It’s believed that the S.M.A.R.T acronym first came into being in 1981 by former Director of Corporate Planning, George T. Doran. He published a paper titled “There’s a S.M.A.R.T Way to Write Management’s Goals and Objectives”.
When this paper was written, management and corporate level executives did not have a systematic way of relaying goals and objectives to their staff. There was even a disconnect between the definition of goals and the definition of objectives!
Since a formal process didn’t exist, it was important to create one. Hence, S.M.A.R.T was born. For cursory explanation, this acronym provides a first swag at symmetry across departments at annual review time.
S.M.A.R.T Goals
S = Specific - Target a specific area for improvement.
M = Measurable - Quantify or at least suggest an indicator of progress.
A = Assignable - Specify who will do it.
R = Realistic - State what result can be realistically achieved, given available resources.
T = Time-related - Specify when the result(s) can be achieved.
When you read those, did you say to yourself, that’s not how we defined S.M.A.R.T! If you were an executive in 1981, this would have fit the current climate. Through corporate evolution and technological advancements, this acronym has been appropriated to fit into any goal setting environment. We are still evolving, but are we getting DUMBer?
D.U.M.B Goals
D = Dream-driven - Meaningful, destiny-driven things that will take you to the next stratosphere of your work.
U = Uplifting - Allows you to feel an excitement that causes you to jump out of bed to get started.
M = Method-friendly - Revolves around practices that make it easier for you based upon repetition.
B = Behavior-driven - Creation of event triggers that keep you in the moment and progressing forward.
Since employees have been more vocal about their need for job satisfaction, many employers have begun to investigate ways to address this shift. D.U.M.B Goals has proven to be one of the answers.
Brendon Burchard’s D.U.M.B Goals arrived on the scene in 2014 and have been gaining traction ever since.
His goals address the sentiment that employees are thinking more about their impact on the world, than on their retirement package. They are pursuing purpose driven lives. Management that can speak to this need find that they don’t have to micromanage their staff, but that their staff have an internal desire to perform.
This performance is not only for the business, but because they are bringing value to others. Isn't that what we all want?
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I’m glad you found it enlightening!
This is jammed packed with information that provides wonderful food for thought!