SMART targets aren’t always so smart

Tom Whiteley

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Feb 23, 2017 · 6 min read

I’ve spent a lot of my life being told that I should be using SMART targets (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound). Organisations seem to obsess about making sure that targets meet these criteria; it seems to be ingrained in the goal setting process. If used correctly then they can be effective, however more often than not they end up being destructive, and encourage an unpleasant working environment.

What’s good about them?

The main reason that SMART targets are used is because it is easy to know whether you have succeeded or failed. If a target is easy to measure and has to be done by a certain time/date, then there can be little argument whether it has been achieved. This makes it very clear for the individual what they are expected to achieve, and so it will really help focus them. And if it isn’t achieved, then it is clear who to blame…

As a result, SMART targets are regularly used for goal setting in annual appraisals. Speaking of which…

Does anyone enjoy goal setting?

Can you think of an appraisal where you have agonised over setting a target for the year? Can you think of an appraisal where you have looked at your goals for the previous year and seen that they were irrelevant and that you did much more important stuff instead? These things happen to me all the time. Thankfully, my managers have generally agreed that it was right to ignore my objectives, and that I made the right choices. But in that case, why did we even waste time setting them in the first place if they are going to be ignored?

Some people may have large financial rewards if they achieve their SMART goals (or indeed penalties on failure). In this case, the goal setting procedure becomes very stressful, time-consuming and sometimes unpleasant. The manager tries to set a big target, the individual argues for a low target, and negotiations ensue.

The underlying issue here is of course that it is often really hard to set the correct goal, particularly a goal for the next year. There is so much that could change in such a timespan that it is really difficult to choose something that makes sense 12 months down the line. I challenge you to look at all the goals you have set over the last few years. Were any of them actually appropriate in hindsight?

In order to get them right, we could spend more time doing goal setting. However if we still get them wrong, then this is more time wasted dreaming up goals, and less time spent doing something productive. I suggest we should stop wasting that time, because it can also have some really negative consequences.

What happens when we get it wrong?

If the targets are wrong, then not only have we wasted our time, but we could easily have created several more negative consequences. Here are the three main ones:

1. Targets that are too hard are demotivating. If an individual fails to reach a goal, they are likely to feel upset and despondent about it. This will lower self esteem and motivation for that individual, and for some period of time they are likely to be less productive than usual. This will of course be much worse if there is a blame culture in the organisation. If there is lower than expected performance then often someone is made to be the scapegoat. That’s just unfair, and creates an unenjoyable work environment.
2. Targets that are too easy decrease productivity. If the goal was actually too easy, then the individual will relax when they have hit their target. If you get a bonus for hitting a sales target by a certain date, then there is no point in selling any more. If a target was SMART then there is no value in over-achieving — all that will happen is that more difficult targets will be set in the future. The individual will slow down if they are reaching it early, or will spend more if something is under budget. None of these outcomes are beneficial for the organisation.
3. People become focused on the wrong thing, especially if things change. I mentioned before how I’ve been able to ignore goals that became irrelevant. But if you have big rewards dependent on achieving these goals, then you probably won’t ignore them. For example, I know a software engineer who was given a target of writing a certain amount of lines of code per week. As a result, he wrote unnecessary lines that just made the code hard to understand and more likely to cause errors. He got his bonus, despite the outcome for the organisation being worse than if there was no incentive!

So are SMART targets flawed?

The issue here isn’t actually the fact that SMART targets are flawed, it is that people forget some of the letters. They focus on the S, M and T (Specific, Measurable and Time-bound) to make sure that it is easy to tell whether the goal has been achieved. However, people often pay less attention to the A and the R (Achievable and Relevant). In fact, we can re-write the cause of the three negative consequences from above as:

1. The goal is not Achievable
2. The goal is too easy to Achieve,
3. The goal loses its Relevance.

The main reason people ignore these is because they are almost impossible to get right. Very few of us work in environments that are totally predictable, particularly for the next 12 months! Many things could happen that impact whether a goal is appropriate or not for the individual and the organisation. This uncertainty is what makes it so hard to make sure that a goal is truly SMART.

What should we do instead?

So if it is so hard to set a truly SMART objective, then what should we be doing instead? As I said earlier, the right goal can be motivating and help focus a individual, team or organisation. Therefore, we should use the following principles when setting goals:

1. Set goals over shorter timelines — the further away a deadline is, the harder it is to make sure the goal is Achievable and Relevant. So stop setting 12 month SMART goals, and set them over much shorter time periods, depending on how uncertain your work environment is. For example, set monthly targets, and re-assess at the end of every month what you should aim for next month.
2. Set long term visions rather than targets — if you don’t have longer term goals, then it is difficult for a whole organisation to pull in the same direction. So if it is impossible to set long term SMART goals, then set some that are intentionally not SMART. Make sure everyone knows what the organisation’s principles are and help teams to set themselves a vision that will help grow the company. Then you can let the team strive to achieve this in the best way they can find.
3. Motivate people in other ways — Targets aren’t the only way to motivate people. In fact, I’d say there are much better ways. Carrot and stick incentives are an analogy for motivating a donkey. People aren’t donkeys, so let’s not treat them like they are. Dan Pink has some excellent suggestions about how to motivate people, and I have written about others here.

Conclusion

SMART targets are excellent for focusing teams or individuals on something beneficial for the organisation. However, they can easily create stressful, unpleasant or ineffective working environments if they are set incorrectly. Given that it is often hard to set goals that remain appropriate over long periods of time, then we should stop wasting our time setting them. If you want to use them to focus people, then it only makes sense to do it over short time periods. Otherwise, stop using them as a way to hold people to account, but instead set the high level priorities, and empower your people to go and fulfil them in their own way.

If you enjoyed reading please give some 👏 and/or leave a comment. For more stories like this check out my publication, The Agile Mindset.