From the course: Foundations of Performance Management

Creating SMART goals

From the course: Foundations of Performance Management

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Creating SMART goals

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- Elon Musk has set himself and his team a very ambitious dream of having man missions to Mars, and they know that the only way to achieve such an audacious goal like this is to break it down into some very clear and specific targets and goals. In this particular example these include having first, a cargo mission to Mars in 2022, and a second mission involving both cargo and crew in 2024. So no matter if your team's goals are as enormous as visiting other planets or as small and focused on the daily work tasks, your team members will more easily achieve them if you help them avoid having unclear and vague goals, and instead ensure they're as well crafted as possible. You can do this by turning any of your goals into SMART goals by ensuring they are specific. Making each goal as specific as possible makes them more easily understood, accepted, and achieved. Measurable. Each goal must be measurable in terms of how well your team is working towards achieving it. Achievable and attainable. The resources, including time and people, must be made available to enable you and your team to achieve your goals. Realistic. A goal might be very demanding and challenging, but should never be impossible to achieve. Timely. There must be an understanding and agreement on a goal's timeframe, and the deadlines for attaining it. An example of a SMART goal that I recently created is to write a new book draft within five months, committing to work an average of five to seven hours per week with the aim of drafting 40 pages a month. If you don't have your SMART goals written down yet, pause the video now and jot down three goals you'd like to achieve, then come back to this course. Now that you've got your SMART goals, I want you to check to see if they're as CLEAR as possible. Here's what I mean by CLEAR. Are they challenging enough to motivate your team without stressing them? Are they legally and ethically acceptable? Are they environmentally friendly? Any goal should never involve wasting resources or harming the environment. Are they agreeable and acceptable? Those who are asked to achieve goals must be able to buy into them. Are they recorded on paper? Just as they should be measurable, any goals must be written down and shared with people signing off on them as needed. By creating goals that are both SMART and CLEAR, you could ensure that every goal has the highest probability of being positively accepted, optimally worked on and achieved by both you and your team.

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