What are SMART Objectives tells you all about SMART objectives; how to create SMART objectives, how to use SMART objectives and how to use SMART objectives to achieve results. If you would like to keep up to date with our business advice please visit http://pathway2grow.co.uk/blog/ or call us: 0121 707 0550 to see what training courses we have to offer or e-mail: info@pathwaygroup.co.uk

1. Creating
SMART Objectives
= Achieving Results

2. You want your business to grow and you
need to set some plans for you and your
staff to make that happen.
Defining some loose ideas and objectives
such as do more marketing, call more
people, get more active on Social Media
is all well and good, but in order to
actually achieve these broad goals and
secondly, to define whether they have
been successful, we need to set
objectives and goals for our businesses
which are SMART.
What Are SMART Objectives?

3. S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Achievable
R – Results Orientated
T – Timed
What Are SMART Objectives?

4. Very often when setting goals we are too broad and too big.
We need to make sure we are being clear about what we are trying to
accomplish. Therefore, we need to create a very clear action in our
goals.
Theses goals/objectives should:
 Be Specific
 Describe the result that is desired in a way
that is detailed, focused & well defined.
 Precise or specific behaviour, achievement or outcome which is or
can be related to a percentage, frequency, rate or number.
This is key when we look at the ‘M’ of SMART, because if our goal(s)
can’t be measured, we can’t evaluate the success!
Be ‘S’ Specific

5. Non-Specific Goal: “To encourage more
people to visit our website.”
Specific: “To increase the number of unique
visitors to our website on a monthly basis.”
Be ‘S’ Specific

6. Creating goals or setting objectives which have clear
well defined measurement criteria is vital.
We are all motivated by achievement, so setting
measurement criteria and being able to track it
through the life of an objective or goal makes a real
difference. In order to do this we need to think about
how much of something we want.
A key point here is knowing when we have
accomplished our aim. Without a measure, a goal can
never be achieved, and we can never get the sense of
achievement of attaining or exceeding our targets.
Make them ‘M’ Measurable

7. Non-measurable: “To increase the number of unique visitors to our
website on a monthly basis.”
Measurable: “To increase unique visits to our website by 5,000/ 10% per
month.”
Ensuring you know how this goal can be measured and defining it clearly
will also help, so we can extend this objective to read:
“To increase unique visits to our website as defined by Google analytic’
by 5,000/10% per month.”
Make them ‘M’ Measurable

8. As just discussed when looking at measurable, a key part of goal
and objective setting is the motivation that comes from a sense
of achievement when we actually achieve our goals.
If you set a target that is simply not possible then you will end
up demotivating yourself and your staff. It is a fine balance though,
because if we aim too low our achievement can become devalued.
So we want to look for targets that are stretching yet realistic, things
that if achieved will mean something to ourselves and the business,
but are achievable given the resource at your disposal.
It’s ‘A’ Achievable

9. Results orientated goal setting is key.
If we continue to think about the motivational aspect of objective
setting, then results orientation is about making sure that what we
achieve will have an impact on the business and the overall goals for
the business or ourselves personally.
This is a sense check on goal setting to make sure we aren’t doing
things for the sake of it, but that whatever goal we set will contribute
to the success of the business.
If we expand on our example, this might look like this:
“To increase unique visits to our website as defined by
Google Analytic’ by 5,000 per month, allowing our advertising
sales team to charge an extra 10% for web advertising space.”
We ‘R’ Results Orientated

10. An objective without a time frame has no
sense of urgency and is much less likely to
succeed.
Think about the times when you set yourself
a goal of doing something by a particular
date. Those deadlines provide you with a real
impetus and push you to achieve what can
appear to be stretching targets.
So, we started with the initial objective:
“To encourage more people to visit our
website.”
‘T’ is for Timed

11. And, to finish our example, we now have the objective:
“To increase unique visits to our website as defined by Google Analytic’ by
5,000 per month, by the end of Quarter 1 (March 31st) thus allowing our
advertising sales team to charge an extra 10% for web advertising space.”
This Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results Orientated & Timed
(SMART) objective, is motivating to those involved and even if stretching
becomes more achievable by being anchored in within a time frame and
because it has a reason.
Make it SMART

12. If you would any more business advice
please continue to keep updated with our blog,
Call: 0121 707 0550,
Fax: 08444 127362
E-mail: info@pathwaygroup.co.uk
For More Information
Note: Pathway 2 Grow run a wide number of useful sessions for businesses at our
networking events. Goal setting is just one example. Why not book onto our next
networking event. (http://pathway2grow.co.uk/events.html)