Is your company working SMART? | Consensus HR in Herts and Beds
Our Latest blog: SMART goals – Why use them? | Consensus HR in Herts & Beds
“SMART”
When companies run appraisals / Performance Management meetings, Consensus HR always encourages them to ensure that they write SMART objectives so as to ensure a suitable outcome for the company and member of the team, but what are SMART goals? Our current blog discusses:
SMART goals are widely used in business and personal development because they provide a clear, structured framework for setting and achieving objectives. Here are the key reasons why using SMART goals is beneficial:
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Clarity and Focus
- Specific: Clearly defined goals provide a detailed understanding of what needs to be achieved, eliminating ambiguity.
- Measurable: Goals with quantifiable criteria allow for tracking progress and measuring success, ensuring you know when the goal has been met.
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Motivation and Commitment
- Achievable: Setting realistic and attainable goals helps maintain motivation and encourages commitment. Unrealistic goals can lead to frustration and demotivation.
- Relevant / Realistic: Goals that are aligned with broader business or personal objectives ensure that efforts are directed towards meaningful outcomes.
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Effective Planning
- Time-bound: Deadlines create a sense of urgency and help prioritise tasks. This ensures that goals are met within a reasonable timeframe and prevent procrastination.
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Accountability and Responsibility
- Responsibility Assignment: By being specific and time-bound, SMART goals make it easier to assign responsibility and accountability, ensuring that everyone involved knows their role in achieving the goal.
- Performance Evaluation: Measurable criteria allow for objective assessment of performance, facilitating better feedback and improvement strategies.
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Resource Management
- Efficient Use of Resources: Clearly defined and achievable goals help in better allocation and utilization of resources, avoiding wastage and ensuring that efforts are focused on high-priority tasks.
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Enhanced Productivity
- Focused Efforts: SMART goals help in maintaining focus on what’s important, enhancing productivity by preventing distractions and enabling a more streamlined approach to task completion.
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Improved Communication
- Clear Communication: Specific and measurable goals enhance communication within teams, ensuring everyone understands what needs to be done and what is expected of them.
- Alignment: Relevant goals ensure that all team members are working towards a common objective, fostering better teamwork and collaboration.
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Risk Management
- Early Identification: Measurable and time-bound goals help in early identification of potential issues and challenges, allowing for timely intervention and risk mitigation.
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Personal and Professional Development
- Skill Improvement: Working towards specific and challenging goals encourages the development of new skills and competencies, contributing to personal and professional growth.
Practical Example:
Consider a company wanting to increase its market share. A SMART goal might be:
- Specific: Increase market share by 5% in the next fiscal year.
- Measurable: Use quarterly sales data to measure progress.
- Achievable: Implement targeted marketing campaigns and expand the sales team.
- Relevant / Realistic: Aligns with the company’s strategic objective to grow its market presence.
- Time-bound: Achieve this increase by the end of the fiscal year.
This structured approach provides a clear path to follow, ensuring that all efforts are directed towards achieving a tangible and significant result.
Our HR Comment:
Our HR Comment: – Matthew Chilcott, Owner of Consensus HR comments “Managing appraisals (performance reviews) can be found to be very difficult by some companies but it is key to managing the performance of the team, whilst keeping them motivated and feeling a key part to the businesses success. Regular reviews should take place that are documented with SMART goals set that covers all areas of SMART. We recommend every six months, and this should take place in a friendly, relaxed environment with the employee given the opportunity to prepare for the meeting with set supporting documentation. The manager should also prepare and at Consensus HR we always advise our clients to ensure that notes / bullet points are kept of the team’s performance so that when the review does take place, they have notes to use and ensure it is productive meeting for the success of the team member and company.”
Consensus HR encourages clients to have a policy in place that covers:
This will ensure that it is essential to get both the policy and practice right to optimise the performance of your team.
Is your company working SMART? Talk to Matthew at Consensus HR and find out!