MSS #030 SMART objectives don’t work – find out what does.

MSS #030: SMART objectives don’t work.

MSS #030: SMART objectives don’t work – find out what does.

5 Aug, 2023

Read time: 2.8 minutes

In a hurry? Cut straight to the Here’s a better way – process based.

chapter - reduced read time 1.2 minutes.

You’re not as SMART as you think.

SMART objectives don’t work.

Find out what does.

DISCLAIMER:

Most of my business life I used SMART objectives and exceeded them many times i.e.

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Realistic

Timebound.

I am being a bit cheeky about SMART objectives, its outcome based objectives I am referring to.

Outcome based SMART objectives are not good. They don’t put you in control and create unnecessary pressure and don’t support useful meetings with managers.

A small change can make a massive difference, giving back control and enabling nourishing manager to team member discussions, that allow meaningful discussions.

Ready to discover how? Crack on below then.

Traditional SMART objectives – outcome based.

Many times, SMART objectives are outcome based.

What do I mean by this? They describe the destination, with no clues to how to get there.

Let’s take a sporting analogy. SMART objective is.

“Win a Gold medal in the Paris Olympics 100m sprint”

That’s SMART!

Its specific, you can measure the result, it’s achievable if you’re a top athlete, its realistic if that’s your sport and you have been at the top of your game and its very much timebound.

There are lots of factors that can and will influence your ability to win a Gold medal, even if you are a top athlete.

Some aspects will be in your control, for example,

• Your diet.

• How you train.

• Who your coach is.

• How often you train.

• How much rest you get.

• How much sleep you have.

There are many other factors that are not in your control,

• Who you compete against on the day.

• The weather when you compete.

• If you stay injury free.

There are even more factors you have partial control over.

Now for a business objective, here is a common one, meeting a sales target.

e.g. exceed sales of £14m in the first quarter.

Outcome based objectives are logical, but in many cases, you are not in control of the outcome.

If you then have a monthly 121 with the sales person, how will you judge if they are doing a good job?

• Pipeline of sales.

• Level of prospecting.

• Quality of their customer relationships.

• How many customer meetings they have.

If you judge they are not performing well – how do you know they will not meet the objective?

If you think they are off track you then put pressure on them. They perform worse as they suffer from more stress and the impact that has. Your boss then heaps pressure on you!

Which can lead to,

- frustration.

- inconsistent motivation.

- fear and worry (impacting performance).

- parting company (one or other party)

This way leads to boom or bust discussions that do not seem fair as the “judgement” of whether they are doing a good job is far from scientific. The judgement of performance is subjective.

Here’s a better way – process based.

You can however control a process, designed to achieve a specific outcome.

Example objective: Exceed £100k of sales per month.

Process:

• Average sale value is £5k, so 20 sales required per month.

• 30% conversion rate, so we need to quote on £333k sales = 67 quotes a month.

• 50% of sales calls result in a quote, so we need 134 sales calls a month.

When you design your objectives around the process you are now in full control. You can control the process.

You can control how many sales calls you have a month. If this number is above or below the target, you can discuss why.

If above the target, you can check in on the quality of the calls. If below target what is the cause, it could be,

• Poor attitude / performance – so have an appropriate discussion.

• Skill / ability – does the person need training, mentoring, coaching?

• Is there geographic area too big?

This way you have meaningful discussions about delivering the process. This assumes the important work of understanding the process has been done. In this case doing analysis of average sales, conversion rates etc.

Process based objectives leads to better outcomes

• staff performance

• accountability

• fairness

• motivation

Ingredients for process-based objectives are,

1. Design a process to meet the outcome objective.

2. Make sure the process is entirely in your control.

(or the person you manage)

3. Process must be clear and measurable.

4. Focus should be on the process objective.

5. Process should fit with your job role.

With a process objective, you move away from them and us of manager challenging the person that reports to them, to a joint effort on ensuring the process is fit for purpose and how the person with the objective can work more effectively to meet the process objective.

Even better.

Doing the following makes SMART process objectives even better.

• Celebrate success.

• Regularly review progress.

• Assess if training or support required.

• Share best practice between colleagues.

• Check lessons learnt, opportunities for improvement along the way.

Summary

Quick recap.

1. Convert outcome objectives into a process.

2. Focus measurement, support and performance review on the process.

3. Review progress, look for improvements, celebrate success, share best practice.

Want more? 

When you're ready, 3 ways I can help you:

1. Build self confidence and resilience fast - £48 training course

2. Work with me 121 - start with a FREE 15 minutes exploration session.

Lets have an open chat and explore how I can help you and what is troubling you.

If we both think we can work together and I have what you need we can go from there.

3. Workshops and Speaking - I run workshops and speak. Book me to help your team increase their productivity.

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Happy habits – simple habits to make you feel happier everyday.

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Happy thinking.