Page 3 - The Leadership Line: Dec. 2020

SMART Goals

Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, believes the act of writing goals sets things into motion.
When writing reviews this performance review cycle, follow the SMART goal acronym to ensure goals are defined for
success. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant/Realistic, and Timely.

Specific

» Who, what, where, when, why, and how? Not so SMART Goals

» What exactly is the goal? » Increase customer
knowledgebase articles
» Be specific about what you want to accomplish » Improve quality of service

Measurable » Reduce response time

» How will you know that the goal has been SMART Goals
achieved? » Add three project management
articles to the knowledgebase by
» What metrics will you use to measure progress? June 30.
» Increase average customer
Attainable service survey score by 5% each
quarter.
» Make sure the goal is reasonably attainable within » Reduce average time to respond
a certain time frame to support requests from 2 days
to 1 day by the end of the year.
» A challenging goal will help your team member
grow, an unrealistic goal will frustrate your team
member

» Does your team member have the resources and Suggested Reading
skills needed to reach this goal? » “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective

People” by Stephen Covey
Relevant/ Realistic » “Performance Appraisals and

» Is this goal consistent with bigger picture goals? Phrases for Dummies ” by Ken
Lloyd
» Does this goal fall within the employee’s areas of
responsibility?
» Is it realistic to expect the employee can
accomplish this goal given their other
responsibilities?

Timely “A goal properly set is

» A realistic timeline with milestone dates improves halfway reached.”
accountability for longer duration goals

» Nothing gets done quickly without a deadline! Zig Ziglar