SMART technology is versatile and powerful. This explains its popularity.
At the same time, it requires compliance with some important conditions fixed in the abbreviation itself. Therefore, SMART is sometimes referred to as a "filter" that turns a dream or desire into a goal.
The technology is divided into five stages. At each of them, you conduct an examination of the selected goal according to one of the five criteria. The criteria are not chosen by chance - they are markers that measure the reality of your goal.
Here's how it works:
Step 1:
Criteria "Specific" - specific. Each goal should have an extremely specific formulation that excludes variability in its understanding.
Compare the two formulations:
I want my house.
I want to buy a brick cottage in an ecologically clean area.
In the first case, this is just a dream, in the second, some additional words appear that define the scope of the goal formulation. This step makes your desire more achievable.
Thus, the criterion of concreteness allows at this step to move from an abstract Dream / Desire to the area in which the goal will be formulated. The more specific and accurate you describe the target area, the easier it will be to work with other criteria of this technology.
Non-specific wording:
I want to become a famous person.
I want my business to make money
Specific wording:
Be a famous travel blogger.
Ensure sustainable growth sales volume.
Step 2:
Criteria "Measurable" - measurable. Measurable means that each goal should have its own measure by which you can determine its intermediate and final result. It is desirable that the measure be numeric. It can be expressed in money, kilograms, kilometers, frequency, net profit, number of views and other parameters.Also, as the measurability of some results, you can choose winning competitions, receiving specialized awards. It turns out that “Measurability” is such a property of the formulation that will allow you, when summing up the results, to accurately answer the question: “Has the desired Goal been achieved?” — Yes, achieved / No, not achieved.
Immeasurable formulation
Be a famous travel blogger
Achieve sustainable sales growth
Measurable formulation
Have at least 100,000 followers on your travel blog
The share of sales of new products* in the annual sales volume is at least 50%
The share of sales of new products* in the annual sales volume is at least 50 percent
* A new product is a product that has been on the market for less than 3 years. After this period, it becomes a permanent product.
Step 3:
Criterion Achievable - achievable. Achievability implies a complete audit of financial and material resources, possible deadlines and the availability of relevant competencies.
If the result is a priori impossible for some objective reasons, then the goal is unattainable. Therefore, before setting a goal, be sure to analyze the resources, as well as external and internal conditions that may affect the achievement of the goal. For example, if you have never been involved in sports, then the goal of “winning the Olympic Games” will be unattainable.
On the other hand, the formulation of the goal should not be easily achievable or guaranteed to be achievable. In other words, it is necessary to find a balance between guaranteed achievability and some degree of ambition in order to create a meaningful motive inside to achieve this goal.
Practically, in this step you analyze the indicator of measurability again. At the same time, you need to remember that you plan to achieve this Goal after a certain period of time.One of the main mistakes that occurs at this step is the estimation of the probability of achieving the goal immediately at the moment of its formulation. Without even trying to think about the steps needed to achieve it.
Unreachable wording
Have at least 100,000 subscribers
The share of sales of new products in the annual sales volume is at least 50%
Achievable formulation
Have at least 8,000 followers on your blog
The share of sales of new products in the annual sales volume is at least 15%
* In this example, we have refined our wording by reducing the numerical values.
Step 4:
Relevant criterion - relevant, significant. It is interpreted in two ways. The goal should be of real value to the person and appropriate to the situation at the moment and in the near future.
It is important that the goal is adequate to the life situation of the company or a particular person, otherwise it will not be fully realized. Example - a manager wants to increase staff motivation and introduces a new bonus system based on personal leadership, although the main value of the company is teamwork and camaraderie.
At this step, we check how the selected goals correspond to the current situation. In other words, how relevant they are to a person.
Step 5:
Time bounded - limited in time. This is the most obvious criterion: the goal must have a specific deadline. Regardless of which category it belongs to - long-term, medium-term, or short-term goals. Experts say that without a deadline, there is no goal. For example:
No time limit
Have at least 8,000 followers on your blog
The share of sales of new products in the annual sales volume is at least 10%
Time limited
Have at least 8,000 subscribers on your blog as of 01.06. 2023
The share of sales of new products in annual sales is at least 10 percent as of 12/31/2023
So, now you are armed with the necessary knowledge, thought through all the details and are ready to fight to achieve your goal. But keeping a grand plan in mind without losing a single important detail is almost impossible. The results of the brainstorming should be presented in the form of a detailed and user-friendly map of the combat operations. That is, you need a tool that allows you to:
fix everything you want,
ensure control of your progress towards the goal,
keep the target in focus all the time - the road is long and there will be many paths on the way that take you away from the target, "shoot down the sight."
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