Forget SMART Goals, Set CLEAR Goals Instead
By Diána Farkas
It’s another new year! The good news is that you’ve set new and ambitious goals for yourself. The bad news is, 60 percent of new year’s resolutions fail. Much of this failure has to do with poor goal-setting. In the past, we used the ultra-popular SMART criteria for moving projects, initiatives and enterprises ahead. That being said, the SMART goals are beginning to prove counterproductive to the more fast-paced, and changing environment that we find ourselves in today.
In a recent piece for Inc., best-selling author of Managing for Dummies, The Management Bible, Leading Through Uncertainty, Peter Economy, proposes we use something, well…smarter. Economy proposes the new acronym, “CLEAR,” to meet the needs of the modern team:
Collaborative (Goals should encourage employees to work together collaboratively and in teams)
Limited (Goals should be limited in both scope and duration)
Emotional (Goals should make an emotional connection to employees, tapping into their energy and passion)
Appreciable (Large goals should be broken down into smaller goals so they can be accomplished more quickly and easily for long-term gain)
Refinable (Set goals with a headstrong and steadfast objective, but as new situations or information arise, give yourself permission to refine and modify your goals)
No matter where you’re setting a goal (in your personal life, or in the workplace), Economy says that it must be a “clear and compelling” one. One that can be realized, embraced, and acted upon by every member of the team. Safe to say, clear is the new smart.
