Many people and organizations realized that success is impossible without a right and clear goal. Smart is a technique that allows you to quickly and specifically set tasks or divide them into important and irrelevant. The name of the system is an abbreviation.
Smart: goals must be clear (Specific)
Write a list of goals. Each item should be clear and indicate a specific result. If the wording contains the words "do", "more", "less", etc., you need to indicate how much exactly. In the form of measurement, you can use money, time, interest, etc.
If it turns out that any action does not lead to a result, this item must be discarded.
Smart: goals must be reasonable (Assignable)
Rate the significance of each item for your business. Justify each goal and prioritize. For this, you can use different criteria. For example, determine the importance of each item for your activity on a ten-point scale. Priority is given to goals that are vital to the organization or a specific person. Each position should not be random, but justified and proven. Not very significant items are discarded at this stage.
Smart: goals must be realistic (Realistic)
Predict and evaluate the reachability of each item. To do this, you can apply various parameters. For example, reach factors. You can also use a 10-point scale. Each goal should be achievable in principle, i.e. realistic. You must have the
resources (internal and external) necessary for the implementation of the plan or be able to receive these resources.
This does not mean that the goal cannot be ambitious. If a point seems unrealistic to you, break it down into several attainable sub-points. Moreover, the goal should not contradict your other priorities.
Goals that require significant resources and have a high level of potential risk should be eliminated at this stage.
Smart: goals must be measurable
For each item, select from three to five criteria according to which you will measure and control your achievements. It is important that the criteria for evaluating interim results are convenient enough. Usually, financial indicators are used for this. They are specific enough and the easiest to evaluate.
If the goal is difficult or impossible to control, it should be abandoned at this stage.
Smart: goals must be defined in time (Time related)
Usually, at the time of transition to this point, about five to seven of the most significant and suitable goals remain. In fact, at this stage there is a transition from long-term strategic planning to operational short-term.
For each item, precise deadlines for achievement, as well as specific dates for monitoring the achievement of the intermediate stages, should be provided.
Make a detailed plan, in which write down all the stages of the implementation of the plan.
Smart Goal Setting
Typically, the system is used with an excess of targets. At each stage, insufficiently relevant and important points that have received low marks are discarded. This is a great way to control existing goals and set new ones.