How to Turn Your Work Objectives into SMART Goals

In the previous post, I shared with you how to set SMART goals. I wrote that “S.M.A.R.T is an acronym that you can use to guide your goal setting but goals are part of every aspect of business/life and provide a sense of direction, motivation, a clear focus, and clarify importance. By setting goals, you are providing yourself with a target to aim for. A SMART goal is used to help guide goal setting. Therefore, a SMART goal incorporates all of these criteria to help focus your efforts and increase the chances of achieving your goal”.

In this post, I will be referring to a previous post where I talked about Work Objectives. I’ll also be expounding on how you can turn your objectives into SMART Goals.

As defined above and in the previous post, you'll recall that SMART goals must be: SPECIFIC, MEASURABLE, ATTAINABLE, RELEVANT AND TIME-BOUND.

For you to turn your objectives into SMART goals, you need to follow the following steps:

• The most important thing to do is to start by reviewing the 3-5 key outcomes that are critical for success in your role. You will notice that these objectives are not SMART goals in themselves.
• Next, you need to convert each key output into a measurable objective that you believe you should achieve during the course of this year. These objectives represent specific improvements or achievements you want to record this year.
• You should set your goals in consultation with the person you report to – as she/he has a broader perspective on what others are trying to achieve. If you have people reporting to you, then you should sit down with them, ensure they understand fully the company’s long term mission, its current strategy and your work objectives, and then help them state their objectives so that they are very clear about what they are expected to achieve in service of this wider mission.
• After following these steps, you must evaluate yourself by making sure that the goal plan is:
  Very specific in that you have defined the goal in detail including the key actions that must be taken to achieve it.
• Measurable i.e. you have indicated the key metrics whereby you can know when it has been achieved,
• Attainable - the goal is within, your ability to achieve within the defined time frame,
• Relevant in that it is directly related to your role and key outputs, and finally 
  Time-bound.

You can catch up on previous posts on the Goal Setting Series here.

Cheers