SMART Objectives

SMART Objectives

All businesses need to set objectives for themselves or for the products or services they are launching. What does your company, product or service hope to achieve?

Setting objectives are important., it focuses the company on specific aims over a period of time and can motivate staff to meet the objectives set.

A simple acronym used to set objectives is called SMART objectives. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time (SMART)



SMART Objective Diagram

SMART Objectives With Examples

Specific – Objectives should specify what they want to achieve.
    For example a soft drinks company may want to achieve 3% market share in 12 months.

Measurable – You should be able to measure whether you are meeting the objectives or not.    
A 3% market share over 12 months means that each month market share targets can be measured against a specific goal.

Achievable - Are the objectives you set, achievable and attainable?
     Is the 3% objective for the 12 months achievable? Does the company have the resources, man power and finances to achieve it?

Realistic – Can you realistically achieve the objectives with the resources you have?
    Is the 3% objective over a 12 month period realistic or does the company need longer? Does the company have the skills and resources to achieve this over the time period set.

Time bound – When do you want to achieve the set objectives?
    In our example the company have set themselves a period of 12 months to achieve the 3% market share target.

       Other Examples of SMART Objectives:

    There are a number of business objectives, which an organisation can set:

    Market share objectives:
Objectives can be set to achieve a certain level of market share within a specified time. E.g. obtain 3% market share of the mobile phone industry by 2004.

    To increase profit:
 An objective maybe to increase sales 10% from 2010 – 2011.

    To survive:
 The hard times the business is currently in.

    To grow:
The business may set an objective to grow by 15% year on year for the next five years.
    To increase brand awareness over a specified period of time.