What Are SMART Goals?

Setting goals is key to company success. It provides your employees with a clear direction and purpose. Without a shared vision or metrics for progress, they might never align their work. The SMART goals approach is a game-changer for both employees and organizations. The SMART acronym, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Actionable/Achievable, Relevant/Realistic, and Time-bound, provides a roadmap for actionable and impactful goal setting.

By implementing the SMART goals criteria, individuals and teams can be on the same page as they plan and execute their work, leading to their success. Employee success often translates to company success, underscoring the significance of effective goal setting.

Defining SMART Goals

The SMART goals framework is commonly associated with management consultant and business expert Peter Drucker’s management by objectives concept. The ability to set clear, actionable, and measurable goals is instrumental in driving success, especially as today’s dynamic workplaces evolve with remote and hybrid work options. 

SMART goals encourage employees to detail how they will accomplish a goal specific to what they, their team, and their organization need by writing objectives in a way that addresses these SMART criteria:

Specific

What: Define methods and outcomes for specific goals.

Why: Understand the purpose and significance of your efforts. (A vague goal is meaningless.)

How: Identify your objective and the steps required to accomplish it.

Examples:

• Improve stakeholder relationships by responding to all inquiries within 24 hours.
• Increase efficiency by spending 20 minutes every morning prioritizing tasks.
• Design a workshop for peers offering tips and advice for work processes.
  

Measurable

What: Determine how you will track progress toward reaching your goal.

Why: Recognize the value of tracking progress and measuring success with quantifiable results.
How: Use key metrics or indicators to set measurable goals.

Examples: 

• Increase social media engagement by 25% each quarter through consistent posting, targeted advertising, and community interaction.
• Generate 75 new leads per month through various marketing channels.
• Add two new skills every quarter by taking training courses.

Actionable/Achievable

What: Ensure short-term and long-term goals are attainable.

Why: Appreciate the impact of goals on your job and aspirations.

How: Factor available resources, time, and skills when setting personal goals.

Examples: 

• Create and distribute a survey for your team on ideas to save money; then compile a report for your manager.
• Improve accuracy by implementing an effective routine to check your reports.
• Build relationships and knowledge by joining an employee resource group.

Relevant/Realistic

What: Set relevant goals that are realistic and help your job duties, team, and company.

Why: Understand the feasibility and practicality of goals.

How: Consider your current circumstances, desired new skills, and available resources.

Examples:

• Strengthen relationships with colleagues by inviting them to in-person or virtual coffee chats every month.
• Develop leadership skills by participating in a mentorship program.
• Boost wellbeing and productivity by scheduling breaks for self-care, including meditation or outdoor walks.

Time-bound

What: Give yourself a clear timeframe for achieving SMART goals.

Why: Set deadlines and timeframes to facilitate organization and efficiency.

How: Attach deadlines or target dates to create a sense of urgency and integrate goals into your regular schedule.

Examples: 

• Complete one management workshop or online course each quarter.
• Launch a new marketing campaign within 90 days.
• Learn to use PowerPoint for business presentations within 30 days.

Writing SMART goals provides a realistic action plan that should correspond to your company’s business goals. Specificity helps ensure employee goals drive business success and align with organizational targets.The SMART goals approach enhances the performance management process, informing everyone from managers to individual contributors about what they need to do and documenting progress toward their goals. Communication helps companies — and their people — succeed.

“When we're not using SMART goals in an organization, what we see is miscommunication or misunderstanding happening between the manager or the leadership team with employees,” said Heather Albarano, owner and CEO of RCR Consulting Group. 

For more context, we’ve put together additional detailed examples of how SMART goals can give direction to otherwise vague objectives.

Examples of SMART Goals

Scenario 1: Get the company to use SMART goals.

Specific: Teach managers how to set SMART goals and get them to show direct reports how to do the same. Managers and employees will collaborate to set clear goals so both have defined expectations regarding what success looks like. This will also help employees understand their performance plan goals.

Measurable: Use a performance management system like Lattice to track employee goals. This will help managers ensure they and their direct reports are on the same page. Lattice also has automated reminders to encourage employees to regularly update their goals.

Actionable: Implement SMART goals after a review and encourage managers to teach their employees so you can build a workable action plan with target dates. SMART goals build a sense of urgency and employees feel they can start right away.

Relevant: Setting these types of goals will make your company more productive, motivated, and engaged. Employee engagement is important to the success of the business.

Time-bound: Tell managers to check in and renew their direct reports’ goals by the end of the quarter. Whether you’re at a startup or larger company, we suggest ongoing goal setting throughout the year to encourage employee engagement.

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Scenario 2: Read more books.

Specific: List at least 10 titles, genres, or authors of books to read in the next year. Explore new topics to broaden your reading list and revisit classics to refresh your appreciation of timeless literature.

Measurable: Read at least one novel per month and track your progress in a journal.

Actionable: Spend less time on social media so you’ll have more time for reading. You can put print books, ebooks, and audiobooks on hold at your library. You’ll be able to read or listen to them during your commute. 

‍Relevant: Expand your knowledge and enhance your happiness by reading more books that align with your personal and professional growth. Include books related to your professional field, self-improvement, leadership, creativity, or any other area that is beneficial to your personal and career development.

