(lively music)
- It's clear, goals are necessary for growth,
in our personal lives, careers and daily work.
But as it turns out, we're pretty bad at goal-setting.
According to a 2017 study
by the Project Management Institute, 17% of projects fail.
Now that's no small number in a wide business world
made up of projects.
Even more interestingly,
of the projects in that study that didn't fail out right,
32% missed their goals.
Add to that a study done by the University of Scranton
that found that a staggering 92% of people
don't meet their new year's goals.
And you start to see a trend.
Why is that?
Are we pressing too hard to have a goal
just for the sake of having one?
Are we not tracking our goals
or are the goals not clear enough?
There are so many reasons teams
and individuals miss the mark.
But one is that many of us set a goal
without thoroughly exploring and benchmarking it.
You might even set goals and completely miss them
because they weren't clearly articulated.
That doesn't mean your work was all for nothing
or that you're not good at your job.
You probably just need to get smart about goal setting.
SMART goals are objectives that meet the five criteria
of the SMART acronym,
specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
These criteria help you to clarify your goals
and set boundaries around them
so you can set a lofty goal
while also thinking through tactics
to help you better achieve them.
SMART goals provide a framework that not only helps you
write a measurable and achievable goal,
they also clear up any confusion about what should be done,
how long it should take
and when you can celebrate hitting that goal.
In fact, by doing a little extra work to focus on specifics,
SMART goals enable you to set expectations
around your accomplishment
and plan a path towards meeting it.
The most important thing to understand
when developing SMART goals
is how to think about the five key criteria
as you work through them.
Here's how to use each one
to write solid SMART goals of your own.
There's no doubt that when you're specific about a goal,
and you do the work to uncover every possible detail,
you'll clear away any ambiguity
that might stand in the way of meeting that goal.
Determining your goal's specifics
will help you make sure it's well-defined,
well-intentioned and unambiguous.
So this is your opportunity to dissect the goal
and get granular about it.
Here's some questions that can help you
or your team to get the details.
What needs to be accomplished?
Why do you want to achieve this goal?
Who's involved in the goal?
Who's responsible?
Where will this work need to happen?
And are there any limitations on the work?
Thinking through these questions will help you arrive
at a more realistic goal that you're comfortable acting on
and discussing with your team, stakeholders and management.
A well-crafted goal isn't just specific
about what's intended.
It's also easy to quantify.
So figure out the best way to measure or track your success.
You can do this by tracking a total number of actions,
a percentage, a dollar figure,
or some other number that shows movement towards your goal.
If you're having trouble coming up with a number,
you might need to rethink the goal.
Most experts will tell you, "Go for the gold."
And while setting lofty goals isn't terrible advice,
don't get too far ahead of yourself.
After all, it's awful when you don't meet a goal,
but it's even worse to miss a goal
because it was never achievable in the first place.
This step is a reality check
to make sure what you've outlined is actually within reach.
Look at your goal and run it through the lens of reality
to make sure you aren't setting yourself up for failure
before you even start.
That's not an easy thing to do, though,
especially if you wanna be aggressive,
but aren't sure just how successful you'll be.
To assess your goals' achievability,
explore all the possible constraints or limitations
that could impede your progress.
These might include time or availability and workloads,
team size, technology and tools, budget, resources,
and required partners and related work.
There's a lot to consider here
to make sure you're setting yourself up for success.
What's most important is to dig deep
and make any potential risks or issues clear.
That way, if they do become a reality,
you can revisit the goal without stress.
Chances are you've already touched on the reason
you're taking on your goal in previous steps,
but this is your opportunity to fully express
why that goal is important to you or your organization.
Identifying a key outcome provides clarity
on why you're doing the work and how it will benefit you,
your project or your organization.
Having that single guiding light also helps you
make decisions or adapt to change
throughout the course of your work.
Like most projects, goals are finite.
And if you miss your deadline, you weren't successful.
Goals can be impacted by so many outlying factors
like related projects, events, and teams.
That's why it's smart to set a deadline
for meeting your goal.
This not only keeps your goal measurable and realistic,
it also keeps everyone involved
aligned on what needs to be accomplished and when.
Here's the thing,
you can probably meet most goals with a little more time,
but if you can't do it within a specific timeframe,
you might be focused on the wrong tactics to meet that goal.
Having a time-based constraint on your goal
helps you push towards success
and get creative with those tactics.
So what does a SMART goal look like?
Goals will vary among projects, teams, and individuals,
but some SMART goal examples can help you to think
about how you might phrase your goals.
For instance,
a SMART goal structure like this might work for you.
The way you write your personal goals
will be personal to you or specific to your organization
and how you communicate.
So don't feel like you have to stick to a specific formula.
Feel free to make your goal unique
and give it some personality,
but do be sure to explicitly cover the SMART criteria
so it's 100% clear.
If you're a project manager,
you can use these SMART goal examples
to inspire your own goal writing.
If you work with a team that delivers
any kind of product or commodity,
the amount produced can tie directly back
to metrics like profit.
So let's say your team makes widgets
and you've been asked by management
to reasonably increase that number.
Here's an example of what your SMART goal might look like.
Personal career goals for project managers can be lofty,
but it's never a bad thing
to think outside the box to level up.
One way to do that is to begin sharing your ideas
and networking within the greater PM community.
Of course, there are lots of ways to do this,
but your SMART goal might look something like this.
Project managers are often tasked with non-project work
that helps shape organizational operations.
These things take time,
and often that time is crammed between meetings,
planning, and stakeholder requests.
Using the SMART framework
can help you determine what you'll do,
and more importantly, think through what you can accomplish.
Here's an example of how you might handle something
that will likely take a phased approach.
If you're already writing goals, you're on the right track.
Our free SMART goals template
can help you follow the SMART structure
and continue on the trajectory to success.
Just think you can be part of the 8% of people
who actually meet goals,
and it doesn't have to be all that painful.
Click the link in the description to download our template
and examples to develop SMART goals for your projects,
team, organization, or career.
By thinking through your objectives
with a lens on the details
you'll set yourself up for success.
I hope this video was helpful for you.
If it was, I'd love it if you could return the favor
and hit the like button.
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Thanks for watching.
I'll see you next time.
(lively music)