#02 - Why SMART Goals Aren't Always That Smart

Goal setting is common-place in all manner of settings. Whether it’s my 12 year old daughter being encouraged to set goals for her learning at school, an NRL footballer or corporate leader, it appears everyone has, or at least is encouraged to have, a goal.?

And there are well-founded reasons for this.

Back in 2002, two of the most prominent researchers on goal-setting, Edwin A. Locke and Gary P. Latham wrote a summary of their 30+ years of research in the field.

According to Locke & Latham:

• Setting specific, difficult goals is a better approach than just urging people to do their best.
• More challenging goals generate greater effort than less challenging ones goals
• Having a time bound goal leads encourages you to work at a higher pace than a loose deadline.
• Telling other people about a goal makes you more likely to commit to it.

These four points might seem self evident, but yet one of the most common approaches individuals, managers or teams adopt to encourage goal setting can run counter to these four points.?

SMART Goals might not be that smart

You’ve definitely heard of SMART goals.?

Perhaps you’ve been encouraged to set your own SMART goals or have foisted this acronym on others.?

But what if I told you they weren’t that smart after all??

Depending on who’s taught you the model, SMART stands for some variation Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound

I touch on the shortcomings of the SMART model in my book The Act of Leadership and I want to highlight a couple of issues with it here.?

Using the SMART model as a start-point for goal setting assumes that the individual has a goal in the first place. In my experience this is not always the case.?

Furthermore, with the desire to set a ‘specific’ goal from the get-go means that it is easy to miss the bigger picture. Sometimes what we think should be the goal is not where we should be aiming at all, but given the first step of the process is to be specific then we tend to narrow our focus too soon.?

And ditto for the other steps.?

By starting out with a mindset of, it needs to be measurable we might gravitate to what’s easiest to measure, and again this is problematic.?

Using a non-work related example, one might want to get healthier, but when setting a SMART goal we might privilege weight-loss in our goal setting as this is the easiest variable to measure.?

The problem with focusing on weight-loss is that we can achieve that using unhealthy strategies, so if you’re not careful the SMART process can set you up at-odds with your actual goal.?

When it comes to the A and the R of the SMART model, I’ve seen instances when the goal-setter is intent on ensuring that their ambitions are Achievable or Realistic they set the bar too low.

Their goals are too achievable; too realistic.?

And left unchecked a process that is supposed to raise expectations, lift performance and increase engagement can actually serve to achieve the opposite.?

So what to do instead??

To be clear, the SMART process does have its place. It’s just not where you think it is.?

Rather than using the SMART model to set goals, you should use them it to check goals.?

In The Act of Leadership I introduce you to my SHIFT Model for conversations, and explore how you might use a coaching approach to get clear of challenges you might be facing.?

You can also use the SHIFT Model to set goals.?

Having completed the Scan, Hurdle, Incentive, Focus and Tactics steps of the model, you can then check your next step, or goal based on the SMART model.?

If your next step isn’t SMART then you might want to reconsider your course of action.

By recognising the nuance around the timing of when you use the SMART process - at the end of the goal setting process as opposed to the start, you’ll start setting better goals and as a result enhancing engagement, wellbeing and performance.