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Rialto Report: How to set ‘SMART’ Objectives

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Contents

“SMART Objectives” ............................................................................................................. 3

Ten Steps to SMART objectives ........................................................................................... 5

Suggestions for Writing SMART Objectives .......................................................................... 6

'Metricating' your marketing objectives .................................................................................. 9

Some Examples of SMART Objectives ............................................................................... 12

Comparison of Good and Poor Objectives .......................................................................... 13

Examples of Action Words .................................................................................................. 14

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“Smart Objectives”

By Garry Platt, Senior Consultant at Woodland Grange

Most of the managers I have ever spoken to know what the acronym SMART means in relation to

setting objectives. But equally, very few of them can actually write good objectives which comply with

all the criteria. I think this is because the definitions of SMART are actually quite vague when you start

to explore them. Clarifying what SMART means in precise terms really helps managers understand

and produce good effective objectives. So here it is, the definition of SMART.

Specific

Specific in the context of developing objectives means that an observable action, behaviour or

achievement is described which is also linked to a rate, number, percentage or frequency. This latter

point is extremely important - let me illustrate. 'Answer the phone quickly' can be said to be a precise

description of behaviour, you can clearly see whether someone answers the phone or not, but there is

no rate, number, percentage or frequency linked to it. So, if I state; 'Answer the phone within 3 rings' a

rate has been added and the behaviour is now much more specific.

Summary: Is there a description of a precise or specific behaviour / outcome which is linked to a rate,

number, percentage or frequency?

Measurable

This is very simple. A system, method or procedure has to exist which allows the tracking and

recording of the behaviour or action upon which the objective is focussed. Setting an objective that

requires phone calls to be answered in three rings is fine, provided a system exists which measures

whether this is actually being achieved. If none exists the manager must be prepared to set time aside

time to actually monitor the response rates to incoming phone calls. The only other alternative is to

get the person with whom the objectives are being set to measure their own progress; in some cases

and situations it may be acceptable to do this, in others maybe not - use common sense to decide

this.

Summary: Is there a reliable system in place to measure progress towards the achievement of the

objective?

Achievable

The objectives that are set with people need to be capable of being reached, put most basically; there

is a likelihood of success but that does not mean easy or simple. The objectives need to be stretching

and agreed by the parties involved. Setting targets that are plainly ridiculous does not motivate

people; it merely confirms their opinion of you as an idiot. They will apply no energy or enthusiasm to

a task that is futile. Consider sending a group of footballers out to play a game having told them the

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final score already, and they've lost! What's the point? So don't do it. (Some people feel that Agreed

should stand for the definition of A in SMART. But as this relates to the process of communicating and

deciding the objective rather than a definition of the content it seems out of context in relation to the

rest of the criteria and consequently I do not use it. I concur however that objectives should indeed be

agreed between involved participants rather than enforced.)

Summary: With a reasonable amount of effort and application can the objective be achieved?

Relevant

This means two things; that the goal or target being set with the individual is something they can

actually impact upon or change and secondly it is also important to the organisation. Example: Telling

the cleaners that they 'have to increase market share over the next financial quarter' is not actually

something they can do anything about - it's not relevant to them. However, asking them to reduce

expenditure on cleaning materials by £50 over the next three months is entirely relevant to them. It's

what they spend their budget on every day. As to whether it's relevant to what the organisation is

trying to achieve, the manager has to decide this by considering the wider picture.

Summary: Can the people with whom the objective is set make an impact on the situation? Do they

have the necessary knowledge, authority and skill?

Time Based

This is probably the simplest of the lot. In the objective somewhere there has to be a date

(Day/Month/Year) for when the task has to be started (if it's ongoing) and/or completed (if it's short

term or project related). Simply: No date = No good.

Summary: Is there a finish and/or a start date clearly stated or defined?

