Which text would include steps to help readers achieve a goal

6 Steps to Helping Students Set Strong Reading Goals

Establishing reading goals can set the tone for the kind of reading work you expect from your students—and what they expect from themselves. 

As you go through the school year, discover 100 books your students will love or the books in these Super Saver collections and try the below six smart steps for planning to set reading goals with your class. 

1. Discover Their Reading Identity

How do you get your students to really understand what they need to work on and set appropriate goals? Start with a question! In order for students to know where they’re going, it’s helpful to ask them, “Who are you as a reader now?” These conversations can be facilitated through surveys, reflections, or in one-on-one or small group discussions. 

This is a powerful sneak peek for you to learn how your students view themselves as readers and what barriers they might face. 

2. Discuss Goal Setting Together 

It can be valuable to begin the conversation about goal setting with a read-aloud. For grades K-2, try using a picture book like Leo the Late Bloomer. This is a great book to start conversations as kids identify with Leo’s struggle to learn to read, write, draw, and speak.  

For older students, try initiating the conversation with Thank You, Mr. Falker. It can be helpful to discuss what readers, including your students, struggle with. (Keep tissues close at hand!) 

3. Partner to Personalize Their Goals 

Reading goals are personal and, depending on what students have uncovered about their current identity as readers, many might have unique goals. If a student does not know how to choose a book they’ll like or does not read outside of class, this knowledge can factor into their goals and determining what will challenge them to grow as readers.

Example goals might be to determine what books they do like to read, to discover more books to add to their reading list, or to build up reading stamina in reading longer books. 

4. Complete a Goal Form 

A goal sheet helps students to record their personal reading goals. For younger students, this can include a space for students to draw how they visualize themselves as successful and happy readers. This example also includes sections to record each student’s unique goal and their plans to reach it. 

5. Create Space for Daily Reminders

This process creates a wonderful opportunity to display student goals as a daily reminder in your classroom. Designate a bulletin board or central wall space to feature these goal forms or to track progress towards key milestones. 

For classroom materials to prepare your bulletin boards, start here.

6. Plan to Support Your Students 

Now that your students’ goals are established and proudly displayed in your classroom, there are so many ways to support them throughout the year. Taking stock of the goals of the class will help you to create the right plans to help them achieve (and exceed!) their reading ambitions. This might include:

• Partner work 
• Literary circles based on similar goals
• Guided Reading work
• Opportunities for group discussions
• Classroom booktalks  

As students achieve their goals, don’t forget the final, and most important step—celebrating! We love the idea of a book review party when students can mark significant progress and share their favorite books with the class. 

Shop books to support your students' reading goals below! You can find all books and activities at The Teacher Store.

Want more great content? Click here to subscribe to our Teacher Newsletter and get teaching ideas delivered right to your inbox. 

Strategies for Reading Comprehension :: Read Naturally, Inc.

Comprehension: The Goal of Reading

Comprehension, or extracting meaning from what you read, is the ultimate goal of reading. Experienced readers take this for granted and may not appreciate the reading comprehension skills required. The process of comprehension is both interactive and strategic. Rather than passively reading text, readers must analyze it, internalize it and make it their own.

In order to read with comprehension, developing readers must be able to read with some proficiency and then receive explicit instruction in reading comprehension strategies (Tierney, 1982).

​ Strategies for reading comprehension in Read Naturally programs

​General Strategies for Reading Comprehension

The process of comprehending text begins before children can read, when someone reads a picture book to them. They listen to the words, see the pictures in the book, and may start to associate the words on the page with the words they are hearing and the ideas they represent.

In order to learn comprehension strategies, students need modeling, practice, and feedback. The key comprehension strategies are described below.

Using Prior Knowledge/Previewing

When students preview text, they tap into what they already know that will help them to understand the text they are about to read. This provides a framework for any new information they read.

Predicting

When students make predictions about the text they are about to read, it sets up expectations based on their prior knowledge about similar topics. As they read, they may mentally revise their prediction as they gain more information.

Identifying the Main Idea and Summarization

Identifying the main idea and summarizing requires that students determine what is important and then put it in their own words. Implicit in this process is trying to understand the author’s purpose in writing the text.

Questioning

Asking and answering questions about text is another strategy that helps students focus on the meaning of text. Teachers can help by modeling both the process of asking good questions and strategies for finding the answers in the text.

Making Inferences

In order to make inferences about something that is not explicitly stated in the text, students must learn to draw on prior knowledge and recognize clues in the text itself.

Visualizing

Studies have shown that students who visualize while reading have better recall than those who do not (Pressley, 1977). Readers can take advantage of illustrations that are embedded in the text or create their own mental images or drawings when reading text without illustrations.

Strategies for Reading Comprehension: Narrative Text

Narrative text tells a story, either a true story or a fictional story. There are a number of strategies that will help students understand narrative text.

Story Maps

Teachers can have students diagram the story grammar of the text to raise their awareness of the elements the author uses to construct the story. Story grammar includes:

• Setting: When and where the story takes place (which can change over the course of the story).
• Characters: The people or animals in the story, including the protagonist (main character), whose motivations and actions drive the story.
• Plot: The story line, which typically includes one or more problems or conflicts that the protagonist must address and ultimately resolve.
• Theme: The overriding lesson or main idea that the author wants readers to glean from the story. It could be explicitly stated as in Aesop’s Fables or inferred by the reader (more common).

