What is SMART Goal
The SMART goal is a framework that helps an individual, team, or business set up a good goal or objective based on the five dimensions. SMART is an acronym for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely. This is a simple tool to keep you on track and meet deadlines.
- Specific: The SMART goal must be clear.
- Measurable: The goal must be quantifiable to track progress.
- Achievable: The goal is do-able.
- Relevant: A SMART goal must be relevant to your main target or matter.
- Timely: The goal must have a time limitation.
To put it simply, a SMART goal must be a goal that is clear and possible to achieve, while they are based on reality and measurable within the time limitation.
Key Points
- The SMART goal is a framework that helps an individual, team, or business set up a good goal or objective based on the five dimensions of the SMART goal.
- SMART is an acronym for specific, measurable, achievable, relavant, and timely.
Specific
Specific of the smart goal means you need to set a clear and unambiguous, you need to specify what you want to do to achieve the goal. If you have an unclear goal, then you need to ask your self “what is the objective you need to do to achieve the goal?”.
For example, the company wants to increase sales, but by which method? The company may be increase sales by finding new customers.
Measurable
Measurable is that the goal must be quantifiable rather than a target like “to become the best”. The measurable goal results in easier to track progress and know when you are at the finish line.
To put it simply, you must be able to track the progress of your goal by the number.
If the company wants to increase sales by finding new customers, then the company needs to identify how much they need new customers (within a limited time range). For example, the company needs to find 20,000 new customers within a year.
Achievable
Achievable means the goal that you set up must do-able. Because there is no point in setting up the goal for an impossible target.
From the example above, the company needs to do research to make sure that the goal of finding 20,000 new customers within a year is possible.
Relevant
A SMART goal must be relevant to your main target or matter for you, and it should relate to the available resources to accomplish the goal. For the company, the goal should be related to the main objective of the company (like vision, mission, short-term objective, or long-term objective) and the company’s available resources.
The goal that the company needs to find 20,000 new customers within a year must be related to the company’s vision and mission at that time.
Timely
The SMART goal needs a time limitation for the completion of the work. The goal without time limitation would serve no motivation to do the objective. You need to define when the objective should be completed.
From the example above the company’s goal is to find 20,000 new customers within a year. 1 year is a time limitation.
