5 SMARTER Goal Examples

If you want to go an extra mile with your goal setting apply the SMARTER methodology that enables you to set objectives that are relevant and realistic to achieve, but also to evaluate and adjust them as you progress.

In the ever-changing environment of today’s society, it is essential to remain flexible and adjust to challenges that come up. Check our article on SMARTER goal setting to find out more.

1.‘Reduce employee turnover’

Specific – Which target area is most at risk and focus on this area. Maybe try and reduce the amount of employee turnover in employees who have been at the company for less than 2 years.

Measurable – Generate a more specific metric. For example, reduce turnover by 15%.

Achievable – It’s time for a step back, consider if this target is realistic. If so, great! If not, have another think.

Relevant – Is the current rate of employee turnover damaging, do you want small or large improvements? Does your company have a specific problem with onboarding for example?

Timely – Set yourself a deadline. Give yourself 6 months.

Evaluation – Evaluate your process along the way, look at the process every two weeks to see what is working well and what is not.

Re-adjust – Some problems may occur along the way. For example, changing the onboarding process may be met with resistance, can you change your approach to target another area, perhaps the recruitment phase?

'Reduce employee turnover by 15% in the next 6 months by addressing issues in the onboarding process. Constant evaluation is required with re-adjustment options available.'

2. ‘Increase website traffic’

Specific – Increase organic traffic specifically, thereby removing all other traffic categories and focusing on one.

Measurable – 25% increase of unique site visits. Stimulated by producing 5 extra blogs per week.

Achievable – Again is this target a realistic goal?

Relevant – Organic traffic has been identified as a key driver of new sales, so this is a relevant goal.

Timely – Try a 3-month process here.

Evaluation – Is the objective working? Is organic traffic increasing as we go through the process? Make sure to keep on checking and evaluating your progress. If the objective is successful, extend the objectives for another 3 months and re-evaluate your target.

Re-adjust – Is the number of blogs too few or too many, re-adjust to match the abilities of the marketing team.

'Increase website traffic by 25% by creating 5 extra blog posts a week within the next three months. If the objective is a success, consider extending the process for another 3 months with new targets.'

3. ‘Increase sales’

Specific – Focus on one area of sales that needs to improve. Try improving out-bound sales leads.

Measurable – Improve out-bound sales leads by 30% by devising a new channel for out-bound sales i.e. LinkedIn sales etc.

Achievable - Do your sales team have the capabilities to achieve this new target? Is there another staff with relevant experience to achieve this new project?

Relevant – A lack of presence in the outbound sales market means that you could be missing out on potential customers.

Timely – Set a realistic time frame for yourself to complete this target. 4 months is a reasonable target.

Evaluate – Evaluate the success of the goal on a bi-weekly or monthly basis, to check whether any re-adjustment needs to take place.

Re-adjust - Adjust the process to make it more feasible. If it’s not, think about changes that can be made. Instead of improvements by 30%, adjust to a 5% increase per member of sales staff.

‘Increase outbound sales leads by 30% by creating a new outbound sales funnel in the next four months. Alternative options include a 5% increase per member of sales staff if the process is not working within the first two months.’

4. ‘Improve employee engagement’

Specific – Employee engagement is a big topic, so you should focus on more specific’s employee engagement issues. Extract one topic/question from your employee engagement survey to focus on. For example, try and improve the score on ‘You feel the work you do is valued and appreciated’.

Measurable – Responses on the employee engagement survey are based on a Likert scale (usually a 5- or 7-point scale). The desired target would be responses in the top two numbers (dependent on scale). Try and boost responses in this target area to 75%.

Achievable – A challenging goal, but one which has wide reaching benefits. The target needs to be realistic within the scope of your organization and resources.

Relevant – Improving employee engagement has a positive impact on productivity in a number of different facets.

Timely – Base this goal in line with your employee engagement survey. If this is done annually, set the goal for 12 months. If done twice a year, set a re-occurring goal for every 6 months. ****

Evaluate – Continuously evaluate your processes with pulse surveys and ENPs.

Re-adjust – If the goal is unachievable, think about implementing a social recognition programme instead.

‘Improve the employees feeling of value with their work, by achieving a 75% target in the employee engagement survey topic within the next 12 months. Assess and evaluate progress with pulse surveys and ENPs.'

5. ‘Develop better interpersonal relationships’

Specific – Interpersonal relationships are unbelievably important, and you cannot boil it down this simply. Choose a certain part of interpersonal relationships to focus on. Develop better active listening skills.’

Measurable – A slightly more difficult goal to measure. Feedback, and especially 360° feedback, is a good way to measure your interpersonal relationships with colleagues, superiors and subordinates. Try and achieve a 30% increase in responses compared to your last feedback review on this topic area.

Achievable – Is this achievable? The importance of developing strong interpersonal relationships should not be underestimated, and this goal should not be thought of as unachievable.

Relevant – Interpersonal skills are important. They help people build and foster strong working relationships.

Timely - Base this goal in line with your feedback processes. If this is done annually, set the goal for 12 months. If done twice a year, set a re-occurring goal for every 6 months. If done continuously, then continuous evaluation and adjustment is imperative.

Evaluation – Try and garner feedback along this goal process to evaluate how you are getting on.

Re-adjustment – If you feel as though the feedback you are receiving isn’t timely or responsive enough, think about trying more informal feedback process to assess your progress.

'Develop better active listening skills indicated by a 30% increase in feedback results compared to your previous review, within the next 6 months. Adopt more informal feedback processes if you feel the current feedback process does not provide you with quick enough responses.'