Table of Contents
What Are SMART Goals?
Every workplace has unique goals and objectives, but meeting these milestones is often easier said than done. That’s precisely where SMART goals come in, as this methodology creates a wide-ranging strategy to identify and achieve a variety of accomplishments. SMART is an acronym, and each letter provides recommendations that align with effective workplace goal-setting:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-Based
Some people use this method to complete certain activities, while others use the system to pursue specific end results, such as improving sales or website conversions. SMART goals are also helpful when implementing a new process at work.
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Which Type of SMART Goals Should You Set?
One of the many great things about using SMART goals at your workplace is that the methodology can be applied to so many areas. It can be instrumental in achieving smaller, short-term goals, as well as larger goals that take place over a period of time.
Typical SMART goal examples include:
- enhancing workplace performance
- completing a project
- increasing sales figures
- boosting the number of app downloads
- improving team collaboration
- building practical job skills
- creating an online filing system
This system can be easily applied to any pending projects and tasks within your workplace. However, it can also help you address deficiencies, such as boosting decreased productivity, enhancing employee morale, and improving lackluster interpersonal skills.
What Are the Components?
Drilling down into each component of SMART provides greater insight when using the strategy to complete relevant goals and achievements:
Specific
Specificity ensures that your plan is highly detailed, with all pertinent factors accounted for. This component involves answering key questions on the who, when, what, why, where, and how necessary to meet your stated goal. If you’re struggling with launching your process, these questions are an excellent place to begin.
Measurable
This component provides quantifiable proof that your efforts were truly successful. To effectively measure success, you must track data and metrics relevant to the goal you’re pursuing. You can also use benchmarks, which establish incremental measures of success and show that you’re ultimately on the right track.
Achievable
Thinking big in the workplace has its moments, but most goals should be achievable. Achievable goals have a basis in reality and can be accomplished using the resources currently available to you. Achievable goals can also be met within a reasonable timeframe, whether that’s a few weeks or several months.
Relevant
The relevancy factor means focusing on goals that make sense within the framework of your business. Striving for certain achievements may be exciting, but they might not offer much benefit if they’re far outside the purview of your business. Overall, goals should benefit the business as a whole, both in the short and long term.
Time-Based
Deadlines for pertinent goals and tasks provide motivation for team members to remain on track. While deadlines and schedules are beneficial, they should also remain realistic. Evaluate each aspect of the plan to determine just how long they’ll take to complete and develop your schedule accordingly.
How Do They Benefit Employees and Managers?
Knowing how to write SMART goals benefits staff as well as managerial teams. Here are some positive outcomes you can expect when using the system:
Benefits for Staff
It can be frustrating for workers when given objectives with no definable plan for achieving them. A comprehensive system provides employees with clear instructions on meeting goals, and ensures the necessary resources are available to do so. In this case, staff can be more productive, as they will implicitly understand what’s required of them and what they need to accomplish within a given period.
SMART goals can also benefit workers when it comes to morale. As objectives are completed, they will have verifiable evidence of a job well done. In addition to the good feeling this creates in workplace personnel, quantifiable evidence of achievement can also benefit employees who are seeking raises and promotions.
Benefits for Managers/Supervisors
SMART goals offer clear strategies for improving workplaces. They also make it easier for managerial staff to determine what type of support and resources are necessary to meet milestones and achieve goals. Improved allocation of resources is an important aspect of goal setting, but also saves businesses money and ensures effective use of budgets.
While SMART goals include lots of details and information, they make for a more efficient process. As a result, managers know exactly what needs to be done to accomplish a specific goal or task and know precisely how long it will take to do so.
How to Write and Apply SMART Goals
When considering how to write your SMART goals, a basic outline can help develop your strategy. Here is a SMART goals template to get you started:
SMART Goals Template
Description of Goal/Achievement: (provide a brief overview or summary of the goal)
Specific: (answer who, what, where, etc. questions and provide as much detail as possible)
Measurable: (list metrics and data to be tracked to measure the success of the project)
Achievable: (describe the skills and resources needed to accomplish the goal, and what it will take to acquire them for this purpose)
Relevant: (explain why this goal falls in line with the best interests of the business or how it factors into other goals)
Time-Based: (provide details on the deadline and schedule required to complete the goal):
Notes/Review: (list any helpful information, additional questions, or potential issues in this section)
After putting your strategy on paper, you’ll need to make your plan come to life. Sharing your initial draft with other team members allows them to critique your plan and offer unique feedback you might not have considered. You can then incorporate this feedback to make your strategy even stronger.