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Modernisation Agency www.natpact.nhs.uk

National Primary and Care Trust Development Programme

Ten Steps to SMART objectives

By Andrew Bell

• Sort out the difference between objectives and aims, goals and/or targets before you start.

Aims and goals etc relate to your aspirations objectives are your battle-plan. Set as many

objectives as you need for success.

• SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely.

• Don't try to use that order M-A/R-S-T is often the best way to write objectives.

• Measurable is the most important consideration. You will know that you've achieved your

objective, because here is the evidence. I will know too! Make sure you state how you will

record your success.

• Achievable is linked to measurable. Usually, there's no point in starting a job you know you

can't finish, or one where you can't tell if/when you've finished it.

How can I decide if it's achievable?

- you know it's measurable

- others have done it successfully (before you, or somewhere else)

- it's theoretically possible (ie clearly not 'not achievable')

- you have the necessary resources, or at least a realistic chance of getting them

- you've assessed the limitations.

• If it's achievable, it may not be realistic. If it isn't realistic, it's not achievable.

You need to know:

- who's going to do it?

- do they have (or can they get) the skills to do a good job?

- where's the money coming from?

- who carries the can?

Realistic is about human resources/time/money/opportunity.

• The main reason it's achievable but not realistic is that it's not a high priority. Often something

else needs to be done first, before you'll succeed.

• If so, set up two (or more) objectives in priority order.

• The devil is in the specific detail. You will know your objective is specific enough if:

– everyone who's involved knows that it includes them specifically

– everyone involved can understand it

– your objective is free from jargon

– you've defined all your terms

– you've used only appropriate language.

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• Timely means setting deadlines. You must include one, otherwise your objective isn't

measurable. But your deadlines must be realistic, or the task isn't achievable. T must be M,

and R, and S without these your objective can't be top-priority.

• It is worth this effort! You'll know you've done your job well, and so will others.

Suggestions for Writing ‘SMART’ Objectives

Some suggestions on what kind of information should be included within your objectives to make

them SMART, followed by examples.

Specific

• Concrete

• Use action verbs

Example 1:

Original objective: supports professional development for academic instruction librarians.

Specific objective: promotes study, research, publication and other development opportunities for

academic and research instruction librarians.

Example 2:

Original Objective: The Learning to Teach Virtual Task Force will facilitate continuing education for

instruction librarians.

Specific Objective: The Learning to Teach Virtual Task Force will create a web-based site for the

content of the Section's Learning to Teach Preconference that will be a continuing education

opportunity for instruction librarians.

Measurable

• Numeric or descriptive

• Quantity, quality, cost

Example 1:

Original Objective: The Conference Program Planning committee will increase attendance at its

program.

Measurable Objective: The Conference Program Planning committee will increase attendance at

its 2001 Annual Conference program by at least 10% over the previous year.

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Example 2:

Original Objective: The Nominating Committee will encourage nominations by Section members

by creating a convenient Web-based nomination form that will be published on the IS Web site.

Measurable Objective: The Nominating Committee will receive at least five nominations by

Section members from the new Web-based nomination form that will be created and published on the

IS Web site.

Attainable

• Feasible

• Appropriately limited in scope

• Within the committee's control and influence

Example 1:

Original Objective: The Instruction for Diverse Populations Committee will promote issues relating

to bibliographic instruction and diversity.

Attainable Objective: The Instruction for Diverse Populations Committee will complete an

annotated bibliography of library instruction publications related to diverse populations for the Section

web site.

Example 2:

Original Objective: The Education Committee will foster communication between practitioners and

graduate school faculty working in the area of library instruction.

Attainable Objective: The Education Committee will organize a discussion forum to be held at ALA

Midwinter Conference 2001, and invite both practitioners and graduate school faculty working in the

area of library instruction to come and discuss how graduate school can better prepare students for

careers in library instruction.

Results-focused

• Measures outputs or results (not activities)

• Includes products, accomplishments

Example 1:

Original Objective: The Teaching Methods Committee will identify and promote teaching materials

useful to practicing bibliographic instruction librarians.

