Best strategies to smart goal setting! - By: Majlinda Priku

SMART goal setting should be an individual process, but the manager inevitably
takes an active role in guiding and supporting their team members through
the process.

Here are a few important steps to a successful smart goal setting process:

1.Take the time to describe and clarify what SMART Goals are (specific,measurable,attainable,relevant,timebound) what is their aim, their function and how are they going to keep your employees focused to achieve desired outputs. Practice preparing goal statements with them and make available samples of SMART goals. Give them tips and strategies on how to create their goal statements: smart, specific, measurable goals always answer questions as: what do we need to do, how, when, how much etc?

2. Clarify the difference between goals and objectives: we attain goals and we do objectives. Objectives are the means to accomplishing a goal. Usually it takes several objectives to reach a goal. An action verb commences all objectives. Goals are asscociated with outcomes, which are the end-products and act as point of references that ensure that all activities and objectives are on course.

3. Know and share the goals of the organization. It's important to envision and communicate the big picture to all members of your team and how their jobs and roles fit into the big picture. This facilitates an easier and realistic goal setting journey as well as helps landscape future directions.

4. When setting smart goals encourage your team members to include personal goals: as education, skills development and other ambitions on a personal level. This way they are motivated to create and achieve goals that benefit them and the company.

5. Analyze their goals to determine action steps. Identify potential challenges and
do capacity assesmens in order to provide a reality-test to impossible goals.
Finally,guide and mentor them through the process of channeling their goals into an action plan.
The action plan would the final outcone of the smart goal setting process. It would act as a communication and working document and a record of achievements. It is the compromised and finalized agreement of the goals, boundaries, expected outcomes, timelines, resources, methods to achieve them, benefits, support needed etc. Indicators to measure outcomes are developed at this stage.

6. Help structure their process by providing tools as goal setting forms.

7. Frequently monitor the plan. Provide more tools and support if needed. Sometimes team members may feel over-streched and may display side effects as resistance, time management issues etc. Make time management tools easily available to them. More importantly: Celebrate success!

About the Author

Majlinda Priku is an experienced manager, a leader and an expert coach in capacity building,business management and personal development. She is a strong believer and implementer of participatory methodology and is well-known for using capacity building techniques through active stakeholder engagement in decision-making processes, context analysis, SWOT Analysis, visual methods as flow diagrams, fishbone technique etc.href="http://www.managementskillsadvisor.com/smart-goals.html">

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