How to Set Effective Goals

The Essential Questions to Ask Yourself for Greater Success

By: Danielle Giannone

In this article, I will discuss the importance of goal-setting at all levels of an organization and the essential questions to ask to ensure your goals are SMART and you are focused on what matters most for greater success.

Clarity of goals is one of the most important steps in building a high performing team. If goals are clear, you will have your team working in unison toward the same desired measurable outcomes. If goals are unclear you will likely have a lot of people doing a lot of work (actions) but the work may not be driving the most important desired results. 

Why is Goal Setting Important?

• Goals allow us to focus efforts and align resources to what matters most (as an organization, team or individual) 

• Goals help us understand what is expected of us and motivates us

• Goals allow us to know how we are performing and if we are meeting expectations 

• Goals allow us to hold each other accountable, to go like at hell at what is working and to call stops when necessary and to ask for additional support where needed 

GOALS SHOULD BE CLEAR AT ALL LEVELS

When we think of goal setting, we should look at it from 3 different perspectives: 

Organization

Organizational goals should provide clarity on where resources will be focused and leveraged. They allow the organization’s leadership to say no, when necessary. The key to strong organizational goals is clarity and simplicity so everyone knows where we are going because we are in this together. Top examples are Revenue, EBIDTA, Total Customers or Customer Satisfaction Rate; although the metrics change year over year, the focus is clear.

Team

Team goals allow leaders to manage their teams effectively by holding team members accountable to achieve results. Goals help leaders understand if they have the right people in the right roles and if they should realign resources. These goals should drive toward the overall organizational goals and be crystal clear. The leader is accountable for achieving team goals. 

Individual

Individual goals should roll up to your team goals but clearly lay out what each team member is responsible for in their individual role. It also allows individuals to manage and take accountability for their own performance. 

HOW TO ENSURE YOUR GOALS ARE SMART

S.M.AR.T. goals have been around since at least 1981 when George T. Doran published an article about goal setting. The following is how to use the acronym and some question you can ask while you are building goals. 

• Specific - Specific, clear, non-ambiguous. Goals should be black and white and not arbitrary. Questions to ask:

  • What is the goal?

  • Why is it important? 

• Measurable - This allows you to track your progress. If a goal is long-term, you should have key milestones to know if you are on track. Questions to ask:

  • How will progress to the goal be measured?

  • What metrics will we used to know if the goal is being achieved?

  • How will success be determined?

  • Is the success or failure of the outcomes explicit and non-ambiguous?

• Attainable - Goals should inspire and motivate. Unattainable goals do the opposite. Easy goals don’t inspire greatness. The key is to find the balance.  Questions to ask:

  • Is this goal attainable?

  • Will it motivate?

  • Will it allow for stretching and growing? 

• Relevant - Goals should reflect what is most important to the organization; specifically what do you need to be focused on right now to further the long term mission and vision of the organization.  Questions to ask:

  • Do these goals help us further our mission?

  • Are they the most important? 

• Time-Bound - Goals should have urgency behind them. If there is no urgency ‘S’ should be revisited. Questions to ask:

  • Are the deadlines clear?

  • Do we know where we need to be by when? 

INDIVIDUAL GOAL SETTING

Some questions to ask yourself when setting your individual goals:

1. What is the #1 way I support my team in achieving its’ goals? 

   
   

2. What should I be held accountable to for my individual role? 

   
   

3. How can I measure this? (Sometimes you will need to get creative with measurement. Working with a buddy can help you narrow it down) 

   
   

4. How will you know if you did the task well? If you have come up with a task or a timeline as measurement, ask yourself, what would be successful completion? Completing something on time should not equal success as it doesn’t ensure quality is what is desired. 

   
   

5. What is the outcome I am seeking? If I do these tasks well what can I expect to happen? What is the ultimate point of these tasks/actions? For example: Will we have more donors? Will more people be helped? How will we know? Can we measure it?

To learn more about how to achieve the goals you set, read our related article Why Are Goals So Hard To Accomplish? and The 80/20 Rule