Successful New Year’s Resolutions via SMART Goals

January 13, 2014, by HR à la carte | Performance Management

It’s half-way through January and many New Year’s resolutions have already been broken by now.  I know I had great expectations of heading to the yoga studio once a week, but the fates seem to continually conspire against me in the form of sick children and schedule conflicts.  One of my New Year’s resolutions is to increase my productivity.  But I know it won’t amount to much unless I put a plan of action in place to change my habits.  And if I don’t have a particular goal when it comes to productivity, it’s not going to happen.  How will I measure if I’m successful or not?  What does increased productivity look like?  Unless I can answer those questions I’m guaranteed not to be successful.

These are the types of questions we can ask of ourselves and of our employees when we are setting work goals for this year.  A great model to use is the SMART model.  Is your goal:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Agreed-To
• Realistic; and
• Time-bound?

Let’s use my increased productivity goal as an example.  My goal as stated is neither specific nor measurable.  It’s agreed-to because the only one involved is me in this instance.  It’s also not time-bound; by when do I wish to see an increase in my productivity?  Let’s try again using the SMART model.

“I will increase my productivity in 2014 by writing at least one blog per month, setting up a minimum of 3 networking and/or professional development meetings per month, and cleaning out my email box on a monthly basis.”

It’s certainly specific, it tells you exactly how I will increase my productivity and by when (on a monthly basis in this case).  It is also time-bound in that I’ve set this up as a monthly, measurable goal.  I’ve also answered the question in the first paragraph; success in this instance is meeting the quantities I have set out for myself.  It’s also realistic for me as I have the resources and can set my own schedule to make it happen.

Now I’m in a position to put together an action plan to work towards my productivity goal.  What changes will I make in my daily, weekly and monthly habits in order to reach this goal?  Some ideas include:

• Setting a monthly deadline for the blog and blocking out time in my calendar to work on it
• Setting time in my calendar to archive emails on a weekly basis
• Staying connected to my network via LinkedIn and email and reaching out to members of my network on a weekly basis.
• Taking advantage of professional development opportunities that come my way and book the ones that most interest me and fit my schedule.

With the above goal statement and action plan, my chances of meeting my increased productivity New Year’s resolution are much greater.   How will you change your New Year's resolutions and goals to  make them SMARTer?