Here, I will explain how performance is measured, and what SMART goal-setting means. And setting SMART goals for a writer.
How is performance measured in organisations?
Most companies follow an annual performance management cycle. Targets/objectives are set at the beginning of the year and end of the year, and performance is measured based on the achievement of the set goals.
Progressive companies make performance reviews a regular activity (monthly/quarterly), so there’s continuous assessment of goals Vs achievement.
So, how exactly does this measurement take place? For this, we need to take a step back to understand how goals are set.
How are goals set?
Without going into details of why a particular goal is set as that's solely dependent on the company/department's needs based on the targets set for the year, let's understand the how part of goal-setting.
When goals are quantifiable or written in terms of numbers, it’s easy to understand. E.g., achievement of 10% growth in profits compared to last year, increase in customer base by 20% compared to the same quarter in the last year and so on.
The issue is when the goals seem to be quantitative or subjective, like for a Sales Manager - development of area sales executives to further manage teams or for a Training Manager - enhance the quality of a training program.
You’ll note I said “seem to be”, which means we can create qualitative goals from these goals too, it’s just a matter of understanding, how to do it.
And, that’s why the need to create SMART goals, not just making up goals that cannot be measured!
What is SMART goal-setting?
It’s an acronym extending to:
- S - specific (define a goal without ambiguous language)
- M - measurable (create a goal that can be measured/tracked)
- A - achievable/attainable (goal should be reasonable to achieve within available resources)
- R - relevant/realistic (make a goal that’s worthwhile/fits needs)
- T - time-bound (goal must have a timeline for completion)
All these 5 aspects should be incorporated while making goals/goal statements.
Let’s take the earlier example to understand this better.
The goal of an Area Sales Manager - Development of area sales executives to further manage teams
What do you think of this goal/goal statement? Is it a SMART goal?
You are right! It’s not a SMART goal.
In fact, this statement actually has not one but a couple of statements embedded in it, let’s see shortly.
Does this goal have any of the SMART aspects?
• Specific: The statement doesn’t mention details like, how many cases to be developed, or how many people they’ll manage. Etc., hence it’s not specific.
• Measurable: If the Manager draws out a goal like this, he and the Sales Head cannot evaluate it at the end of the review/year as it doesn’t mention any specifics therefore the goal-setting/measurement will become futile exercise.
• Achievable/Attainable: If it’s not measurable/quantifiable, how can the goal be attained?!
• Relevant: This point can be analysed from the company’s perspective of boosting sales or its workforce development so let’s go with the assumption that it’s relevant.
• Time-bound: There’s no mention of a deadline or timeline in the statement hence it’s not time-bound.
Now, let’s create a SMART out of this not-so-SMART goal!
Within the goal there are 2 SMART goal statements:
- ASEs to successfully complete the sales leadership development program by October 2021.
- Developing 5 ASEs to manage 2 team members by March 2022.
I will go a step further, the Area Sales Manager can have a broad goal - Development of sales force, within which above 2 SMART goal statements will feature.
Coming back, to the measurement of the goal.
During the performance review - the ASM & the Sales Head will assess the goal Vs achievement and decide upon the performance rating of the former.
Note: a large part of the ASM’s job is built around achieving sales figures, profitability, increasing customer base etc.
The example cited is a developmental goal, that may have a weightage of 5-10% in the ASM’s entire role (not going into details about key result areas etc. at this point).
SMART goals for a Freelance-writer
- Daily - writing at least 500 words for a blog/post
- Weekly - Creating 2 articles for pitching to websites
- Monthly - Publish 4 short form and 2 long-form articles
Book writer goals may differ
- Annual - complete a 10,000-word book
- Weekly - write w1000 words
- Daily - write 500 words or say 1 chapter of 500 words and so on…
Note: the weekly, monthly/annual work will not add up, as you need to give yourself a leeway sometimes and editing will also take time so that’s been incorporated in the above goals.
If your book is up for publication, then goals will involve getting a formal edit and proofreading done, getting it formatted, working on the book cover design etc.
Also, these are goals related to writing alone. There may be other jobs you may be doing other than this like developing your client base, pitching clients for publishing your work, researching topics for your writing etc.
Even as a freelancer, if you want to reach a particular level in the writing space, you need to be conscious of planning your work and continuously assess your progress against that plan. If you are ambitious/self-driven, you may already be doing these things however if you truly want to be focused and continuously improve in your domain - self-performance management is crucial for success.
Looking at your daily routine, go ahead and create your own goal sheets, remember to make them SMART so you can measure them to keep moving ahead each year!
Conclusion:-
In today's post, we have learned about How is performance measured in organisations. In this, we have tried to explain smart goals, and performance measured in organisations. We hope that in today's article, you must have understood all the information. If you have any questions related to this article, then we can ask in the comment. If you found our article helpful, then do share it with your friends and family.
0 Comments