Setting goals seems to be a simple matter, everyone has the experience of setting goals, but if it rises to the technical level, managers must learn and master the SMART principle.
The so-called SMART principle, SMART is the abbreviation of the initials of five English words:
S is concrete: it means that when setting performance appraisal goals, it must be concrete-that is, the goal rule.
M is measurable: that is, the goal should be measurable and quantifiable.
A achievable: that is, the set goal should be high and challenging, but it must be achievable.
R relevance: the set goals should be related to the job responsibilities of the post.
T is time-sensitive: for the set goals, you need to specify when to achieve them.
Special note: some people explain this principle like this.
-s stands for Specific, which means that performance appraisal should focus on specific work indicators, not general ones;
-m stands for measurable, indicating that performance indicators are quantitative or behavioral, and data or information to verify these performance indicators can be obtained;
-A stands for achievable, which means that performance indicators can be achieved through hard work and avoid setting too high or too low goals;
-R stands for realism, indicating that performance indicators are real and can be proved and observed;
-T stands for time limit, focusing on the specific time limit for completing the performance indicators.
SMART principle -s (specific)-clarity
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The so-called clarity is to explain the behavior standards to be achieved clearly in concrete language. Clear goals are the consistent characteristics of almost all successful teams. An important reason why many teams are unsuccessful is that their goals are vague or not effectively communicated to relevant members.
For example: goal-"enhance customer awareness". This description of the goal is very unclear, because there are many specific ways to enhance customer awareness, such as reducing customer complaints. In the past, the customer complaint rate was 3%, but now it has dropped to 1.5% or 1%. Improving service speed, using standardized and polite language and adopting standardized service processes are also an aspect of customer awareness.
There are so many ways to enhance customer awareness, which one do we mean by "enhancing customer awareness"? Without clarity, there is no way to judge and measure. Therefore, it is suggested to modify it to this. For example, we will raise the speed of cashier at the front desk to a normal standard before the end of the month. This normal standard can be two minutes, one minute or a time period to determine the standard.
Implementation requirements: the goal setting should include the project, measurement standard, measures to be achieved, completion deadline and resource requirements, so that the evaluator can clearly see what the department or department plans to do every month and to what extent the plan is completed.
SMART principle II M (measurable)-measurability
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Measurability means that goals should be clear, not vague. There should be a clear set of data as a basis for measuring whether the goal is achieved.
If there is no way to measure the set goals, it is impossible to judge whether they have been achieved. For example, one day the leader asked, "How far is this goal from realization?" The team member's answer is "We have achieved it". This is the difference between leaders and subordinates in team goals. The reason is that he didn't get quantitative and measurable analysis data. But not all goals can be measured, and sometimes there are exceptions. For example, it is difficult to measure a goal in a general direction.
For example, "arrange further management training for all old employees". In addition, there is a concept that is neither clear nor easy to measure. What does this mean? Is it called "further" as long as this training is arranged, no matter who speaks it or whether the effect is good or bad?
Promotion: to be precise, when is the training of all the old employees of a certain project completed, and after the course is over, the students' scores are above 85, below which the effect is considered unsatisfactory, and above 85 is the expected result. So the goal becomes measurable.
Implementation requirements: the measurement standard of the target follows the principle of "energy, quality and non-quantification" Make setters and evaluators have a unified, standard, clear and measurable ruler, and put an end to vague and unmeasurable descriptions of adjectives and other concepts in goal setting.
SMART Principle 3A (Achievable)-Acceptability
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The goal is to be accepted by the executors. If the boss uses some administrative means and the influence of power to impose his own goal on his subordinates, the typical reaction of subordinates is a psychological and behavioral resistance: I can accept it, but it is hard to say whether this goal can be achieved. Once this goal cannot be achieved one day, subordinates will have a hundred reasons to shirk their responsibilities: you see, I have said that this goal cannot be achieved, but you insist on putting pressure on me.
"Controlled" leaders like to set their own goals and then give them to their subordinates to complete. They don't care about the opinions and reactions of their subordinates. There is no market for this practice. Nowadays, the level of knowledge, education, self-quality and the degree of personality advocated by employees are far beyond the past. Therefore, leaders should attract more subordinates to participate in the process of goal setting, even if it is the overall goal of the team.
If you set a growth goal, don't think about the difficulties you have achieved first, or you will be discouraged by fear before your enthusiasm is ignited.
Implementation requirements: goal setting should adhere to top-down employee participation and communication, so that the proposed work goals can be agreed between organizations and individuals. Make the work content substantial and accessible. You can set the goal of jumping to pick peaches, but you can't set the goal of jumping to pick stars.
SMART Principle Four R (Relevance)-Practicality
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The practicality of the goal refers to whether it is feasible and operable under realistic conditions. There are two possible situations. On the one hand, the leader optimistically estimated the current situation and underestimated the conditions needed to achieve the goal. These conditions include human resources, hardware conditions, technical conditions, system information conditions, team environment factors and so on. In order to issue indicators higher than the actual ability. In addition, it may consume a lot of time, resources and even labor costs, and the ultimate goal has no practical significance at all.
Example: The manager of a restaurant has set a goal-the sales at breakfast time will increase by 15% on the basis of the sales at breakfast last month. Calculate, know that this may be the concept of thousands of dollars, if converted into profits, it is a very low figure. But how much will it cost to accomplish this goal? This investment is higher than profit.
This is an unrealistic goal, because it cost a lot of money, and finally it didn't recover the invested capital. This is not a good goal.
Sometimes practicality needs to be measured by team leaders. Because sometimes leaders may say that the purpose of investing so much money is to defeat competitors, so although the income is not so high, defeating competitors is the main goal. The goal in this case is practical.
Implementation requirements: In order to get the full cooperation of all members, all members must be involved in the formulation of departmental work goals, so that personal goals and organizational goals are consistent, goals are coordinated from top to bottom, and employees are also involved in the formulation of work goals from bottom to top.
Five T's of SMART Principle (Time-based)-Time Limit
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The time-limited nature of the target characteristics means that the target is time-limited. For example, I will finish something before May 3, 20051. May 3 1 is a definite time limit. There is no way to assess the goal without time limit, otherwise it will bring unfairness to the assessment. Superior and subordinate have different understandings of the priorities of goals. The boss is in a hurry. I don't know below. Finally, the boss can fly into a rage and his subordinates feel wronged. This way without a clear time limit will also bring injustice to the assessment, hurt the working relationship and hurt the enthusiasm of subordinates.
Implementation requirements: there should be a time limit for goal setting. According to the importance of work tasks and the priorities of things, the time requirements for completing the target project are formulated, the completion progress of the project is checked regularly, and the changes of the project progress are grasped in time, so that the subordinates can be guided in time and the work plan can be adjusted in time according to the abnormal changes of the work plan.
In short, both the team's work goals and the employees' performance goals must conform to the above principles, and the five principles are indispensable. The process of making is also a process of improving the control ability of the department's preliminary work, and the process of completing the plan is also a process of experiencing and practicing its own modern management ability.