Full Form of SMART

What Do You Mean By Smart?

In management SMART or Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant and Timely is a mnemonic acronym, giving criteria to guide setting objectives, such as employee performance management, project management, and personal development.

Goals are part of every element of business/life and offer a feeling of direction, motivation, a clear focus, and define importance. By making objectives, you are giving yourself a target to shoot for. A SMART objective is intended to assist and guide goal planning. Therefore, a SMART goal contains all of these factors to assist focus your efforts and maximize the odds of accomplishing your objective.

SMART: As the Business Goal

To attain its objectives, every successful business has to set and articulate goals.

There are 5 different elements in SMART:

1. Specific

There are more chances that your objectives will be accomplished if they are specific, i.e. when a specific goal is set rather than a general one. There are more chances of it being successful. A specific goal will usually answer the "Who", "Why", "Which", "What", and "Where" questions.

2. Measurable

There must be a criterion for measuring the progress of the SMART goal. Without criteria, determining the progress of the goal will become impossible. Just ask these questions to measure your progress:

• How much?
• How many?
• How do I find out that I have reached my goal?
• What would indicate my progress?

3. Achievable

To be successful a SMART goal must be achievable and attainable. To make you feel challenged the achievability of the goal should be stretched but it should be defined well enough so that you can achieve it. You can as these questions to yourself:

• Do I possess the resources and capabilities to achieve the goal?
• If not, is there something I am missing?
• Has it been done successfully before?

4. Relevant

The goal that has been set as the SMART goal must be relevant, i.e. it should be achievable within the given amount of time, with the available resources. You can ask yourself these questions to figure out if your SMART goal is realistic:

• Do I have enough time and resources to finish my project?
• Is the goal realistic and within reach?
• Am I able to fully commit to achieving the goal?

5. Timed

There must be a time boundation with the SMART goal, i.e. it should be finished within a fixed amount of time. There will be no urgency to complete the goal without a time constraint and that would defeat the purpose. Here, you can ask yourself these questions:

• Do I have a deadline?
• How do I pace myself?
• By when should I try to achieve my goal?

SMART: Advantages

These are some of the advantages of using SMART to set your goals in your business:

• SMART provides focus, clarity, and motivation to achieve your goals.
• By encouraging you to define your objectives and setting a completion date, SMART can improve your ability to reach your goals.
• You don't need any specialist supervision to apply the SMART goals to activities in your daily life.

SMART: Disadvantages

There are a few disadvantages of SMART:

• As there are a number of interpretations of SMART, it can lead to confusion and lose its effectiveness.
• There is also a belief that for long-term goals, SMART doesn't work very well as it lacks flexibility.
• Some people also suggest that SMART, by being so rigid, might stifle creativity.