The “R” in SMART-EST goals stands for “RELEVANT.” There are a lot of great goals out there and probably lot’s of things we want to do and achieve. However, they may not be the right goal for now or they may not truly align with our current business/career direction. In a business setting, organizational alignment is important in goal setting. For example, let’s say you are an individual contributor as a data analyst. You may want to meet people and learn about other departments within your organization, but your manager probably won’t approve a goal to spend at least 8 hours each week in a different department shadowing someone. This goal is not relevant to YOUR roles and responsibilities even though it could be argued that a better organizational understanding would help in your career growth.
But let’s pitch a slightly different goal. This time, your goal is to attend a weekly “State-of-the business” lunch seminar and ask at least one person from a different department what data/reports they use and how you could better assist them when you are working with them on future data/reporting requests. You are achieving career goals of networking and learning about other departments while at the same time making sure your roles/responsibilities are being met. You are also helping your department by building connections and gaining valuable customer feedback. Your manager is much more likely to approve this goal!
Here's another scenario that happens too frequently in organizations. The organization sets high-level goals which need to be adopted throughout the organization. This is not a bad thing but business leaders need to ensure that everyone can contribute to the goals. Having a goal that you are completely disconnected from is demoralizing. If you find yourself in this situation with a mandatory goal that you can’t personally act on, ask your manager if you can add at least one personal goal. We all want to be able to make a difference so make sure that your goals allow you to do so!
One other consideration in setting relevant goals: what is relevant today may not be relevant tomorrow! If you are in a fast-paced and quickly changing environment, you have some additional challenges in setting goals. Consider setting shorter-range goals (maybe even quarterly!) so that you can keep goals relevant. You can also set up a review process at mid-year so that you have an opportunity to pivot your goals if needed. Even if you are in a stable industry, the unexpected and catastrophic may still happen (such as a pandemic). Make sure you have a plan to keep your goals relevant!
Need some help working on your goals? Check out our Master Class Courses page for our goal-setting course starting on January 17th!
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