The successful management of company initiatives starts with setting S.M.A.R.T goals. When we don’t set objective goals, how can we communicate properly with our team and provide focus so the company’s initiatives can be achieved?

In this Meith Minute we will explore S.M.A.R.T goals and how to utilize them in your organization.

S.M.A.R.T stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely. If your company initiative is to increase employee engagement in employer sponsored benefits, how would you use S.M.A.R.T to achieve that goal.

Specific: you need to ensure that you have detailed understanding of what your goal expectations are. If you don’t know what you want the outcome to be, how can anyone else in your organization? You want employee engagement in benefits to increase, by how much, 10%, 20%, 30%? How will your team prepare if they don’t know what they are aiming for?

Measurable: how will you know if your initiative is heading in the right direction or if the project implementation is even working? Being able to measure progress and to have data to show effectiveness is crucial. In this scenario, what is the current number of enrolled employees? When employees enroll, who has that data? Is there information on what benefits are being utilized, or where employees are dropping off prior to enrollment?

Achievable: in terms of a specific project goal, you have to set it on the path of achievability. Giving your team the knowledge that the goal can be attainable is a powerful motivator. That doesn’t mean it has to be an easy goal but it has to be realistic. Perhaps show your team a benchmark from a similar business that has the employee engagement you are wanting to match.

Relevant: is the project goal in line with the company’s goals? If the project doesn’t make sense to your team, they are going to struggle with motivation and implementation. Why is having more employee engagement in employer sponsored benefits important to the company? Morale, engagement, company culture, increased benefit options? Share the relevance.

Timely: set a realistic timeframe for project completion. This is as important to an initiative as the other pieces of S.M.A.R.T. Your team needs to be able to plan and adjust to hit the deadline. Do you need employees signed up before the end of the next open enrollment? Having a timeframe can help your team make informed decisions on their approach to the employee base.

Setting S.M.A.R.T goals for yourself, your team, and your company will help everyone move forward in a less chaotic way and more likely on a path to success.