Time-bound: Set a target date for this SMART goal for the end of the year.

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Scenario 3: Work on my time management skills.

Specific: Create achievable goals and make project deadlines with realistic timeframes.

Measurable: Set a date for a project and identify the things that prevent you from hitting deadlines. What are available resources that you’re not tapping into? Are you spending too much time on Slack? Examine that period of time and see what’s getting in the way.

Actionable: Adjust your schedule based on what you learn. You might find that it’s more realistic to meet deadlines if you give yourself more time. If you learn that you’re being pulled into tasks or projects that are not the best use of your time, reprioritize.

Relevant: Develop your productivity by improving time management skills that contribute to team and business goals; this will help your case for a promotion or raise during your next performance review.

Time-bound: Meet the project benchmarks, evaluate your time management strategies, and use insights gained to refine setting time-bound goals and target dates for future projects.

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When SMART Goals Work and When They Don’t

SMART goals can work for individuals as well as teams. Whether you’re looking to grow professionally or even personally, this approach can help you see your goals in a new light. 

SMART goals can be highly effective for customer satisfaction and engagement teams with clearly defined objectives and key results, or OKRs, and key performance indicators (KPIs) for each employee. When there is a specific organizational target, like a 10-year strategic plan, SMART goals can fit the performance management process. 

Still, one performance management approach doesn’t necessarily fit all.

“SMART goals don’t work when success in the job and for the company doesn’t fit clearly into a time frame, when the goal is hard to measure, or when there are dependencies outside the control of the individual,” said Margaret Ruvoldt, Chief Human Resources Officer at LEARN Behavioral.

Pros and Cons of SMART Goals

Pros

• Clarity and focus: Transparency helps direct efforts toward a specific target by providing clear understanding of the desired outcome.
• Measurable results: Milestones and metrics allow for progress to be tracked, providing a tangible way to gauge success.
• Accountability and motivation: Responsibility creates incentive, fostering enthusiasm and a sense of ownership.
• Alignment with strategic objectives: Effort contributes to the company’s goals, ensuring activities are in sync.
• Improved decision making: Choices are made based on thorough understanding of conditions, boosting everyone’s confidence.

Cons

• Tunnel vision: Focus on process leads to missed opportunities, potentially limiting the ability to consider alternatives when challenges arise.
• Rigidity and inflexibility: Conditions are subject to change, requiring a different plan or goal.
• Unrealistic expectations: Pressure to meet specific targets could lead to setting overly ambitious objectives, increasing the risk of failure.
• Challenging implementation: Complex goals can drain resources and time, posing significant obstacles to success.
• Team breaker: Individual goals can hinder collaborative efforts among team members, potentially undermining teamwork and cohesion.

In rapidly changing environments, where adherence to defined goals can stifle innovation and limit flexibility, SMART goals might not be the best approach. For instance, creative teams that regularly experiment with ideas may find that SMART goals are difficult because they can make employees prioritize process over creativity. Ruvoldt doesn’t recommend the approach “if you want your team to take risks with the potential of both outsized success and complete failure.”

However, for individuals on creative teams aspiring to management positions, the SMART goals process might still hold value, Albarano said. Without limiting the overall mission around innovation, creatives who are candidates for leadership roles may be assessed on their project management skills— how they work with others and how they handle crises. In those areas, SMART goals can be useful in evaluating their performance.

In older, more established companies, resistance to the adoption of the SMART goals approach may exist. But with effective change management and communications, any organization can overcome resistance, Ruvoldt said. 

How to Gain Employee Buy-In for SMART Goals

• Use the top-down approach, where implementation starts from the top with a single leader who becomes an advocate. 
• Set goals as a team to inspire everyone and give employees a sense of agency 
• Praise performance to provide positive reinforcement along the way
• Emphasize sticky goals, which have such a positive effect on work and become so meaningful, that the employee becomes invested in them and builds them into their routine.

The SMART goals process works best with regular maintenance. Because business conditions are subject to change, SMART goals should be revisited routinely. A pandemic, natural disaster, or political conflict can affect demands that require a shift. “One of the biggest mistakes I see managers or businesses make is we set these goals at the beginning of the year, and we don’t go back and visit them until performance review time,” Albarano said.

Managers and employees want to make sure SMART goals make sense and still align with any changes in business objectives. Regular one-on-one meetings can ensure previously set SMART goals remain relevant. 

Find out how Lattice makes SMART goals easy.

Goals motivate us to perform at our best and consider our potential. Setting them doesn’t have to be difficult. At Lattice, we understand the significance of streamlined and meaningful goal-setting processes. We offer quick tips for goal setting, along with practical suggestions on writing effective OKRs, with examples.

Lattice also provides goal-tracking software to empower teams and employees to maintain steady progress toward their objectives. Our comprehensive manager's guide for effective one-on-ones equips leaders with the tools and insights needed to confidently conduct productive conversations that motivate employees.

To see how Lattice’s suite of tools, including the SMART Goals Template, makes setting and tracking goals easy, sign up for an account or ask to see our platform in action.

For additional guidance on how to develop and implement effective goal-setting strategies, including how to leverage technology for your goals, check out our ebook, HR’s Complete Guide to Goal Setting. It offers valuable insights and best practices to elevate your approach to SMART goals.