Smart Goal Templates: Empowering Teams in Project Management

Have you ever thought about what you want to achieve in life🙇? 

Have you ever prepared a timeline to bring clarity to actions👩‍🔧? 

Do you ever feel like you’re working hard on a project but not achieving it as expected? Maybe a little more focus and structured implementation can get you there!

Many people job-hop or spend their professional lives👨‍💻 drifting from one company to another, one job to another, to reach their goals🎯. They lack direction and, therefore, end up in a never-ending loop. 

However, to meet your deadline and win your goal, you must make it a practice to regularly review your goals and follow the smart goal templates. 

These bring clarification to your ideas, improve your focus, and thus boost your productivity at the helm. Together, SMART goals help you achieve everything that you want in your business🚀 with given direction and resources.  

 

What are SMART Goals?

SMART Goals are a method of establishing goals assumed to give desired results and bring positive changes💫 in the long run. The acronym for SMART goals is - :

• Specific.
• Measurable.
• Attainable or Achievable.
• Relevant.
• Time-Bound.
  
  

Merely stating goals or purpose is insufficient. You need to define these parameters while setting a goal to make it attainable within a specific period⌛. Use the best goal-tracking tools to leverage the SMART goal approach. 

It pushes you further and gives you a concrete direction, eliminating generalities & guesswork while setting up your goal. Moreover, it has a clear timeline and measurable quantity that keeps you organized and identifies your missed milestones.

Let’s understand SMART Goals in detail with examples.

 

How to Write SMART Goals?

1. Specific

Your goals should be clear and specific. According to the Journal of Applied Psychology, the more specific your goals are the more motivated you become, increasing your chances of achieving your goals.

Specific goal setting helps you focus on your efforts and makes you feel motivated to work on them with zeal and zest🤩.

Okay, answer these questions to make your goal specific and achievable -:

• What do you want to accomplish?
• Why the goal is important to you?
• Who is your audience involved?
• Where will the goal take place?
• Which resources are involved?
• What steps need to be taken to achieve it?

Example: Instead of “setting a goal of increase sales revenue in 2024”, make it more specific, like “Target ad campaigns and collaborate with influencers to boost sales revenue by 20% in 2024.”

2. Measurable 

Once you’re clear with what you want to achieve, start quantifying your goal & make it measurable. When you quantify it, you can measure the progress of your goal and track how far you have reached right after starting.  

But, how to measure the goals? Use the best business goal-tracking software to track your tasks and review the time spent by the respective team on a particular task.

Study the overall progress of your goal 📈with a dashboard in the Kanban board or, List view. In total, this makes your goal more tangible and motivates you to set some milestones & submit the tasks.

Example: Instead of “increase web traffic” make it more quantifiable, like “increase web traffic by 15% compared to the previous quarter”.  

3. Achievable

Your goals should be realistic and attainable. This will help you realize your potential and figure out ways to move toward your implementation.

Importantly, it gives you a serious reality check and stretches you to make you feel challenged.

However, setting any unrealistic goal without checking the availability of resources can lower your confidence too. So, ask yourself -:

• Do I have the required resources to achieve the task? If not, what’s missing?
• Do I have the potential to accomplish the goal given time & support?
• Have others accomplished the tasks that you’re trying to achieve?

Example: Instead of “making 100 videos in a month”, make it more achievable by “hiring video editors for your team or outsourcing it to experts who can edit 100 videos of products in a given time frame.”

4. Relevant

While setting your goal, make sure it’s relevant and can be realistically achieved. Measure the scope of your potential and your team’s expertise 👥to get it done. Moreover, expose yourself to your new boundaries and remove the beliefs of “I cannot”. Set realistic goals beyond your horizon and explore your strengths.

According to leadershipiq.com, top executives are 91% more likely to enjoy getting out of their comfort zone 🏋️‍♀️in pursuit of their goals. Because, the more challenging the goal, the more you’ll achieve.

Remember, when you set new strategies and work beyond your comfort zone, you set a positive message for your employees and give a befitting reply to your competitors.

Example: Instead of setting a goal to "launch a new product”, make it more relevant by “ setting a goal to "launch a product in alignment with the business objective." Know your audience and target them with personalized marketing strategies. If you’re a B2B giant then targeting the D2C market won’t make your goal relevant.

5. Time-Bound

According to Forbes, companies that set performance goals quarterly generate 31% greater returns💎 from their performance process than those who do it annually, and those who do it monthly get even better results.

Goals become quite achievable when you set a specific timeframe or a target date for deliverables. This creates a sense of urgency and triggers to achieve it right before the due date.

So, yes, deadlines do improve the effectiveness of the goal. You can sign up with Kroolo to create your goal and set specific priorities, due dates, and status so you don't miss deadlines. 

 

 

Do's and Don'ts in Setting SMART Goals

 

How to use the SMART goals template

To optimize the use of  SMART goals template on Kroolo and ensure your goals are both strategic and attainable, follow these steps:

1. Review SMART goals Q/A

Begin by carefully reading through the SMART Goals Questions provided in our PDF guide. These questions are structured to help you refine your objectives to be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

2. Answer thoughtfully

Allocate sufficient time to thoughtfully answer each question. Your responses should reflect a deep understanding of your goals and how they align with the SMART criteria. 

3. Navigate to the Kroolo Interface

After completing the questionnaire, click on 'Sign up with Kroolo' to create your first goal.  On the dashboard, locate and select the SMART goals template option. This is where you will start applying your prepared answers to set up your goals.

4. Set incremental milestones

Within the template, also take the opportunity to break your main goal into smaller, manageable milestones. This approach will help you track progress more effectively and make adjustments as needed.

5. Watch the video demonstration

For visual guidance, you can watch our detailed video demonstration that walks you through the process of using the SMART goals template in Kroolo. This resource can be particularly helpful if you’re a visual learner or new to the platform.

By following these steps, you can effectively use the SMART goals template in Kroolo to set goals and monitor, adjust, and achieve them with a higher degree of success and efficiency.