Results-focused Objective: The Teaching Methods Committee will post discussion notes from

the ACRL Instruction Section Midwinter Discussion Forum 2000 "Share Your Teaching Toolkit: Best

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Practices in Library Instruction" on its Web site to promote teaching materials useful to practicing

bibliographic instruction librarians.

Example 2:

Original Objective: The Emerging Technologies in Instruction Committee will promote and

facilitate the use of emerging technologies in bibliographic instruction.

Results-focused Objective: The Emerging Technologies in Instruction Committee will develop

documents that define, explain, and provide examples of uses of emerging technologies in order to

assist educators who are considering or have already started integrating them in their courses.

Timely

• Identifies target date

• Includes interim steps and a plan to monitor progress

Example 1:

Original Objective: The Communications Committee will update the "IS Publications Policies and

Procedures Manual," clarifying the various Section publications categories and the processes for

creating, approving, and disseminating those publications.

Timely Objective: The Communications Committee will update the "IS Publications Policies and

Procedures Manual" by Annual Conference 2001, clarifying the various Section publications

categories and the processes for creating, approving, and disseminating those publications.

Example 2:

Original Objective: The Revision of the Model Statement Task Force will revise the current Model

Statement published by the ALA/ACRL/BI Section published in Read This First: An Owner's Guide to

the new Model Statement of Objectives for Academic Bibliographic Instruction (1991).

Timely Objective: The Revision of the Model Statement Task Force will revise the current Model

Statement published by the ALA/ACRL/BI Section published in Read This First: An Owner's Guide to

the new Model Statement of Objectives for Academic Bibliographic Instruction (1991). The revision is

being conducted in accordance with the 1998 Final Report of the Model Statement of Objectives Task

Force with a targeted completion date of June 30, 2001. A draft of the revised Model Statement will

be posted on the Section's Web site and a public hearing on the draft will be held at ALA Annual,

2001.

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'Metricating' your marketing objectives

Philippine Daily Inquirer

Be SMART about your marketing plan

Setting marketing objectives is the first step in your marketing planning. It is the logical first step

because objectives are what your plan is meant to attain.

The marketing plan gains a sharp focus and specific direction when its marketing objectives are

specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound; i.e., when you have S.M.A.R.T. objectives.

SMART objectives are metricated objectives.

One way of understanding the role of metrics in the setting of marketing objectives is by examining a

specific set of such objectives. Let's look at a specific case then.

A typical case

Here is a set of specific objectives that came from the marketing plan of a start-up company in the

personal digital assistant (PDA) or handheld computer category. The marketing plan is for a new

multifunctional PDA the company wants to introduce in the market where the major players are Palm

with over 60 percent market share, and Handspring with a 21 percent share. PDAs from Compaq, HP,

and Casio, which all run on the Windows CE operating system command less than 10 percent of the

market.

Our start-up company is confident that its PDA can gain an active participation in the category. It has

developed a PDA with four distinctive strengths. First, versus the leading brands, use of its PDA use

is more simplified because of its superior handwriting recognition system. Second, its PDA

incorporates valuable features found only in premium priced competing brands. Third, this PDA can

accept any Palm-compatible peripheral. Fourth, it's priced lower than comparable models.

This PDA's marketing plan set the following marketing objectives:

Achieve a first-year sales volume of 240,000, which represents a projected market share of 6 percent

with one model in the product line.

Generate 40 percent brand awareness within the consumer target market and 50 percent brand

awareness within the business target market by year end.

Arrange for distribution through Amazon.com and through the leading computer retailers in the top 50

US markets within three months, followed by distribution coverage in the remaining major

metropolitan areas within six months.

