Jul 01, 2015

Damn straight…leaders that set ineffective goals work 24×7; leaders that set effective goals work 8×5…you choose.

Why managers continue to set vague, subjective, unachievable, unrealistic and ill-timed goals is beyond me. They struggle converting general goals into specific goals.

Poorly set goals wreck organisations, wreck divisions, wreck teams, and wreck employees. So my post today focuses on this critical area of leadership. By translating general goals into specific goals, you will be able to provide a clear direction for your team. Further, you will have the specifics you need to prioritise and measure progress on each goal, and that’s HUGE.

Therefore, start by writing a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely) goal…here’s how.

Specific
Write a goal that is specific and states exactly what needs to be accomplished. For instance, instead of ‘increasing customer service’ say ‘increasing customer service on surveys.’

Then, get more specific by identifying how you will achieve the goal; such as ‘increasing customer satisfaction on surveys by reducing part failure.’

Measurable
Within the goal, provide a way to measure the goal to show when you have been unsuccessful or successful. Add some way to measure the goal so you can chart progress, and know when you have achieved success.

Ensure you have the tools or capability to measure the goal. For instance, do you have the equipment that can test the part to see whether it can withstand the forces it needs to, and also can you measure and track 0.2 percent part failure?

Choose the type of measurement that makes sense of your goal. For instance, quantities make sense when you are concerned about the total number of your product being produced. Percentages make sense when you want to look at changes, such as increases or decreases in amount of sales, and physical measurements of parts might make sense when you work with the size of the part.

Attainable
Make sure the goal is attainable given your team and their capabilities.

Ensure that the goal you write aligns with the skill set of your group. You would not add ‘by reducing part failure’ if you managed the sales team. ‘Reducing part failure’ is a goal for the engineering team.

Make sure the goal is attainable given the technology and tools available. Determine if ‘reducing part failure to 0.2 percent’ is even achievable given the tolerances, equipment, and materials used.

Make sure that the goal is achievable in the timeframe given; also ensure the goal is attainable given the processes that exist within your organisation.

Realistic
Adjust the goal so it is realistic.

Focus on all parameters that influence the goal. For instance, ‘reducing part failure to 0.2 percent’ may not be realistic if your supplier is providing the parts and you have no control over their processes.

Ask yourself, is this a change you intend to make within the organisation? For example, if both your team and another team need to collaborate in order to achieve the goal, will you be able to work together to achieve this goal?

Timely
Establish a timeframe for the goal.

Take into account the workflow within your group and your organisation to set the timeframe. For instance, can you achieve ‘increasing customer satisfaction to 95 percent on surveys by reducing part failure to 15 percent?

Anticipate any obstacles to the timeframe you have set. If you said it would take six months to achieve the goal, yet it is contingent on receiving a special tool that will not come out for eight months, then the timeframe needs to be adjusted.

So from now on only write SMART goals for your team and enjoy more quality time with your family than with your team members. To learn more about goal setting and other key leadership skills, take a look at New Horizons' Professional Development training courses.

For now until next time, let me use a classic line from the legendary British comedy series, the Two Ronnies, “it’s goodbye from him and it’s goodbye from me.”