Check out my original guest blog post on Prosky.

The process of Goal Setting can be an incredibly powerful Employee Experience driver. Goal setting gives direct reports an opportunity to work with their manager to discuss what their professional future holds within the organization and connect short-term motivators with longer-term vision.  Although there are numerous methods you can use to set goals, I’m a fan of using the SMART Goal method to structure goal setting. Keep in mind, SMART is a structure – it’s up to the individual and manager to agree on a goal that is challenging and stretching in order to push the team member to exhibit greater effort and performance to achieve something impactful.

As cheesy as the acronym “SMART” is, it’s memorable enough to keep even the greenest team members on track when they are mapping out their goals. So how do you define if your goal is SMART? In order to be SMART, your goal has to be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-oriented. Let’s break down the aspects of the acronym and how they are applied to the goal setting process.

SPECIFIC

During the initial part of the SMART Goal definition process, I find it pose the question “What needs to be accomplished?” The focus here is to state exactly what you are committed to achieving by defining the ‘Who, Where, Why and/or What’. Often times you’ll see SPECIFIC goal statements that start with an action word.

 Example: Design and deploy a company-wide new hire onboarding program.

TIP: You’ve detailed the ‘specific’ when you or others can readily observe the ‘what’ of your goal.

MEASURABLE

Building off the ‘what’ from SPECIFIC, the next step is to define how you will demonstrate and evaluate the extent to which the goal has been met. For all of us data nerds out there, this is the part of our goal definition process where we incorporate qualitative or quantitative methods of measurement (think percentages, hard numbers, survey data, etc.)

If we look back to our example above, I could add in a component of evaluation to my new hire onboarding program by measuring the rate in which new hire attrition decreases within the first 6 months of a new hire’s employment.

Example: Design and deploy a company-wide new hire onboarding program that decreases new hire attrition 15% within the new hire’s first 6 months of employment.

TIP: When you’re thinking about measurement, consider touch points like frequency, time frame, quantity, or cost.

 ACHIEVABLE

This is often the most challenging aspect of goal setting because it demands a high level of self-awareness from the individual to determine if they have the skills, knowledge, ability or experience to truly execute on their goal. In evaluating how achievable your goal is, you’ll need to assess whether you have, or can get access to, the appropriate resources you need in order to achieve your goal. As a check point, ask yourself the following questions:

• Do I have, or will I be able to secure, the financial means to execute this goal?
• Will execution of this goal require time or resources from other stakeholders?
• Do I have enough time to accomplish this goal alongside my required functional work?
• Is now the appropriate time to achieve this goal or is there a better time to execute?

If we refer back to our example, I may ask myself if I have enough time to create a new company-wide program as an People Ops team of 1. While my intentions of designing and deploying this program are admirable, creating a new People program from scratch is time-consuming and will likely require support from other stakeholders across the company who may have critical projects of their own that will prevent them from investing time in my project.

TIP: You should invite key stakeholders to review your goal objectives and assess whether they can be a viable resource for supporting the execution of your goal.

RELEVANT

This component of goal setting seems like it should be a no brainer but you’d be surprised at how many people don’t consider the short and long-term impacts of their goal on their specific job function, team, or organization. A portion of defining the relevancy of your goal is considering whether or not you should be focusing on your goal NOW, WHY and determining what the IMPACT will be.

Returning to our example, I may need to jot down a few data points that support my decision to move forward with designing and deploying a new hire onboarding program.

Example: Design and deploy a company-wide new hire onboarding program that decreases new hire attrition 15% within the new hire’s first 6 months of employment.

• Data Point 1) Our recent Employee Engagement survey found that 70% of employees couldn’t list more than 2 of our 6 core values.
• Data Point 2) 8 out of 10 former employees surveyed during their Exit Interview stated that their manager did not meet with them during their first 30 days with the company to review their job duties or performance expectations. This contributed to their decision to leave the company within 6 months of their date of hire.

TIP: Your goal is relevant when it aligns with your key job responsibilities, your team/departmental goals or your organization’s key business objectives.

TIME ORIENTED (or TIMELY)

Good goals have target dates. The purpose of setting a target date is to guide your goal to successful and timely completion. A well-planned goal will include deadlines, dates and/or frequency.

To finalize our example, I am going to add a roll out time frame to my goal.

Example: Design and deploy a company-wide new hire onboarding program that decreases new hire attrition 15% within the new hire’s first 6 months of employment. Manager training on the new hire onboarding program will begin March 15^th in preparation for a launch date of April 1^st.

TIP: Sometimes a goal will need to include specific check points to help you assess how well you’re progressing. This allows for corrections or modifications to be made to meet the expectations defined by your desired end result.

Creating the opportunity for team members to set and achieve SMART goals can be an incredibly powerful employee engagement and retention practice. From the perspective of the employee, being able to create and execute on a goal produces a unique opportunity for the individual to contribute to the success of their organization. Seeing how your goal furthers an organization’s mission or a specific business objective instills a sense of professional pride and confidence among employees that increases their overall Employee Experience. For managers, taking the time to support their direct reports in achieving their goals can increase employee engagement, productivity and overall performance as well as build a stronger bond between manager and team member.

What is your favorite method of setting goals within your organization?