SMART Goals: What they are, how to use them, and why this process is pivotal for your business
No matter what industry you’re in, time management is critical for measuring productivity. The ability to track progress (both for groups and individual workers) is an incredible tool for marking how far you’ve come—and how much is left to go.
But what many don’t realize is that your chances of meeting your goals can be determined before you even start working.
Goal-setting can appear to be a deceptively simple process: you merely have a goal you want to reach, identify it as such, and begin the work to reach that goal.
But, as business owners and employees alike know well, actually achieving an important professional goal is rarely that straightforward. Perhaps the members of the team aren’t operating with the same understanding of reaching the goal; maybe there just isn’t enough time or resources to feasibly achieve the goal. Everyone’s experienced the consequences of poor goal-setting—people are frustrated, time runs out, and corners have to be cut.
However, by looking at exactly how professional goals and expectations are developed, you can set yourself up for clearly-defined progress. Whether working as part of a team or on your own, refining and outlining your goals can result in a more focused, impactful, and productive approach to getting things done.
Miscommunications, redundancies, complications—all these can be easily avoided by utilizing the S.M.A.R.T. goal system before setting off to complete an objective.