Passionately developing careers since 1958.

Setting SMART Goals

For decades now, SMART goals and Management by Objectives (MbO) have proven to be quite effective methodologies in helping organizations and employees focus their performance on what counts, literally. Without being able to measure what gets produced, be it a product or a service, one will find it more challenging to manage or improve.

At Meirc Training & Consulting, we have been helping organizations on establishing MbO systems and SMART goals and objectives at various levels. Our straightforward methodology uses a top down approach which starts with a thorough analysis of the existing strategy to extract the organizational Critical Success Factors.

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The Process - Explained
1
Analysis of organizational vision, mission and strategic goals

In Step 1, Meirc analyzes the organizational strategy by performing a thorough review of the vision, mission and strategic goals which the organization has in place for its current strategic cycle. This step is usually done at Meirc’s offices by a team of subject matter experts specialized in strategic thinking and planning.

2
Extraction of organizational Critical Success Factors (CSFs)

In Step 2, Meirc takes the information gathered from the analysis of the strategy and uses it to extract the organizational Critical Success Factors (CSFs). These are then sorted into three categories, namely Key Performance Areas (KPAs), core competencies and organizational values. KPAs are those areas which the organization aims to positively influence in a sustainable manner (as measurable outputs), while competencies and values are the inputs and approaches which the organization relies on to produce the outputs.

3
Identification of Key Performance Areas (KPAs)
4
Development of measures and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
5
Development of SMART goals and objectives

In Steps 3-5, Meirc isolates the organizational and functional KPAs for each business unit and then uses an experiential workshop approach to train the end users in each business unit on using the extracted KPAs to develop the right set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). In the same workshops, Meirc experts coach the end users on validating their KPIs using the KPI ID Card which is a Meirc tool specifically designed for checking the reliability and validity of each KPI developed during the workshops. Once the KPIs have been validated, Meirc experts use them to help end users in drafting a set of individual goals and objectives which meet the SMART criteria. After the goals and objectives are finalized, Meirc experts coach the end users on the methodologies which could be used to track and report on the progress of each goal against its desired target. Although the duration of these workshops largely depends on the size and complexity of each business unit, we can safely state that most workshops last between 1 and 2 days.

The Deliverable

The MbO or SMART goals template which Meirc commits to have produced at the end of the project will be based on the following template:

In preparation for our call

We strongly recommend that you have as many of the following inputs ready as possible:

  • An up-to-date vision, mission and strategic goals (for the organization or the business unit targeted)OR
  • Access to the senior management team for 1-1 interviews with Meirc experts
  • A willingness to allocate 1 day per business unit for training on development of SMART goals and objectives

The availability of the above will expedite the process of creating a custom fit proposal for your consulting need.

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