Setting SMART objectives

A company I used to work for had a really nice purpose: ‘to improve interactions between organisations and their audiences.’ It’s a broad statement centred around solving business challenges, which worked well due to the broad nature of the services we offered.

We found measuring the results of these services is what really mattered - regardless of whether the project is a success. You can’t learn if you don’t track what’s happening.

However, to give yourself the best chance of achieving your desired results, your objectives need to be clear from the outset. Agreeing measurements of success before starting a project enables all stakeholders to be sure they’re working towards achieving same end result, they also make it easier for all to challenge.

To do this we use specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timed (smart) objectives. Asking ourselves the following questions to develop, and refine, the objective:

Specific — what exactly is it we want to achieve?

Measurable — how will we quantify success?

Achievable — can this actually be done?

Realistic — are the resources in place to make the objective happen? (skills, budget, time)

Timed — when will the objective be achieved (by the end of the month, 21st March 2017, etc.)

Without SMART objectives in place, it’s almost impossible to really know the results of the activities meaning you will have no evidence of success.