Starting a project is like setting out on a voyage. It’s daunting, but you begin with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. But over time, your motivation can wane. Your team might slow down if they can’t see the next mile marker.
To make your projects fluid and stick to what you promised your clients, your goal-setting habits must be consistent. That’s where SMART management techniques can guide you.
You may have heard of setting SMART objectives and goals to achieve your personal and business aims, but let’s dive into how they can keep your team on track and your project lifecycles moving.
Conceived in the early 1980s by George Doran, Arthur Miller and James Cunningham, the SMART framework was designed to enhance leadership acumen, individual contributor effectiveness and project completion rates.
The acronym stands for:
The idea is that actual progress is only achievable when you can check off tangible steps along the way.
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Over the past few decades, small businesses and large corporations have turned to SMART goal-setting to improve project management outcomes. Its adoption across different-sized companies speaks to its flexibility.
As with any strategic approach, this method of goal-setting has its advantages and drawbacks. Doing things the SMART way can lead to on-time delivery and creative project management solutions, but it can also be limiting and restrictive for certain projects.
When you’re aware of the potential issues, you can enter into this project management method with greater sensitivity to signs that could indicate trouble.
Much of the power of SMART criteria lies in demystifying roles and responsibilities. When team members are confused about the importance of their tasks and their part in a project outcome, they may not be as focused as they should be.
SMART goals with step-by-step breakdowns reduce ambiguity and improve project management processes and team performance in multiple ways:
What is the combined effect of these improvements? Increased productivity.
Although the SMART method might seem straightforward, you could have questions about getting started. Here are answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about SMART goals and applying them to project management:
Use quantifiable benchmarks. What are the exact results you want to see? These should be in the form of clear metrics.
For instance, let’s say you’re aiming for a 15% increase in average delivery speed or a 25% reduction in customer requests. Before setting these targets, ensure you have a system or tool to track them.
An attainable goal is one that’s realistic with your current resources and considers your constraints. It’s most impactful if you go for goals that are also challenging enough to encourage growth.
Relevance is about alignment with your broader business strategies. How does the goal fit into your business mission? Checking off numbers is great, but you must consider long-term direction, too.
Since your SMART goals will be specific to your business and industry, such as a business consulting firm, there isn’t one set timeframe that’s best.
Short-term goals might range from a few weeks to a few months. Long-term goals could span several months to a year or more. When deciding on a time period, think about what will motivate action without causing unnecessary stress.
Remember that no goal is set in stone.
If major changes occur between now and your proposed deadline, you can communicate with your team to adjust the goal and reallocate resources.
Be agile about adapting objectives that are no longer relevant due to unforeseen circumstances, but don’t rework goals purely because you’re not on track to achieve them.
It can be helpful to use a combination of formal training sessions, workshops for new hires and ongoing support.
Your initial meetings might be more in-depth, but going forward, you can create a SMART management module or handbook with reference materials that take up less time and resources. However, they should still get across the strategies and key learnings your leaders need to know to hold their respective teams accountable.
Absolutely! There are no restrictions on team size when applying SMART criteria. In fact, you may find it easier to implement and monitor SMART goals with a small team due to close communication channels.
Focus on clear, measurable outcomes that make sense for how your team works and what your business needs to flourish, regardless of how many employees you have.
If you’re in a client-based industry, you may want to take a slightly different approach to SMART goal-setting than those in a product-based space.
Think outside the proverbial box to develop measurable achievements that consider the following factors:
Once you understand what SMART goals are and prepare your team to lead with these ends in mind, you should plan for how you’ll maintain SMART management practices going forward.
One of the best methods is with a project management platform built to support SMART objective tracking.
At the very least, consider adopting software that empowers your team with:
Read next: The 11 Best Project Management and Time Tracking Tools
A project management platform with all of the above features will help track and achieve SMART goals related to projects, but it will limit your ability to measure your progress across the whole client journey.
For example, if you set objectives for delivery time, employee utilization or project profitability, there could be sales or client service elements that contribute to whether you hit them or not.
Sales can impact your transition to client service and increase per-client costs. Issue resolution speed can further reduce margins or, on the other hand, increase client satisfaction. Regardless of your specific goals, you need to see all activity in one place.
Start-to-finish visibility can make reaching and setting goals easier, bringing true SMART management within reach.
Accelo gives you a bird’s-eye view into your project and non-project goals via real-time insights, centralized task tracking and more. Find out why end-to-end is the way to go for your client work software. Book a demo today.
