Signs of the Times - September 2017 - 8

be SmaRt, type a'S
IKE many of you, I have a
Type A personality. I value
efficiency, directness and
skill. I love to plan and
strategize; I can see how those actions
improve efficiency over time. But
my temptation at the end of a long
project isn't to dive into metrics, but
to check a box and keep moving.
Unfortunately, when we complete
projects without tracking outcomes, it's
like hiring someone and never offering a performance review; after a while,
the new hire becomes performanceblind. So, you need goals. But are your
goals smart? If you were working in
the '80s, you might remember George
Doran's mnemonic acronym, SMART,
for goalsetting. It goes like this:
S - Specific. Your goal should not be
"increasing productivity" or "improving profits," but rather "finishing 95%
of projects by internally set deadline"
or "increasing profit 7% in Q1 2018."
M - Measurable. Avoid qualitative
words (better, improved) in favor of
quantifiable, trackable entities. Beware:
The more difficult the tracking, the
less likely you are to do it. If you want
to track vinyl waste, can you reasonably record how much material isn't
used during each job?
A - Assignable/Attainable. If
your goal is to increase profit by 7%,
do market indicators show this is
achievable? Is the demand for your
products in your geographic region
growing or shrinking? Set a sensible
goal. Then, be sure that anyone who
is responsible for the outcome understands the goal - and how to reach it.
R - Realistic. Many a CFO is
tempted to increase revenue goals
this year because sales grew last year.

L

8

signs of the times

september 2017

Embrace that optimism, but temper it
with real-world factors. If you specialize
in branding and signage for corporate
interiors, but your city's downtown is
shrinking, is it reasonable to expect continued growth? (Hey, Type A's, here's
the strategy part: Downtown is shrinking. What's growing? Do your research
and come up with new goals.)
T - Time-related. You checked
competitors, talked to customers,
queried staff members and mixed
in your own observations and data
from previous quarters. Don't make
the most common mistake: not assigning a timeframe to complete the
goal. Especially with hard-to-quantify
metrics like staff productivity or
customer satisfaction, set a date to
reassess. You'd like 30% of customers
to be happy enough to refer you to
a friend? By when? You're going to
ask shop employees to come to work
on time more often? Tell them what
counts as a success. (And make sure
you celebrate each one!)
Perfectionism, it turns out, is a lifelong type of addiction - one many
business executives struggle with.
In setting and championing goals,
you'll want to be rigid about them.
Know that some will need adjustment
over time. And that's OK. Maybe your
goal for 2018 can be not to get upset
by that (50% of the time, tracked
quarterly).

Robin donovan
editor-in-chief
robin.donovan@stmediagroup.com

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