Business Management ABCs

How to Set Up Goals SMART

“Goals are dreams with deadlines.” Diana Scharf Hunt

One the main mistake that many managers and owners make is that they don’t use very simple but the most effective goal setting SMART rule. If you don’t apply it the goal could be very general, not specific, not measurable, not realistic, without time-line. Goals should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Trackable.)

Would you agree that the goal “Increase sales” or “Improve customer service” are general and not measurable? What percentage or numbers? When will you start and finish?

SMART

S Specific, Simple, Significant, Stretching, Simple

M Measurable, Meaningful, Motivational, Manageable

A Attainable, Appropriate, Achievable, Agreed, Assignable, Action-oriented,Ambitious, Aligned

R Realistic, Reasonable, Results-focused, Results-oriented, Resourced, Rewarding

T Time-oriented, Time-bound, Time framed, Time-based, Time-Specific, Tangible

Specific

Who is involved?

What do I want to accomplish?

Where? Identify a location.

Which? Identify requirements and constraints.

Why? Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.

Measurable

How can it be measured?

How much? How many?

From the start to the completion?

Progression?

Achievable

Has it been done before?

Are the goals attainable by average employee?

Are they too high or too low?

Realistic

How can we determine if this is reasonable?

Do we have resources to support?

Trackable

What needs to be tracked?

What is starting point and ending points?

Do you have deadlines or schedules?

How will it be recorded?

If you use SMART rule, the goal “Increase sales” will be look like this:

“Increase sales by 25% for the outside sales department by December 31 of 2010.”

Nina Telpoukhovskaia is a President of Be Best Professional Development Centre, bestselling author of 5 books in Russia and Canada, including Retail Sales. 6 Steps to Double Your Profit. She is an inspiring workshop leader, sales coach and consultant, dynamic and knowledgeable public speaker with 22 years of unique international teaching experience.

http://www.best-retail-training.com

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Assertiveness Goals

In order to be maximally successful, you need superb assertiveness skills. What are your goals when you are being assertive? You need strategic and tactical goals.

Strategic goals include getting something you really want and value. You need to know what that is before you start a crucial conversation. As negotiators insist, you must know your bottom line. I have addressed this in several articles.

Secondly, you need to seek a win/win outcome. Adopt a win/win attitude and be clear to the other person or group that you seek a win/win. When they perceive that you are not just out to get your own way, but also seek for them to get what they want, they become more cooperative. In a spirit of collaboration, you have the best chance of finding solutions that offer you both a win/win.

Tactical goals include how you handle yourself. You must avoid being too aggressive or too passive. We all know that people get defensive when someone is aggressive toward them. They back away and put up their guard. Some people will push back with their own aggressiveness. Others will avoid you as much as possible.

Neither response will not be good for you in seeking a successful outcome.

On the other hand, if you are too passive, seeking too much to avoid conflict, you will also engender negative results. People will tend to respond weakly with little commitment because you are not stating your case well. And conflicts will remain buried instead of getting ironed out. Buried conflicts lead to people withholding their best efforts from your project.

So tactically, you must aim for the middle ground between aggressiveness and avoiding. This parallels what I have written in other articles about avoiding the fight/flight syndrome. We are programmed by our human biology to respond to threats with either fighting of fleeing. In the office that means being aggressive or avoiding. We have to stay calm and centered in order to avoid this biological response. And we have to treat the other person with assertiveness that does not trigger them into fight or flight.

In summary, in order to be maximally successful, you need superb assertiveness skills that include the above strategic and tactical goals and the ability to implement them.

Copyright 2010, by William R. Murray, President of Eagle Alliance Executive Coaching, LLC. Reprint rights granted to all venues so long as this article and by-line are printed intact with all links made live.

William R. Murray, MBA (Harvard), M.Div. (Yale), Master Certified Coach, is the founder of Eagle Alliance Executive Coaching, LLC in 1993, http://www.EagleAlliance.com, offering Virtual Workshops, Self-Study Programs, Leadership Coaching.

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Importance of the Employee Screening Process

Employee screening is a necessity in any business, big or small. It is the process of getting to know the company’s applicants, and if they are fit for the position they are applying for in the company. During the process, an employer or the company’s HR personnel will determine if an applicant is presenting the right information in his resume. The process will establish whether or not correct or contradictory information has been given and whether or not this applicant will be contributing positively to the attainment of the company’s objectives.

The employment process could range from psychometric, medical, and background checks and testing. Some applicants may practice answering tests that are required for the position to be filled. Screening is a very important part for any job hiring process as it allows a human resources officer or manager to evaluate an individual applying for a position.

It is basic to know information about people who are being considered to work in a company. Hence, the essential benefit of employee screening is the hiring of employees who are most likely to perform well. Good performance can be in the form of increasing the company’s revenue when the person hired is actually skilled in a certain field that is required by the company. Aside from getting a skillful worker, the employee screening process can determine if the job candidate is mentally and physically fit for the job.

These days, employers are recognizing the value not only of an employee’s diligence but also the person’s capacity to perform the job in the right place, at the right time and with the right state of mind. Employment screening is, thus, an exploration of the total character of the applicant and how this character can be a positive or negative influence on the achievement of the company’s goals.

However, this process is crucial to any individual or company as it involves a lot of aspects to be considered. One example is the legal procedure. Employment screening would involve getting to know the lives of the applicants to a certain extent.

It can be very hard for the one conducting the screening to verify the truth behind the information presented by the applicant if the means to make such verification are limited. Sometimes, the applicant is made to sign a document authorizing the company to get information about the person from schools he has attended or from another company or employer. Yet, there is no legal basis for this because of an existing non-disclosure contract between the applicant and the previous company. In the case with the school records, more requirements aside from the document signed between the one conducting the process and the applicant.

These are just few major examples of employment screening advantages and disadvantages. Getting the right information from reliable resources will help employers. Always ask for appropriate and basic requirements that shall be the basis of information that you need. Most of all, create a systematic selection process with a unique style that is effective enough to determine the candidate capacity. Sometimes, having a standard process can let the interviewee tell the whole truth. It is not making the system excruciating but rather a resourceful mean of practice in hiring. Reaching out to other companies for information is costly. Find a way to do the process right, legal, and effective.

You should know more about employee screening to hire the best people. Get the latest workforce management tools and be equipped to face the challenges ahead.

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