Part 1 of this series was about the process of getting people connected and committed to the performance process. It explained that having agreed goals and having the resources necessary to deliver them is the foundation of employee engagement. This second part of the series is about how to set those goals.
The process of setting goals or objectives is all about focusing everybody in the business on the most important priorities. The idea is that if everyone understands what these are, they can set personal or team goals that will help achieve them. If everyone’s energy is focused on improving the priority areas of the business the impact will be far greater than if there is no clear focus and the energy is dispersed.
The goals clearly describe what people want to achieve, and how they will measure their results. How people achieve their goals is determined by the systems and processes they follow and their discipline in sticking to them. Experience tells us that if the goals are clear, then achieving them is all about the systems and processes used to do the work. The benefit of getting these right is that the results follow automatically and the learning and personal growth that is gained as a result is permanent. In his excellent book “Atomic Habits” James Clear quotes Scott Adams, the cartoonist behind the Dilbert comic strip on the difference between goals and the systems used to deliver them:
“The purpose of setting goals is to win the game. The purpose of building systems is to keep playing the game”
How to build these systems and processes that deliver results will be the subject of the third part of this “Setting Objectives Properly” series. Part 3 will also include a roadmap which pulls together all the elements of setting and delivering objectives that we have covered which can be used as a guide when building your own performance development programme.
Let’s start with setting the goals.
The SMART in SMART goals is an acronym for a goal setting framework that allows goals to be checked and tested for completeness and achievability.
Let's work through an example to illustrate the process. James is one of four analysts in the marketing department at Techwiz Company, a medium sized distributor of computer hardware based in Auckland, New Zealand. He reports to the marketing manager, Melissa. James’ role is to provide analytical data that enables strategic decisions to be made by Melissa and her marketing team.
Melissa has just had her first goal setting meeting with James, in which she explained the key business priorities and discussed with him where she sees he may be able develop goals that will help deliver them. Melissa’s list was as follows:
The key business priorities of Techwiz Company for the coming year are:
Melissa has developed an opportunities list for each of her analysts. She has divided the opportunities between them to suit their skills and experience. Her list for James is as follows:
Growing the laptop market share
James is now using the SMART goals methodology to develop his goals. He asks the following questions under each of the headings:
S: Specific
Answering these questions and discussing them with others who have knowledge in this area helps James clarify what he is trying to achieve. His draft specific goal is:
SPECIFIC
Estimate the annual sales of laptops in the New Zealand and Australian markets for each of the top six distributors
M: Measurable
Making goals measurable enables progress to be tracked and knowing when the target has been reached. James asks these questions to decide how he will measure his goal:
James decides he needs a measure to be able to tell whether he has accounted for the total market sales.
MEASURABLE
Estimate the annual sales of laptops in the New Zealand and Australian markets for each of the top six distributors and reconcile against the total import data available from Statistics NZ and industry stock levels. Total Market estimate should be within 5% of import and stock numbers.
A: Achievable
This is the reality check part of the SMART goal process. James asks himself if his objective is realistically achievable:
James believes this goal will take him three months to complete and he can do it on his own. Because it will not take longer than 90 days he can remain focused on it until completion and does not need to break it down into smaller sub-goals. He has mapped out the main steps and will be able to explain these to Melissa. At this stage he cannot foresee any major problems or road blocks. He is confident he can do it but with his day to day analytical work he will not be able to take on any further goals. He will discuss this with Melissa when they meet to agree his goals.
ACHIEVABLE
Estimate the annual sales of laptops in the New Zealand and Australian markets for each of the top six distributors and reconcile against the total import data available from Statistics NZ and industry stock levels. Total Market estimate should be within 5% of import and stock numbers. Achieve this goal with current resources in three months from commencement.
When assessing the achievability of goals it is very important to think about how much control you have over the delivery. If the goal depends on input from other individuals or teams you need to discuss your goal with them and be sure they are able to provide their inputs to you. If not, you need to re-assess whether this goal can be delivered another way or whether it is achievable at all. James has done this and does not see any problems.
R: Relevant
This step is about ensuring the goal is important to you and that it will contribute to the key business priorities. It is also important that it aligns with other relevant goals in the business and is part of everyone moving together on the same key priority areas.
James asks the following questions to check the relevance of his goal:
A good way to determine if the goal is relevant is to define the key benefit to the organization that it will deliver:
RELEVANT
Estimate the annual sales of laptops in the New Zealand and Australian markets for each of the top six distributors and reconcile against the total import data available from Statistics NZ and industry stock levels. Total Market estimate should be within 5% of import and stock numbers. Achieve this goal with current resources in three months from commencement. It will provide input to the sales and marketing team goals to increase revenue by growing market share by providing data on which to base their goals.
T: Time-bound
Goals should have a deadline for three reasons:
You, and others contributing to the goal, need to plan when the work is done so the goal can be reached by the deadline. James decides that his assessment of three months to complete is realistic and adds his completion data to his goal:
TIME-BOUND
Estimate the annual sales of laptops in the New Zealand and Australian markets for each of the top six distributors and reconcile against the total import data available from Statistics NZ and industry stock levels. Total Market estimate should be within 5% of import and stock numbers.
Achieve this goal with current resources in three months from commencement. It will provide input to the sales and marketing team goals to increase revenue by growing market share by providing data on which to base their goals.
The goal will start on 1 April and be completed by 30 June 2024.
James will now discuss his draft goal with Melissa and they will refine and agree it. Most importantly, they will agree a timetable and process that they will both agree to follow to discuss progress, provide coaching, support delivery and remove road blocks. This will have dates and agreed actions. This can include face to face and online meetings and will be recorded in the performance conversation system within Mariner7.
Estimate the annual sales of laptops in the New Zealand and Australian markets for each of the top six distributors and reconcile against the total import data available from Statistics NZ and industry stock levels. Total Market estimate should be within 5% of import and stock numbers.
Achieve this goal with current resources in three months from commencement. It will provide input to the sales and marketing team goals to increase revenue by growing market share by providing data on which to base their goals. The goal will start on 1 April and be completed by 30 June 2024.
The goal will start on 1 April and be completed by 30 June 2024.
Melissa and James will discuss progress whenever either require as a performance conversation in Mariner7 and will formerly review progress on 30th of each month until completion.
The example we have used is of a relatively complex but achievable goal for a mid level person. Having goals for every role and level is the key to improving performance. Everyone moving forward together on improving the key priorities is the key.
When using the SMART framework to develop your goals you may discover you need to develop additional skills or knowledge yourself to in order to achieve them. You then need to set some separate personal development goals, asking yourself questions like:
These also need to be included in your discussion with your manager.
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