SMART (SMARTER) for setting goals and setting goals in management and project management

SMART / SMARTER is a mnemonic abbreviation used in management and project management to define goals and set goals. In the original, the term is well described on the pages of the Project Smart: Management Review project. - Volume 70, Issue 11 (AMA FORUM). - P. 35-36.

Decryption

There is no clear opinion how many criteria there should be: five or seven. The following values ​​are generally accepted:

Achieving the goal depends on its wording, and the first step to the success of the business is well-formed goals. SMART goals - smart goals.

What is the goal? The goal is what you want to achieve, what you want to achieve; purpose, meaning of the actions taken; the current state of a project as a result of the work performed. How is it necessary to set goals so that they are achieved and with the result that you need? Goals must be smart. What does this mean? In the practice of management, there are so-called SMART-criteria, which must meet the goal. SMART is an abbreviation formed by the first letters of English words:

• specific
• measurable (measurable);
• attainable;
• significant (relevant);
• correlated with a specific term (time-bounded)

The word smart is translated into Russian and means "smart." Thus, the correct goal setting means that the goal must be specific, measurable, achievable, meaningful and relate to a specific deadline.

Concreteness

When setting a task, first of all you need to ask yourself the question: what do you want to receive as a result of its implementation? Why is this criterion important? Your vision of the result of the task is formed in your head (one idea - I1). In the course of the statement of purpose, the employee forms his own presentation of the result (idea two - I2). As a result, it may turn out that you and the employee differently imagine the same goal (that is, I1 and I2). To avoid this, feedback is needed: you need to make sure that the employee correctly understood the task assigned to him. That is, to achieve an unambiguous understanding of the answer to the question of what needs to be obtained as a result of accomplishing the goal. At the same time it is necessary to strive to ensure that there are as few concepts as possible by default. Otherwise, the risk does not increase to achieve what is intended, especially in new and unusual situations.

Measurability

Measuring the goal implies the existence of criteria (measures) that would allow to determine whether the goal has been achieved and to what extent. If there are no meters, it is very difficult to evaluate the results of the work done and to objectively control the process.

As criteria for achieving the goal, you can use:

• percentages, ratios (this criterion is applicable to situations in which it is possible to plan and analyze recurring events, for example, when setting a goal to increase sales, an increase in sales by 30 percent can be a measure;)
• external standards (applicable in cases when it is necessary to get an assessment from outside, for example, when fulfilling a task to raise the level of service, a positive customer response will be a criterion for its implementation);
• the frequency of what is happening (for example, the work of a sales manager will be successful if every second (third, fifth) customer reapplies to him for a service);
• average indicators (this gauge can be used when there is no need for a breakthrough in the results of activities, and you only need to ensure stability and maintain the quality of work, for example, three (five, ten) store visits by a sales representative per month);
• time (for such a period it is necessary to achieve such results, for example, to increase sales by 30% in 6 months);
• prohibitions (this and that cannot be done, otherwise punishment will follow; this is a specific criterion, but it can sometimes be successfully used, for example, the goal is to reduce delays, criterion: for every delay there is a penalty);
• Compliance with corporate standards (the organization develops its own standards, the criterion of conformity: to do the work as is customary in our country);
• approval from management (that is, “I, the manager should like”; this can be a subjective opinion, however, if the employee knows at the time of setting the task that such an evaluation criterion is used, he will seek feedback in the course of the work For example, the task is to develop a project of marketing activities no later than January 20, the criterion is “to approve with me”).

Reachability

When setting tasks, it is necessary to take into account the professional capabilities and personal qualities of their employees, that is, to answer the question: how to keep a balance between the intensity of work and the attainability of the result. This will help the mechanism for setting the target bar. Its essence is to set goals for employees, corresponding to their experience and individual characteristics. At the same time, the bar should not be underestimated and a sufficiently intense rhythm of work should be maintained. In a situation when it is necessary to improve the overall performance of the team, an employee who already has high results and an employee who is barely able to keep up with existing standards needs a different approach. The same can be said for new employees and employees who have long been working in the company. A more accurate interpretation of the word "reachability" in relation to the context of the goal allows us to speak about the parameter "individually achievable", i.e. the goal must always throw risk and challenge, withdraw the person (employee) from the comfort zone and immerse him in the growth zone, while retaining the ability to materialize when efforts are made by the person (employee).

We distinguish several types of employees in a team:

• experienced employee, ambitious "star";
• experienced employee, initiative, moderately ambitious;
• experienced employee, supporter of stability, routine;
• long-time employee, inactive, unsure of himself;
• a new employee who just came to the company.

Now let's see what are the options for setting goals for the plank. To do this, we take the average rate (average) of the work of the team at the moment and the highest indicator of the most efficient employee (limit of opportunities). And for each of the types of employees we have identified, we will set our own bar for goals, which will ensure the most effective solution of the tasks set.

The first way to set the goal bar implies a phased increase in performance. At first, the manager raises the bar slightly to understand how an employee is prepared to meet higher requirements, and then, judging by the result, raises the bar again and again. This approach is effectively used in relation to employees who have just come to the company, and it is still difficult to understand what they are really capable of. It is also advisable to gradually raise the bar if an employee, although he has been working in a company for a long time, is not self-confident, and therefore does not show initiative and independence. By gradually setting him higher goals, you will give him the opportunity to make sure that he is doing everything correctly.

The second option is to set a goal for which you need to increase the performance of your activity by half approaching the limit of possibilities. Such a task is suitable for those team members who have a long experience in the company, successfully cope with their tasks, but do not look for novelty and do not seek to stand out. Direct installation to increase productivity, although it may cause some resistance on the part of the employee, is quite feasible because of his competence.

In the third variant of setting the goal bar, the task is to significantly increase the performance indicators and get closer to the marginal indicators. Experienced and enterprising employees who are striving for career growth, already by virtue of the desire to achieve more, are ready to work harder and achieve better results.

And finally, the fourth option - setting the goal above the limit of possibilities. As it can already be concluded, such a goal will suit the most ambitious and much achieved team members. These employees have high performance, but in order to remain the first, they also need to raise the bar, set more difficult tasks in relation to what they have already solved.

Thus, taking into account the experience and individual characteristics of the personality of subordinates, it is possible to set such goals for them so that, with a rather intense rhythm of work, they can achieve the goals set for them.

Significance

This is the next criterion for setting smart goals. Reflecting on whether a task has significance, you need to answer the question of why an employee needs to complete this task, that is, why it is important from the point of view of higher-level goals (up to strategic ones).

When formulating a goal, it is necessary to determine in advance what its fulfillment is necessary for. In banal terms, the goal itself needs to ask one single question: “Why?”. Another word for checking the correctness and correctness of the statement of the goal is to check it with the endless question “Why?”. Here is an example: you set yourself a goal - I want to earn X money. In this case, you should immediately ask the question Why? Answer: Then I'll buy something for myself! What for? To something ... WHY? … and so on. At the very end of this chain there should be something like the following answer: “Because it will make me happy”. If this is what makes you happy, then you are on the right track. But otherwise, if at the end of this chain you plunged into uncertainty and another question arises: Do I really need it? In this scenario, it is necessary to urgently change something in the formulation of the goal. As the result of the set goal comes to naught. Verification can also be done using the “second goal verification”. If you can formulate the following goal and this goal can also pass the test for endless questions.