SMART Objectives and SMART Goals with examples

What are SMART Objectives and SMART Goals?

SMART is simply a mnemonic to help you remember what well-written objectives and goals should be like.
SMART stands for:

Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-bounded

SMART objectives and goals should be clear and measurable.

Purpose of SMART Objectives and Goals

The job of an objective or goal in your organisation is to make sure that everyone in your company or organisation knows what they personally need to achieve in order for your top level goals to be achieved.

Vague Objectives

When goals, objectives or outcomes are vague people waste effort on the wrong things, or duplicate the work of others, or crucial tasks are left undone.

It’s vital for any organisation that wants to succeed that it has objectives and goals that are aligned with one another and add up to.

What is the difference between Goals, Objectives and Outcomes?

Some people think there is a world of difference between goals and objectives. Others prefer to use “outcomes”. Actually the two words “goal” and “objective” are often interchangeable and the dictionary definitions are very similar:

Goal
Objective, aim, end, ambition, purpose, target, object, aspiration

Objective
Object, purpose, aim, point, idea, goal, intention, intent, reason

Outcome
Result, ending, product, conclusion, upshot effect.

Many companies use the word “Goal” to describe top-level objectives. Then the lower level ones are called “Objectives”.

Some organisations call their objectives “Outcomes”.

It doesn’t matter. You just need to be clear on what you are calling them. Most importantly, whatever you call them, “Goals”, “Objectives” or “Outcomes”, they need to be clear.

If you are working in an organisation, your objectives should make clear what you personally have to achieve in order for your oganisation to achieve its top level objectives or goals.

If you are working on your own learning objectives, for example, they need to just as clear, so that you can work out what you need to do in order to achieve them.

For more help get my booklet: "How to Write Objectives That Work"

Here are some questions to help you check if your goal or objective is SMART:

Specific
What exactly do you need to achieve?

Measurable
How would you know you have achieved it?

Achievable
Is it possible?

Relevant
Does it relate to the overall organisational goals? Does it support them?

Time-bounded
Is there a clear deadline?

Examples of SMART and non-SMART objectives:

Increase sales
This is not specific, it has no deadline and could be achieved by selling just $1 more (probably not what you want).

Sell $40,000 of product X by 31st December.

Understand more about driving
“Understanding” is very hard to measure. Identify what you need to be able to do by “Understanding”.

Have passed my driving test by 30th June.

Attend a training course on presentation skills.
Being there is not enough. Identify why you need to attend a training course. Attending the course is how you will achieve the objective.

Be able to give a presentation that means at least 50 of the people attending my presentations this year buy at least one of our products by 31st December

Understand graphs
This needs to be much more specific. Here are two options:

For a school exam:
Be able to create graphs that will enable me to answer questions in the biology exam by 2nd April.

For a research scientist:
Be able to create graphs that will identify trends in drug-taking amongst 18-20 year olds in the UK.

For more help get my booklet: "How to Write Objectives That Work"

In this simple, step by step guide you will discover:

• Easy ways to write your objectives from scratch
• The five steps you need to take in order to write your objectives
• How to make them SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bounded)
• Eight dangerous words and phrases you must avoid and what to do instead
• The three ways to put time into your objectives
• Three examples of objectives people really struggle with including  “Go on a presentation skills course” You’ll find out what’s wrong with that and how to write really effective development objectives.
• How to write objectives for Personal Development
• How to write really difficult Health and Safety objectives so they are meaningful and help you. All the examples are real ones. You’ll probably recognise most of them.
• The acid test to ensure your objectives are right
• How to measure your progress
• Seven things you need to do once you have written your objectives that will ensure success

Get "How to Write Objectives That Work" Now