M E R I D I A N     M A G A Z I N E

Leadership for Saints, Part 17:
The Value of SMART Goals
by Rodger Dean Duncan and Ed J. Pinegar

How do you know what kind of goals to set? The whole point of setting goals, of course, is to achieve them. The best goals are smart goals. Actually, SMART goals is more like it. SMART stands for the five characteristics of well-designed goals.

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• Specific: Goals must be clear and unambiguous. Vague ambitions and platitudes have no place in goal setting. When goals are specific, they tell people precisely what is expected, when, and how much. Only with specific goals are you able to measure progress.

• Measurable: What good is a goal if you can’t measure progress. When goals are not measurable, you never know if or when or even how you’re making progress toward their completion. Not only that, but it’s very difficult for your people to stay motivated to complete the goals in the absence of milestones to indicate progress.

• Attainable: Goals must be realistic and attainable. As we indicated earlier, goals should give people something to stretch for, but they should not be out of reach. Neither, of course, should goals be too easy. Goals that are set too high or too low become meaningless and people tend to ignore them.

• Relevant: Goals must be an important element in the overall plan of achieving your mission and reaching your vision. It’s estimated that 80 percent of people’s productivity often comes from 20 percent of their activities. You can guess where the remaining 80 percent of effort ends up. Relevant goals address the 20 percent of the effort that has the greatest impact on performance.

• Time-bound: Effective goals have starting points, ending points, and fixed durations. People are better able to focus their efforts on goal attainment when they are committed to deadlines. Goals without schedules or deadlines tend to get lost in the rush of day-to-day life.

To illustrate how this approach adds value and power to goal-setting, let’s compare a SMART goal with a not-so-smart goal. (This is vital in all councils, especially family councils.)

Let’s say a ward council is discussing the Young Men and Young Women programs and the bishopric asks the YM and YW leaders to suggest a goal for the coming year. A not-so-smart goal might be something like “Get the youth more involved in activities.”

On the surface, this certainly seems like a worthy aspiration. But what does it really mean? Does “more involved” mean greater attendance? Does it mean having more fun? Does it mean cheering louder at basketball games? And what “activities” are included in this goal?

You’ll notice that this not-so-smart goal is not specific. It is not measurable because we don’t know specifically what to measure. It is really not attainable because, lacking specificity and measurability, there’s no way to know if and when the goal is reached. The goal is only marginally relevant because, although it alludes to involving the youth in activities, the lack of specifics dilutes it to “platitude” status. And the goal is not time-bound because it has no starting point, no ending point and no fixed duration.

For the sake of illustration, let’s say that what the ward council members really mean is:

• We want our young men and young women to love the Lord, obey the commandments, build strong testimonies and have an unstoppable desire to serve missions, be married in the temple and raise righteous, eternal families.

• We want to do everything possible to fortify our youth against the evils of the world and help them live in the world without embracing the dangerous standards of the world.

While these are wonderful aspirations, they are not at all implied in the goal “Get the youth more involved in activities.”

Getting Started

If this goal is the starting point of discussion, good questions to ask would include:

“Exactly which ‘youth’ are we talking about?”

“Do we mean just the young men and young women who would be regarded as ‘active,’ or do we also mean those teenagers who are on the rolls but who rarely or never attend church?”

“At what point do our less active youth seem to be slipping away? Is it right after the transition from Primary? What seem to be some of the root causes of inactivity?”

“Exactly which ‘activities’ are we talking about? Sunday YM and YW meeting? Mid-week sporting events? Trips to the temple to do baptisms?”

“Exactly what would ‘more involved’ look like? Does this mean the deacons will participate in congregation hymn-singing during sacrament meeting? Does this mean that every priest will be an Eagle Scout? Does this mean all the Laurels will play a part in next summer’s road show?”

“When will all this happen? Are we talking about accomplishing this ‘goal’ by Christmas, or by when today’s youngest deacon has his missionary farewell seven years from now?”

Do you get the message? SMART goals—Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound—have punch and power. A broad brush not-so-smart goal like “Get the youth more involved in activities” can be transformed into a series of SMART goals that actually contribute to the saving of souls.

Quotes to Remember

Only specific goals are useful. – Vaughn J. Featherstone

When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported back, the rate of improvement accelerates. – Thomas S. Monson

Honesty with oneself and setting of desirable but attainable goals day by day can determine the paths we follow. – Marvin J. Ashton

We use so much of our time in rushing around, not thinking always what we ought to be, nor what it is that matters most. Sometimes we set our hearts on things we feel we have to have, and when we get them find they don't mean as much as once we thought they would. – Richard L. Evans

… set specific goals for what we would have to do in our lives…and then of course to reach our goals by the designated time.
– Jay A. Parry

From these deep-seated beliefs, we develop specific goals and establish the standards for evaluating their accomplishment. We then proceed to act, interact, and react according to our determination of what is right and appropriate. – Kay P. Edwards

May we launch straightway toward setting goals that are gospel oriented, knowing that if we use the talents that are ours—that if we help others, strive for peace, avoid being overly sensitive or overly critical—strength upon strength will be added to our own abilities and we will move straightway toward greater growth, happiness, and eternal joys. – Marvin J. Ashton

Note: The excerpts of Leadership for Saints posted on Meridian are only a fraction of the contents of this 349-page book. To learn more about this ground-breaking book and to order copies, click here.

© 2002 by Rodger Dean Duncan & Ed J. Pinegar