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Test your marketing objectives

Tested against the SMART criteria for setting objectives, it's easy to see that all three objectives in the

sample case qualify as specific, measurable and time-bound. The first objective is specific to two

things: sales and market share. Because this objective is about sales and market share, it's also

specific to the entire marketing mix or program. As Marketing 101 teaches, because sales and market

share are both a function of the total marketing mix, setting objectives in terms of sales and market

share has specific reference to the total mix.

This tells us something about the criterion of "specificity." Setting a specific marketing objective must

call on our command of basic marketing concepts. Here the particular concept invoked is the concept

of matching target market response with the responsible ("causal") marketing tool or tools. The target

responses here are specified as sales and market share. Strictly speaking those are not market

responses because they refer to the marketer rather than the market. The market response

equivalent of sales is consumer purchases while that for market share is purchase or usage share.

Continuing with our analysis and proceeding now to the other two criteria, we can see that for the

"measurability" criterion, the unit of measure of sales is in volume, which is 240,000 pieces. Market

share's unit of measure is in percent, in this case, 6

percent. As to the criterion of "time boundedness," the sales and market share objectives' time line is

specified for both as one year, the first year.

The second objective is specific to the market response of brand awareness. However, the brand

awareness response has specific reference to two market segments. One is to the consumer

segment. The other is to the business segment. An additional specificity of this objective is the target

response's responsible marketing tool. Marketing 101 tells us that brand awareness is a function of

advertising media weight (the product of reach times frequency). Therefore, this objective is specific

to the marketing mix element of advertising media weight or investment. The objective's unit of

measure is in percent: 40 percent for the consumer segment, and 50 percent for the business

segment. Its timing is one year.

The third objective makes specific reference to the marketing mix element of "placement" or

distribution. It designates three specific placement outlets. First is Amazon.com. Second is the set of

leading computer retailers in the country's top 50 metropolitan markets. Third is the rest of the

computer retailer population in the remaining major metropolitan areas. The time line is three months

for the first two categories of retailers, and six months for the third category.

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Does your plan have this weakness?

It's in the criterion of "measurable" where this third objective is not as metricated as the preceding

two. All that we have is a reference, for example, to "the leading computer retailers in the top 50 US

markets." How many leading retailers these are is left unspecified.

The more serious weakness of the three objectives we're analyzing is in the two important criteria of

setting "attainable" and "realistic" marketing objectives. What is an attainable and a realistic objective?

How do we know we've set an attainable and a realistic objective before we've formulated the

marketing programs necessary to attain that objective?

Define Objectives

Helpful Hints: Word Choice

• Use concrete words. One way to avoid vagueness is to use concrete words. Pay particular

attention to the verb that describes participant performance.

• Avoid vague verbs, such as:

• Know

• Understand

• Appreciate

• Show the ability to

• Be aware of

• Use action words, such as:

• Assess

• Clarify

• Define

• Determine

• Demonstrate

• Establish

• Evaluate

• Examine

• Explain

• Identify

• Inspect

• List

• Notify

• Operate

• Prepare

• Record

• Report

• Show

• Test

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Some Examples of SMART Objectives

1. Profitability Objectives

To achieve a 20% return on capital employed by August 2007.

2. Market Share Objectives

To gain 25% of the market for sports shoes by September 2006

3. Promotional Objectives

To increase awareness of the dangers of AIDS in France from 12% to 25% by June 2004.

To increase trail of X washing powder from 2% to 5% of our target group by January 2005.

4. Objectives for Surviva

To survive the current double-dip recession.

5. Objectives for Growth

To increase the size of our German Brazilian operation from $200,000 in 2002 to $400,000 in 2003.

6. Objectives for Branding

To make Y brand of bottled beer the preferred brand of 21-28 year old females in North America by

February 2006.

There are many examples of objectives. Be careful not to confuse objectives with goals and aims.

Goals and aims tend to be more vague and focus on the longer-term. They will not be SMART.

However, many objectives start off as aims or goals and therefore they are of equal importance.

