There exists in the business world the idea of SMART goals. (accepted definition) Basically this breaks down as: any goal needs to be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, (sometimes this is replaced with "Relevant", which is better), and Timely, or more accurately, Time-Bound. You have likely been on one, or maybe both sides of setting such a goal.
Such a great, simple, little tool to remember the proper way to create a goal, isn't it? Nice little acronym, powerful direction, good methodology. But really it is a bit verbose isn't it? Let's take this little helper apart and distill it to the aqua vitae, shall we.
Specific, and Time-Bound are covered under Measurable, if you think about it. If a goal is not specific it cannot be measured. Simply defining the measurements to be used creates it own specificity. By that same token, is not Time simply a measurement? Therefore by defining the measurements, we have a goal that is, be default, specific and time-bound.
The other letters of this acronym are even more vexing to me. Any realistic goal is, by definition, attainable. Any goal which can be attained, recursively, has to be realistic. So we can eliminate one of those. In the case of "Relevant" as the fourth element, this will be instead covered as part of defining the measurements.
This leaves us with either MA goals, which is easily remembered, but sounds like "My goals"; or MR goals. MR. Goals is your new friend in the fight against vague, unattainable performance standards. MR. Goals is also as easy to remember as SMART.
So let's then cover all of our bases with our new partner MR goals. First, define the measurements. In doing so, you must know what you are attempting to measure (against benchmarks, if possible), who you are measuring, when the measurement (or measurements) will be taken, how they will be taken, (data-analysis, raw numbers, customer satisfaction reports etc.), and why you are taking them.
The why is simultaneously obvious and obscure. Obviously, you want a way to gauge performance against a goal, set of goals, or benchmark. Less obviously, you need to know your motivation in selecting these particular goals, for this particular person. Essentially, ask yourself: "Are these goals the right ones, for this person?"
Next is the acid test of comparing what we want, with what can be done. No one will give you any form of good performance, if they don't feel the standards they will be held to are unrealistic. Why would they? This is really just ensuring you are not de-motivating with what is supposed to be a motivational tool.
