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Setting SMART Goals – A Complete Guide (with Examples + Free Templates)

Businesses today are more focused on effective strategic planning and goal setting than ever. At first sight, these processes might seem pretty straightforward. However, there’s so much more going on behind the scenes. Companies dedicate a lot of time and resources to goal based strategic planning . After all, they determine the company’s future liquidity and success. This post covers the concepts related to goal-setting and the SMART criteria, their respective benefits, and instructions for writing SMART goals.

SMART Goals Definition and Meaning

What are the benefits of setting smart goals, setting the scope of a smart goal, writing the content of a smart goal, s – specific, m – measurable, a – achievable, r – relevant, t – time-bound, a smart goals template, learn how to set smart goals, to conclude, what are smart goals.

“ Goal setting and task performance: 1969-1980 ” was the first study to promote the importance of setting achievable yet challenging goals. It found that 90% of people perform better with relevant and challenging goals, translating to higher business efficiency and profits.

Over the years, management and marketing teams came with different alternatives for goal setting and enhancing workplace performance . One widespread process is using the SMART acronym.

George T. Doran, a consultant and former Director of Corporate Planning for Washington Water Power Company, first introduced the SMART acronym. He published a paper titled There’s a S.M.A.R.T. Way to Write Management’s Goals and Objectives in November 1981.

Fast forward, the five rules or criteria known as SMART today serve as a psychological tool for increasing productivity. A SMART goal can foster a clear and mutual understanding of what constitutes expected performance levels and successful professional development, but also to achieve personal goals.

SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.

The SMART goals acronym eliminates generalization and guesswork, thus setting the base for tracking progress and identifying missed deadlines. When a business entity defines these five parameters, it essentially ensures its team will attain the listed objectives within a predetermined time frame.

SMART is an effective tool with growing popularity. Businesses worldwide incorporate the criteria for strategic planning and goal setting due to the following benefits:

How to Write SMART Goals?

The following section consists of the steps in the process of writing SMART goals, including practical examples to form a comprehensive goal statement.

SMART goals can address a wide range of job responsibilities, most commonly day-to-day job activities. Business entities primarily apply the SMART criteria to direct their attention and resources towards the most critical aspects of their operation, thus achieving their priorities .

SMART goals can cover different personal or business objectives, such as increasing/decreasing, developing, making, improving, and saving something (resource, expense, revenue, time, etc.).

Setting the scope of a SMART goal is a three-step process with the aim of help meeting personal or business goals:

Note : If a business has too many goals, it can indicate that they are developed at a too low level and meeting the business goals can be challenging in these situations. These goals are more task-oriented instead of focusing on the broader picture and the result. A practical solution to this problem is combining several statements into one, more comprehensive goal.

A general goal has a lower chance of being accomplished compared to a SMART goal.

An example of a general goal: “ I will increase my profits this year “.

First, SMART goals are always specific, providing enough detail to eliminate a general goal’s indecision.

An example of a specific goal: “ The sales department will increase my profits this year by increasing my marketing efforts in the domestic market “.

Specific goals answer the famous “W” questions:

Note : Not every specific goal has to answer all questions. They are given as a starting point; it’s a non-exclusive list.

A specific SMART goal is a solid base but worth almost nothing without the proper metrics in place. Setting metrics to determine whether a business will attain the goal and track progress makes the goal more tangible. Usually, this translates to numbers or customer/employee satisfaction.

A measurable goal usually answers questions, such as the following:

An example of a measurable goal: “ The sales department will improve my profits by 15% this year by increasing my marketing expenses by 5% in the domestic market “.

Note : A business can easily measure these indicators since they are expressed in numbers (revenues, expenses, profits) – these are quantitative measurements.

However, a measurable goal can take another form: “ The sales department will improve my profits by 15% this year by increasing customer satisfaction in the domestic market “.

The second refers to qualitative measurements that cannot be assessed as easily. An entity, in this case, will need to think in terms of customer feedback, testimonials, ratings, surveys, and so on. In the long term, customer satisfaction translates to customer/brand loyalty and increased profits. Still, these effects are difficult to quantify.

Can the business improve profits by 15% in a single year? Is this the reality of its niche (is it a fast-growing one, is there a demand for these products/services)?

On the other hand, does the entity have the needed capital and resources to increase expenses by 5%? Or will this decision harm its operation, in debt the company in the long-term, or harm its market position?

These, and a range of other questions, should be considered. A business might need to stretch its abilities, develop new skills, change attitudes, or identify previously overlooked opportunities. Still, they should be able to achieve the set goal promptly. If the goal turns out to be too optimistic, the team might think of other, more viable alternatives.

