New SMART as Hell website

There is a lot of exciting news for SMART as Hell followers:

1. Check out the new SMART as Hell website/blog. This website will allow me to communicate better, while making for downloads and tools available. Over time, this blog will be pared down.
2. I was recently interviewed on "Robert Thompson's Leader as Coach" podcast. Check out the SMART as Hell interview here.
3. The "Aggressively S.E.T." assessment - one of the twenty-four SMARTometer criteria - was featured in July's ISPI Trendspotters. It's a powerful tool. Enjoy!

Remember to change your bookmarks to SMARTasHell.com, also checkout SMART as Hell on twitter and facebook.

Thanks!

A Unified Definition of SMART Goals

Yesterday, I spoke at ISPI in San Francisco about one of my pet peeves: the fact that there are more than one million possible variations of the SMART acronym.

You read that right... 1 million.

Is it any wonder that most goals don't meet the SMART criteria, when we cannot decide what the SMART criteria are?

I've researched over 400 books that reference SMART goals, in an attempt to settle on a unified definition of the SMART acronym.

Three of the letters are easy:

• S = Specific was chosen by 92% of the books researched. Strategic comes in second, with 2%.
• M = Measurable was chosen by 94% of the books researched. Motivational comes in second, with 2.6%.
• T = Time-bound. Time-something was chosen by 90.5% of the books researched. Time-something includes Time-bound, Time-based, Timed, Time-framed, Time-limited, Timely, Time-oriented, Time-specific, and more. Time-bound was the leader of the Time-somethings, with 36%. Trackable comes in second, with 6%.

That leaves us with A and R.

A = Attainable. A is a horse race. Attainable noses out Achievable, but they're synonyms. Together, they total 66% of the vote. Action-oriented is third, with 12%. 'Agreed' is fourth with 8%. I've added Aggressively, for reasons I'll explain over the next few weeks.

R is tough. The winner is Realistic with 56%. Relevant is second with 28%. The problem, which I'll demonstrate over the next few weeks, is that Realistic is the same as Attainable, while none of the other letters contain the important aspects of Relevant.

Therefore, I'm pushing R = Relevant, for our unified definition of SMART.

Why use SMART Goals?

Earlier this week, we covered why goals are important.

Even if you accept the proposition that goals are useful, you might wonder, "but why SMART goals?"
I asked that question on LinkedIn last year. Here are some of the responses I received. I also highlighted some comments that I found particularly useful:

• "The SMART philosophy is extremely useful. If you think about why major projects fail, it is because goals were not specific or measurable, and therefore not achievable or relevant because of the ambiguity and lack of result verification. Projects can also go on for months and years past the expected delivery date because specific deliverables were not identified and "time-bound" and/or resources were not properly allocated and dedicated to make them achievable and/or deliverables were not embraced and implemented which rendered them irrelevant."
• "I used SMART Criteria at work plus in my day to day life. I find it very useful to stay focused and see the progress and what I can do next time to improve."
• "I have used SMART goals for the last 8 years or so as it relates to variable incentive goals and personal goals on performance appraisals. The challenge is to have the measurements for goals tracked for at least a quarter before the goal period begins. This way accurate baselines are established. This is generally the weakest area of this system as I see at least one goal without historical measurements in place. Otherwise, this approach is the only way to establish effective goals."
• "In order for the SMART goals to be smart then I must add one more thing to them: they must link to corporate strategies and vision of the company. if they are not, then no matter how SMART they are, they will be useless." (glenn's note: This is Relevance)
• "(SMART goals are) useful if not pre-determined by external directives that do not reflect local/specific business needs at the lower level."
• "Goals that may be strategic may not be applicable to operational goals: goals that are contradictory are the norm, and thus, are they really SMART? If reducing parts usage for instance, also increases long down times, are they smart, as they negatively affect each other?" (glenn's note: Again, Relevance)
• "All I know is that when I use it; I reach my goals OH>>> so much faster! Like years faster!"
• "One noteworthy drawback of SMART goals is that they tend to become a bit too 'achievable' and do not stretch the employee/team to achieve exceptional results. The objectives drive toward performing nothing more than standard job requirements if not watched carefully." (glenn's note: hence, aggressively achievable)
• "It helps leave no margin for interpretation of desired outcome. It also sets expectations in a way that is meaningful to all parties involved."
• "I think the problem I see with objectives is less to do about whether or not they are SMART. But what is the process to develop, measure progress, and allow/disallow deviations. At more than one company I have worked at, annual objectives typically don't get set until 1/2 way through the year, by the time they are set, at least one of them loses its relevance at sometime in the year, and there are few checkpoints throughout the year to see how we are progressing against the goals."

9 Reasons Why Goals Matter

Why do goals matter?

1. Goals raise productivity - Research (Locke & Latham, 1990) verifies this. We consistently save time and increase output with goals
2. Goals clarify expectations - Did you ever disagree with a manager on your performance review? Did you think you did a great job, but they didn't think so? Did that disagreement cost you money?
3. Goals relieve boredom - In order to stay in the Flow State (Csikszentmihaly, 1990) that correlates with 'happiness', activity must present a sufficient challenge. Goals provide that challenge.
4. Goals increase satisfaction with performance - Without standards, it's hard to be satisfied. Content yes... but not satisfied.
5. Goals stimulate competition - No one wants to be last. Quite a few, in fact want to be first! Or at least in the top 25%.
6. Goals increase self-confidence - Passing a test allows you to feel confident that you know the material. Goals are that test.
7. Goals encourage planning - A common question that rises after a goal is articulated is: "How the hell do you plan to do that?" Which forces us to make a plan.
8. Goals stimulate creativity - When anything is good enough, creativity isn't needed. When a challenge presents itself, creativity is often the response. "Necessity is the mother of invention".
9. Goals stimulate conversation and participation - That's why visions and missions are so important to teams. You can't argue against nothing (although I've seen a few people try...) That's why politicians never set goals. If they did, we'd revolt as soon as we saw them ('Family values' is not a goal, it's a concept. Neither is 'Yes, we can'. Most political goals consist of 'get me into office, please').

Imagine a football field without a goal line, a basketball court without a basket, or a soccer field without a goal (oh, wait... that describes most soccer games... never mind...).

Without a goal line or basket, those game descends into what my Dad used to call 'organized grab-ass' when us kids were just chasing the guy (or gal) running around with the ball.

Yeah, it's fun... but only for a short time.

SMART as Hell

Writing SMART goals is like sex: there's a lot more talk than there is action.

I googled "SMART goals" today and found:

Results 1 - 10 of about 6,270,000 for SMART goals. (0.10 seconds)

Wow... they must be kidding...

Over 6 million hits for SMART goals? Surely, we know everything we need to know about SMART goals and are already good at it, right?

Ummm... no. We're not. I'll be proving it to you.

SMART as Hell is aimed at closing this gap through a simple premise - making goals and objectives SMART as Hell.

Each week, I'll:

1. Take a new, real goal or objective
2. Assess it against the SMART criteria
3. Make it better

The internet is full of publicly published goals and objectives, so I've no shortage of material. If, however, you'd like me to work on one of yours, just send it to me.