ties and easily get bogged down in unim­por­tant tasks without a clear objective.
• They boost the prob­a­bil­i­ty of success: If you set SMART goals, you can clearly verify whether and to what extent a goal has been achieved. Having this clear benchmark can increase employee mo­ti­va­tion and en­gage­ment. In the study “Toward a Theory of Task Mo­ti­va­tion and In­cen­tives” of the American In­sti­tutes for Research employee mo­ti­va­tion increased by 35% after teams agreed on clear ob­jec­tives.

For critics of SMART goals, the benefits are out­weighed by some serious dis­ad­van­tages.

• They encourage medi­oc­rity: SMART goals require you to set realistic ob­jec­tives. As a result, visionary business ideas might not be pursued and managers and teams may embrace medi­oc­rity.
• They inhibit mo­ti­va­tion: If SMART goals aren’t ambitious enough, they won’t have a mo­ti­vat­ing effect, as shown by a Lead­er­ship­IQ study.
• They increase the pressure to perform: This weakness is a drawback for any goal-setting practice, and not specific to SMART. However, SMART goals allow for a clear dis­tinc­tion between “achieved” and “not achieved”, so employees are less able to make excuses and cover up a failure. Whether this trans­paren­cy actually leads to increased pressure to perform depends on the company’s culture of handling mistakes. When a goal isn’t met, does the company in­ves­ti­gate the causes con­struc­tive­ly or assign personal blame?

Goals are what drive busi­ness­es. But how you define goals is what de­ter­mines their success. SMART goals are a proven tool for setting goals so that you and your employees have a clear target in view as well as a basis for defining specific mile­stones.

You’ll increase your chances for success if you define goals for you and your employees that are specific, mea­sur­able, at­trac­tive, realistic and timed. The devil is in the details, however. Smart goals can also be dis­cour­ag­ing and limit cre­ativ­i­ty and com­mit­ment.

It’s important to use the in­di­vid­ual SMART criteria with sen­si­tiv­i­ty and con­tex­tu­al awareness. Does the team need very tight guide­lines or should the goal allow for some leeway to inspire cre­ativ­i­ty? Will a tight deadline boost pro­duc­tiv­i­ty or should you strive for realistic deadlines to avoid coun­ter­pro­duc­tive pressure to perform? These detailed questions will ul­ti­mate­ly decide how effective your goals are. Even the best formula can’t make the decision for you. So you’ll still need to rely on your own judgment.

And don’t worry if you don’t warm to SMART goals. You have al­ter­na­tives. Learn about other tech­niques such as the WOOP method, the KRAFT model, or the ALPEN method. These methods have a proven track record and are sometimes even better than SMART criteria when it comes to mo­ti­vat­ing teams to do their best work.

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