A single SMART goal statement should be consistent and make sense within the broader image and business mission . All of an entity’s departments should move in the same direction, or in other words, be aligned.

A relevant SMART goal answers the following questions:

The time-bound element in the goal is “this year”, so that there’s no need to expand the statement. Still, it would help to break down the deadline into shorter milestones since a year is pretty broad. A better alternative would be:

“ The sales department will improve my profits by 3% this month/quarter by … . “

A time-bound goal usually answers the following questions:

With a timeline, a business will rarely overlook the importance of a goal. With the lack of it, the company can easily commit to day-to-day activities or occurring crises and forget what should have been a priority in the first place.

The SMART Goals Templates are a tool that facilitates the presentation of the goal-setting process and outcomes. It helps businesses better present their goal statements and communicate them with related parties.

SMART Goals templates are usually divided into several sections, taking a form similar to the following:

A business starts by writing the initial idea. Then, it answers the listed questions as specified in each section above, respectively. In turn, the company can create a more practical goal statement.

The following template might help your entity write a SMART Goal:

Filling in the gaps might lead to examples, such as the following:

Here’s an excellent example of a SMART goals template, depicting the seven-step goals-based strategic planning process :

Through the SMART Goals Template free we invite you to set your main goal and generate a conversion process towards SMART Goals. Thanks to this exercise you will be able to rethink your goal through different questions that will guide you towards the SMART methodology.

SMART Goals Examples

1. free smart goals powerpoint template.

The Free SMART Goals Template is a PowerPoint presentation that will allow you to communicate your business goals using the SMART methodology. Thanks to this PowerPoint template you will be able to evaluate your main goal before moving on to the planning and execution phase. This SMART Goals Template has six slides, is fully editable and available for PowerPoint and Google Slides.

Use This Template

2. Target SMART Goals PowerPoint Template

The Target SMART Goals PowerPoint Template is a creative timeline design for goal setting techniques. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. The arrow with five circular icons these five elements of goals. The curved arrow represents a timeline leading to a dartboard of achieving goals. It helps you highlight the key components and show how goals are achieved with SMART goal criteria in mind.

3. SMART Goals Slide Design for PowerPoint

The SMART Goals Slide Design for PowerPoint can evaluate different business goals. It can be applied to any management or marketing plan and edited to fit any corporate presentation. In SlideModel.com, we recommend it for project management, employee performance management, personal development, and various other business environments.

4. Goal Strategy & Tactics PowerPoint Template

The Goal Strategy & Tactics PowerPoint Template visualize steps that will help you describe multiple solutions. There are two slide designs of gradient PowerPoint backgrounds and shapes. Moreover, diagram presents chess game clipart icons like king, knight, and pawn for strategies. The arrow icons in tactic segments will help display optimal solutions.

5. Goals Based Strategic Planning PowerPoint Templates

The Goals-Based Strategic Planning PowerPoint Templates is a set of slides designed to present the result of a goals based strategic planning process. There are different approaches and models for strategic planning. These include goal-based strategic planning, issue-based strategic planning, organic, and scenarios. The Goal-based strategy focuses on organization’s values, mission, visions, and business objectives. It is most commonly used in financial planning to prioritize and optimize.

6. SMART Objectives Slide Design for PowerPoint

SMART Objectives Slide Design for PowerPoint is a presentation that will allow you to simply and clearly specify each of your SMART objectives. It is a very useful PowerPoint Template to specify your goals with your work team and use it as a Roadmap for short-term goals, medium and long-term goals.

7. SMART Goals One Pager PowerPoint Template

The SMART Goals One Pager PowerPoint Template is a data table where you can enter each of your SMART goals. This way you will be able to present in a simple and clear way with the One Pager format each of your goals and their breakdown in SMART acronyms.

8. SMART Objectives PowerPoint Template

9. SMART Goals PowerPoint Template

10. 5-Item Goal Target PowerPoint Template

11. Short & Long Term Goals PowerPoint Template

12. SMART Goals Planning Sheet PowerPoint Template

13. SMART Goals for Balanced Scorecard PowerPoint Template

14. SMART Objectives PowerPoint Template

15. Flat SMART Objectives PowerPoint Template

16. Setting Goals Template for PowerPoint with Target & Darts

SMART goals are effective tools that can increase the efficiency and profitability of a business. They give a clear direction to long-term goals, long-term progress and prioritize the most critical aspects for success. Teams with SMART goals can better focus on the broader picture and not lose themselves in day-to-day activities.

Better focus, motivation, and productivity, in turn, set the base for increasing the financial position of a company, along with the non-financial indicators, in a positive direction.

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Balanced Scorecard, Business PowerPoint Templates, Business Presentations, Corporate Presentations, Strategy Filed under Business

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