Smart goals It’s a helpful way to turn your thoughts and ideas into actionable plans for the near and far future, but they’re not always the best approach. If you work on a large team or need to track very ambitious, long-term goals, for example, smart may not be the best approach. Other methods of goal tracking, such as fast and contract, may be a better fit. You’ll need to start by familiarizing yourself with these alternative methods, but once you do, you’ll find that they suit specific needs and may be your best bet.
When should you use smart goals?
Smart goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. When you create them, you make sure your goal adheres to all five of these requirements, usually writing it in a sentence like this: “By the end of the month, I will have three practice quizzes to prepare for my chemistry test.” It’s specific because it says what you’re going to do and why, measurable because you’re setting the amount of quizzes and expected grades on each, achievable because it’s reasonably achievable, relevant because it has a pressing need, and time-bound because it relates to an upcoming deadline.
Because they’re so customizable, smart goals are used by students, workers, and anyone who needs to break their to-do list into manageable action items, but they can be limiting for the same reasons they work so well at the individual level. For example, they can be too specific to be broadly applicable, so if you have to do the same thing at work every month, you’ll repeat the SMART goal over and over instead of creating a process to follow each time. They’re also not ideal for collaboration because while you can share smart goals with others, it doesn’t leave much room to be concise and authentic about who needs to reach the goal.
When fast targets make sense
The first helpful smart goal alternative is speed goal, which is especially useful if you’re in a leadership or delegation position, but generally good for teams overall. The fast is as follows:
fRequired Discussions
aStinky scope
sNice measure
tRansperent
When using smart goals, you analyze your desired end result, how achievable it is and when you will do it. With an agile goal, you’re looking less at the elements that define the final product and more at how you’ll contribute to getting there. Agile goals enable teams to adapt and evolve as the project progresses because they require frequent discussion and transparency about what the ambitious goal is and how its success will be defined. Still, you need to plan in place to follow the speed goal, because it’s a bit confusing. For example, what are “recurring” discussions? You need to hammer down with the team and set a goal for what that means over and over again and how you’re going to execute those meetings.
Say your team’s work is to produce a report for the end of the quarter. You already know when it’s due, so you don’t have to add on the timeliness, like you would with a smart goal. Instead, look at work through a fast lens, set regular times to meet and discuss it, and create clear communication channels so everyone can be on the same page. The success of the project can be measured by manager feedback, client response, process improvement, or sales growth. You need to define what “success” will look like early on, but communicating and being transparent will help — and help you make the end goal more ambitious.
Here, I would recommend adding a single source of truth, or SSOT. It’s basically a folder that everyone has access to that contains every single resource anyone needs. For a hypothetical end-of-quarter report project, your SSOT might include monthly reports, a template for a major report, contact information for customers whose data will appear on the report, etc. The first document in the SSOT should outline a fast-track objective that sets out the needs of the iterative discussions, detail the scope, define specific measures of success, and, by nature, be transparent.
When using contract targets
PACT goals, like agile goals, focus more on the process of achieving a desired outcome than on measuring outcomes. Here’s the deal:
PUrposeful
apracticable
ccontinuous
tRackable
Like Smart Goal, Contract works well if you’re dealing with something on your own, but it’s more process-driven. Let’s say your goal is to be in shape. With a smart goal, you might specify, “By the first day of summer, I will work out five hours per week, lose 20 pounds, and increase my muscle mass by 5%.” It’s specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound, but once you write it down, you’re fighting your way to the finish line. A contract goal might look like this, “To get in better shape and improve my health, I will work out five times a week and monitor my weight loss and muscle gain using my smart scale.” Rather than being time-bound, this approach takes the process itself into account—but also incorporates purposefulness, and reminds you why you’re doing what you’re doing. You still take steps and track metrics, but the goal is tied to the goal and relies on continuity, not the end result.
It’s important to keep the goal front and center, as it helps motivate you and reminds you of what you’re really working towards. If you’re doing a report at work, you can get caught up in the totalitarianism of knowing that it’s your assigned task and you have to do it, which makes you wonder why you’re actually working hard. If you keep in mind that you’re creating a report so your company can bring in more clients or increase internal operations, you’ll remember that it could lead to more business, praise, or even a raise for you. Tracking your progress is also key to staying motivated and moving toward the end goal, even if it’s not as tightly defined as a smart goal might be.
Again, you’ll need a document that outlines all of this. Think of it like a mission statement and stick to it in SSOT. Here, it might go like this, “Our team will compile a report devoting one hour per day for the next month, entering our work hours and accomplishments into the attached spreadsheet, and meeting every Friday to discuss progress.”