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Comparison of Good and Poor Objectives

Some examples of objectives are listed below Good Poor

Responders will establish an incident command post in the lobby of the high-

rise structure within 15 minutes after the initial call for service.

To get all of the emergency services to sit down in the same room together

and talk.

Demonstrate the ability to field a nuclear response team (fully equipped and

assembled) within 30 minutes following a terrorist incident.

Identify and activate an alternate communication system to be used as a

backup within 30 minutes of failure of the primary communication system.

To get the agencies to improve their disaster operations

The Mental Health Coordinator in the EOC will contact and deploy crisis

intervention teams to the incident site after notification of request.

To determine the capabilities of the fire/rescue department to effectively

perform fire fighting, rescue, hazardous materials containment, and similar

hazard abatement duties during a major emergency.

The warehouse manager will inventory and report to Central Processing the

available stores of protective building supplies within 2 hours of notification by

city officials.

To identify the primary reason for slow response of ambulance units.

Volunteers will be utilized.

Emergency management staff will initiate and complete a callback of EOC

personnel as prescribed in the emergency plan

Demonstrate the ability of the Emmit International Airport Fire Brigade to

respond to the farthest portion of the runway within 3 minutes of an alarm.

All facility personnel will respond properly to a chemical spill.

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Examples of Action Words

Abstracted Achieved Acquired Acted

Adapted Addressed Administered Advertised

Advised Advocated Aided Allocated

Analyzed Answered Anticipated Applied

Appraised Approved Arranged Ascertained

Assembled Assessed Assisted Assured

Attained Audited Augmented Authored

Bolstered Briefed Brought Budgeted

Built Calculated Cared Charged

Chartered Checked Clarified Classified

Coached Collaborated Collected Comforted

Communicated Compared Completed Complied

Composed Computed Conceived Conducted

Configured Conserved Considered Consulted

Contracted Contributed Converted Cooperated

Coordinated Copied Correlated Counselled

Created Critiqued Cultivated Dealt

Debated Decided Defined Delegated

Delivered Designed Detected Determined

Developed Devised Diagnosed Directed

Discovered Discriminated Dispatched Displayed

Dissected Documented Drafted Drove

Edited Enabled Enforced Eliminated

Empathized Enlightened Enlisted Ensured

Entertained Established Estimated Evaluated

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Examined Exceeded Excelled Expanded

Expedited Experimented Explained Explored

Expressed Extracted Facilitate Fashioned

Financed Fixed Followed Formulated

Fostered Founded Gained Gathered

Gave Generated Governed Guided

Handled Headed Helped Hosted

Identified Illustrated Imagined Implemented

Improved Improvised Inaugurated Increased

Indexed Indicated Influenced Initiated

Inspected Instituted Integrated Interpreted

Interviewed Introduced Invented Inventoried

Investigated Judged Kept Launched

Learned Lectured Led Lifted

Listened Located Logged Made

Maintained Managed Manipulated Mapped

Mastered Maximized Mediated Memorized

Mentored Met Minimized Modeled

Modified Monitored Narrated Negotiated

Observed Obtained Offered Operated

Ordered Organized Originated Overcame

Oversaw Participated Perceived Perfected

Performed Persuaded Planned Practiced

Predicted Prepared Presented Prioritized

Produced Programmed Projected Promoted

Proposed Protected Proved Provided

Publicized Published Purchased Queried

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Questioned Raised Ran Ranked

Rationalized Read Reasoned Recorded

Received Reduced Referred Related

Relied Reported Researched Responded

Restored Revamped Reviewed Scanned

Scheduled Schemed Screened Served

Set goals Shaped Skilled Solicited

Solved Specialized Spoke Stimulated

Strategized Streamlined Strengthened Stressed

Studied Substantiated Succeeded Supported

Summarized Synthesized Supervised Supported

Surveyed Sustained Symbolized Tabulated

Talked Taught Theorized Trained

Translated Upgraded Utilized Validated

Verified Visualized Won Wrote

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