Month: January 2024

If you’ve worked in any large organization, you’ve probably been encouraged to write S.M.A.R.T. goals. This easy-to-remember acronym was originally introduced in a 1981 issue of Management Review by authors George Doran, Arthur Miller, and James Cunningham. If one of their goals was to develop a memorable model that would stick in management practice, then they’ve been extremely successful. In fact, when I speak to groups and ask, “Has anyone heard of ‘SMART’ goals?”, almost every hand in the room goes up. However, despite its memorability and simplicity, the SMART goal approach by design has limitations. As suggested in the authors’ original article title – “There’s a SMART Way to Write Management Goals and Objectives” – the focus of the model is on the structure

‘Tis the season of New Year’s resolutions to lose weight, improve finances, and stop a myriad of bad habits. But if leaders want to improve their work life as much as their personal life, they also should be contemplating the resolutions it will take to make real progress in improving staff engagement and retention this year and beyond. Not surprisingly, every senior leadership team I’ve talked with over the past several months has listed “improving staff engagement” and “reducing turnover” among their top organizational goals. High turnover is not only extremely expensive; frontline managers and staff tell us it is exhausting. Recruiting, interviewing, selecting, and onboarding require focused physical, intellectual, and emotional effort for the entire team. And when someone resigns, it starts all over