Once your plan is in motion, check in with your team regularly to track their progress. This is also an excellent time to offer support or additional resources if necessary. Along with in-person meetings, you can also correspond via email, text, or video conferencing if you’re dealing with remote staff.
The Pros and Cons of SMART Goals
Pros
Tangible Evidence of Success
By tracking certain metrics as you work to achieve your goals, you’ll have a quantifiable measure of success. For instance, you can evaluate the impact your efforts had on conversion rates among website users. Along with establishing winning strategies, the metric tracking component of SMART goals can also show you where your strategy needs improvement.
Better Communication
When directives are vague and aimless, it’s likely that your team will have differing ideas on what it takes to achieve them. Because the SMART strategy spells out goals explicitly, with clear instructions and timelines for completion, workers can fully understand what’s expected of them.
More Efficient Use of Resources
Completion of work projects requires certain resources, such as funding and employee time. With SMART goals, there’s a clearer understanding of what resources are necessary to complete projects or establish new processes. That means essential resources will be used effectively.
Greater Employee Satisfaction
It can be disheartening for employees to work hard on a project without any tangible evidence of success. Because the effects are measurable, using SMART goals in a workplace shows staff how their efforts directly led to specific achievements. This can motivate team members to be similarly productive with future projects and tasks.
Cons
Lack of Big Picture Focus
Though having a timeline for the completion of goals is beneficial for completing tasks, it can also hinder long-term planning. In addition to essential short-term projects and goals, consider some long-term objectives you can pair with SMART goals to keep your mind focused on the big picture.
Incompatibility With Complex Goals
Using a SMART goals template helps make sense of projects, but it can lead to simplistic thinking when it comes to more intensive tasks. You can overcome this obstacle by taking a granular approach to complex goals, which allows you to work on smaller segments one at a time.
Increased Pressure on Teams
Using metrics to determine achievement has a potential downside in the sense that it could pressure workers concerned about meeting milestones. This may lead to decreased morale, which can throw off the project and lead to more issues. Project leaders can prevent this by making themselves available to offer guidance and support.
Decreased Emphasis on Creativity
A solid strategy is key to efficiently completing tasks at work, but productivity can’t come at the expense of creativity. Creative processes can lead to major breakthroughs, and goal setting can sometimes cause staff to take a practical view. Along with SMART goals, make time for you and your team to brainstorm new ideas and concepts.
Wize Words
Using SMART goals gives a workplace and its team members the necessary tools for success. It also creates easy-to-interpret benchmarks, which offer verifiable proof that a plan of action is having the intended impact. By adopting the SMART protocol, your workplace can confidently strive for success.
Frequently Asked Questions
Some workplaces use the SMARTER goals protocol, which introduces two additional letters. E stands for evaluated, while R stands for revised. Evaluation allows workplaces to review their efforts to determine whether they were the best course of action, while revision improves the process to ensure a better outcome for the next project or goal.
PACT stands for purposeful, actionable, continuous, and trackable. While somewhat similar, the PACT method may be better aligned with long-term goals that require continuous effort. Accordingly, PACT puts a bigger emphasis on the work that’s produced when completing a goal or objective, while SMART is more focused on the end result of that goal.
Project managers are usually a good choice when it comes to the monitoring of SMART goal processes. This person will have the necessary information to determine whether an effort is successful and headed towards an amenable outcome. In some cases, the project manager may also be a supervisor. In others, the person may be a team member assigned to monitor progress during a project.
Also known as the Pareto Principle, the 80/20 rules states that when assessing ten goals or objectives, two of the goals will have a greater value than the remaining eight combined. This rule is beneficial for workplaces with several goals that range in terms of worth. By focusing your efforts on the two most important objectives, you’ll achieve a greater outcome than if you attempted to complete all goals.
Implementation of SMART goals does not guarantee success in every case. A business may use this system and still fail to achieve the desired result. It’s best to remember that SMART goals are a highly effective tool, but it’s ultimately up to the workplace to make the best possible use of the tool. If a project does not end in success, team members should assess the objective and methodology and try again.
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