Using SMART goals for better performance and improvement

In today's episode, Mattias talks about how he deals with poorly performing teams and why the "SMART goal"-method is essential in setting up clear expectations and preventing bad performance.

Improving performance effectively

Firstly Mattias explains that he has to deal with goals not being met all the time. Performance - both good and bad is always a topic at a growing company. However, there are ways to improve performance and set up goals in the most effective way.

When setting up goals in the first place, it's essential to ensure that they meet the criteria for "SMART goals":

(S) Is the goal specific/clear?
(M) Is the goal measurable?
(A) Is the goal attainable?
(R) is the goal realistic?
(T) Is the goal time-bound?

Finding what to improve

Once you create goals for your team with this method, the expectations will be clear, and you did the groundwork to talk about performance later on.

Especially if a whole team is not performing well, it is also important to understand who is responsible. In iGoMoon's case, Mattias would talk to the individual team leaders to seek answers there.

Clarifying the goals

In general, the first thing Mattias does, whenever a goal won't be reached, is to check if it is clear. If both Mattias and the responsible person agree that it is clear, he continues with his checklist. In this scenario, there are two possible explanations to why the goal was not reached even though it was clear:

1. BEHAVIOR
Here, it's essential to discuss what kind of behavior needs to be created to reach the goal. In a sales role, that could e.g. mean to revise the necessary footwork of the sales process.

2. ATTITUDES
Identify good and bad attitudes.

Of course, Mattias does not only have these conversations once there is an issue. He actually has meetings with his team leaders once per week in which they are looking at the goals, attitudes, and behavior together. Over the years he also learned how important it is to write these things down. Every person he's coaching has a dedicated document with clear descriptions of their goals etc.

In the end, it's not Mattias turning bad performance around. His role is to coach his team and enable them to solve the issue by themselves.

💡 EPISODE TAKE AWAY
Make sure to always implement SMART goals.