SMART Goals: a must have in your Arsenal

 

Prof. Mandi Sir aka T.Prasad Sir conducted a dedicated lecture on SMART Goals and its application in real life. I personally found the topic not only relevant as part of the business communication subject but also useful in day to day activities.

Here, I will try to explain the concept of SMART goals and importance/ need of setting SMART goals with business relevant examples.

1st use of Term SMART:

The SMART acronym was used by George t. Doran in 1981 for a magazine named as: there is a smart way to write the management's goals & objectives.

SMART is an acronym that stands for:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Realistic
• Time-bound

Specific

Specific goals are clearly defined & clear on what needs to be accomplished. What exactly do you want to achieve? The more clear the description, the less room there is for interpretation between good & bad results.

Examples:

• Good: Get a written commitment from 35 customers to enter product feedback
• Bad: Talk with customers about product feedback.

In the bad example, it is not specific enough about what success looks like. If you have fewer conversations with customers, will the goal be accomplished?

Adding more specific deliverable like asking for a certain no. of committed customers makes the goal Specific.

Measurable

Measurable goals have clearly identified how you will evaluate whether or not you are successful or not. Usually, this also means breaking your goal down into quantifiable evidence of whether it's accomplished or not. Eating healthier is not a goal, but eating vegetables twice a day & dessert only once in a month is.

Example

Good: Onboard 20 customers into product beta and deliver a list of product feedback suggestions.

Bad: Run a product beta to get feedback from the customers.

In the bad example, it is not measurable enough what success looks like. How many customers do we need to get great feedback from your product data? If customers are invited to the beta but don’t participate, is that still considered a success? By defining a no. of customers as well as a clear deliverable of product feedback suggestions, these particular goals become Measurable.

Attainable

Attainable the goal is realistic about what is possible given that the availability of resources, time, and knowledge. Ideally, it should stretch your ability but remain in the realm of possibility to get complete.

Example

Good: Schedule meetings with at least 3 of our customer CEOs during beta.

Bad: Have a meet with all customer CEOs during product beta.

While every situation can be different, it's usually very hard to get the meeting on the calendar with CEOs so meeting with the entire customer list would be truly unrealistic. Managing the goal to schedule with 3 or more, this actually creates room for making the goal Attainable.

Relevant

Relevant goals are important to you & will make a material impact on achieving your larger objectives. Does that make a difference to your overall objectives if this goal is met? Though many goals are worthwhile expenditures of time duration, it may not always be the right timing and match to current needs.

Example

If the main focus for the business is getting beta feedback prior to an official launch, an example of an irrelevant goal would be sponsoring the industry conferences during the beta period.

Time-Based

Time based goals lock goals into a specific timeframe & specify when they will be completed by. This ties into the M for the measurable goal because in order to a goal to truly be measurable, it needs to be time-based.

Example

Good: Onboard 15 customers into product beta by end of Q1.

Bad: Onboard 15 customers into product beta.

While the "bad" example is actually quite measurable and very specific, it doesn't specify by when. By changing the goal to be clear on when the goal needs to be achieved, it becomes Time-Based.

Why the smart goals are so Important?

Smart is one of the most useful tools that provide the focus, clarity & the motivation that you need to achieve your desired goals. It can also improve your abilities to reach them by encouraging you to define your objectives and set a completion date beforehand.

Another thing that is very important when setting smart goals, is formulating it positively. Always remember that what you focus on, increases. Hence when you focus on not doing something, all you think about is that thing and it will increase. So you don't 'stop procrastinating', but 'achieve a daily discipline'.