Month: April 2024

“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” That quote from President John F. Kennedy’s speech to a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961, is perhaps the most often cited example of the philosophy that when you set stretch goals, amazing things can happen. And who doesn’t want to accomplish amazing things. So, the fact that the “R” in our smarter S.M.A.R.T. goals model stands for “realistic” may be surprising. Realistic sounds so safe … run-of-the-mill … even boring. Don’t we want bigger, inspiring, stretch goals? Maybe even “B.H.A.G.s”? Even if you haven’t read the best-selling business book Built to

Ask any leader how to help teams achieve their goals, and they are likely to mention factors related to specificity, measurability, and achievability.  While all of these factors are important, a well-crafted goal can still fail if the team is not unified in their determination to successfully achieve it together. If leaders want to help teams achieve their goals, they involve them in how the goal is developed. That’s why the “A” in our smarter S.M.A.R.T. goal model stands for “agreed-upon.”  In the first two installments of this series on our adapted S.M.A.R.T. goal model, we focused on the importance of specificity (being clear about what we’re working to improve) and meaning (emphasizing why the goal is worth achieving).  With that foundation in place, the