Moving Beyond the Basics: Making SMART Goals Work for You and Your Company

SMART Goals. You hear about them all the time, and maybe your organization forces you to implement them. But how can you truly make these goals useful and move forward your personal goals?

How can you keep them from holding you back?

There’s a lot of interesting takes on SMART Goals – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound parameters – which is why we wanted to tackle the topic as part of our new Young Professionals blog.

As we head into the end of the first quarter of 2023, it’s the perfect time to evaluate the goals your company is asking you to set and make them work for you.

So, what exactly are SMART Goals?

SMART Goals were first introduced in the 1980s from Peter Drucker’s ‘Management by Objectives’ concept. The main purpose of SMART Goals is to set goals that are decisive and reachable in business. Essentially, they hold you accountable to drive forward change or a specific outcome. They are:

S – Specific (Know exactly what you’re trying to achieve)

M – Measurable (There are clear performance indicators to signify this goal has been achieved.)

A – Achievable (It’s reasonable and with hard work, this goal is attainable.)

R – Relevant (The goal is realistic and result-based.)

T – Time Bound (There’s a limit on how long it takes to achieve it.)

SMART Goals are designed to be a communication tool, providing insight about what you’re trying to accomplish in your roles. They produce alignment and give you ownership of how your managers will measure your success. Check-out this great resource to dive a little more into setting these goals.

Some may argue that if you’re only setting attainable goals, do SMART Goals really challenge you? When forced to pick these attainable and specific goals, we have to make sure we are still pushing ourselves to drive the best possible outcomes and not just the easy ones.

Wait, are my SMART Goals holding me back?

 There are some who agree that having a plan for your goals is crucial and better than not having a plan at all, they believe SMART Goals could be holding you back.

Goals are accomplished through the development of the daily habit that are needed to accomplish the goal. While SMART Goals are a great plan, they can often be safe, more easily attainable goals and not really stretch you and your growth.

As you build develop and brainstorm your goals, think about how you can stretch yourself and create the daily lifelong habits the really drive change. 

But my organization requires I set SMART Goals. So, what do I do?

No problem. We get it and that’s why we are here. It can be helpful to have an organization aligned under one common goal setting mechanism such as SMART Goals.

It’s time to pick my goals – how do select goals achievable goals?

1. Goals are easier to achieve if they are aligned with your inner or core values. Trust your gut instinct here.
2. Ensure your goals are stated in the positive by stating what you want. For example, if your goal is to have healthy eating habits, your goal shouldn’t be “I want to stop eating unhealthy foods.”
3. Identify what you can start and stop doing, and what you can do more or less of that will lead you to achieving your goal.
4. Brainstorm potential obstacles that might get the in way of you achieving your goal and come up with workarounds to ensure you have a path forward if you run into any obstacles along the way.
5. Create check-in periods during the year to ensure you are on-track to achieve your goal by the end of the year. Breaking down the goal into smaller segments makes it feel less daunting and more digestible.

Make Your SMART Goals SMARTER.

At the end of the day, goals are great, and we want to help you achieve them. Holding yourself to key performance indicators is incredibly important to make sure you are providing value, and SMART Goals can be a wonderful tool to help you do just that.

So, as you evaluate how you’re meeting your goals with Q1 coming to a close, we invite you to challenge these SMART Goals.

Are they not only Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time Bound, but are they also helping you grow, learn, and achieve your personal wants and needs too?

At their core, SMART Goals should be providing a clear communication tool to keep your department aligned within itself and the company. At their best, SMART Goals can drive you along a roadmap to success. Allow them to shape your work, but make sure you are challenging yourself to knock them out of the park.

What are you waiting for? Set your goals today!

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