​ Printable story map (blank)

Retelling

Asking students to retell a story in their own words forces them to analyze the content to determine what is important. Teachers can encourage students to go beyond literally recounting the story to drawing their own conclusions about it.

Prediction

Teachers can ask readers to make a prediction about a story based on the title and any other clues that are available, such as illustrations. Teachers can later ask students to find text that supports or contradicts their predictions.

Answering Comprehension Questions

Asking students different types of questions requires that they find the answers in different ways, for example, by finding literal answers in the text itself or by drawing on prior knowledge and then inferring answers based on clues in the text.

Strategies for Reading Comprehension: Expository Text

Expository text explains facts and concepts in order to inform, persuade, or explain.

The Structure of Expository Text

Expository text is typically structured with visual cues such as headings and subheadings that provide clear cues as to the structure of the information. The first sentence in a paragraph is also typically a topic sentence that clearly states what the paragraph is about.

Expository text also often uses one of five common text structures as an organizing principle:

• Cause and effect
• Problem and solution
• Compare and contrast
• Description
• Time order (sequence of events, actions, or steps)

Teaching these structures can help students recognize relationships between ideas and the overall intent of the text.

Main Idea/Summarization

A summary briefly captures the main idea of the text and the key details that support the main idea. Students must understand the text in order to write a good summary that is more than a repetition of the text itself.

​K-W-L

There are three steps in the K-W-L process (Ogle, 1986):

1. What I Know: Before students read the text, ask them as a group to identify what they already know about the topic. Students write this list in the “K” column of their K-W-L forms.
2. What I Want to Know: Ask students to write questions about what they want to learn from reading the text in the “W” column of their K-W-L forms. For example, students may wonder if some of the “facts” offered in the “K” column are true.
3. What I Learned: As they read the text, students should look for answers to the questions listed in the “W” column and write their answers in the “L” column along with anything else they learn.

After all of the students have read the text, the teacher leads a discussion of the questions and answers.

 Printable K-W-L chart (blank)

Graphic Organizers

Graphic organizers provide visual representations of the concepts in expository text. Representing ideas and relationships graphically can help students understand and remember them. Examples of graphic organizers are:

Tree diagrams that represent categories and hierarchies

Tables that compare and contrast data

Time-driven diagrams that represent the order of events

Flowcharts that represent the steps of a process​

​

Teaching students how to develop and construct graphic organizers will require some modeling, guidance, and feedback. Teachers should demonstrate the process with examples first before students practice doing it on their own with teacher guidance and eventually work independently.

Strategies for Reading Comprehension in Read Naturally Programs

Several Read Naturally programs include strategies that support comprehension:

Bibliography

Honig, B., L. Diamond, and L. Gutlohn. (2013). Teaching reading sourcebook, 2nd ed. Novato, CA: Arena Press.

Ogle, D. M. (1986). K-W-L: A teaching model that develops active reading of expository text. The Reading Teacher 38(6), pp. 564–570.

Pressley, M. (1977). Imagery and children’s learning: Putting the picture in developmental perspective. Review of Educational Research 47, pp. 586–622.

Tierney, R. J. (1982). Essential considerations for developing basic reading comprehension skills.  School Psychology Review 11(3), pp. 299–305.

Basic steps to achieve any goal, how to formulate it correctly

Everyone dreams of being successful - having a high salary, a prestigious job, a loving family. But often dreams turn into "ghosts of the past" due to incorrectly set goals or insufficient work on them. How to achieve the goal? There is a simple but working algorithm for this.

How can you achieve your goal?

The question of how to quickly achieve a goal is of particular interest to modern man. We all realize that the path to success and self-realization consists of achieving goals, albeit not always large, but significant for each person personally. We often see headlines: "How to achieve high goals", "How to achieve goals the right way", "How to achieve your desired goal." But, as a rule, we are talking about motivational texts without any practical benefit. Before deciding how to achieve your goal in life, you need to answer simple questions for yourself:

1. Is this really your wish? It happens that desires and all sorts of “I want”, which a person positions as a goal, are imposed on him from the outside. Therefore, before determining the trajectory of movement, listen to yourself.
2. Is the goal or the process of achieving it important to you? Setting a goal for ourselves, each of us imagines how he will go towards it, what he will do for this. Answer honestly to yourself the question, are you really interested in the end result or do you need emotions from the process itself?

How to achieve any goal in life?

There is no universal way to achieve any goal - each one is different and depends, among other things, on the circumstances and methods chosen. The main goal of a student can be a session passed with excellent marks, and the goal of a private entrepreneur is to increase sales by 30%. Each of them will choose the tools to achieve the result that are right for him, and it is pointless to look for a single instruction on how people achieve their goals.

How to set a goal and achieve it?

The main question that is asked by everyone who needs results is “how to set a goal and achieve it?”. At this stage, we recommend that you follow the following:

1. Be clear about your goal. Often it is precisely the lack of assembly of the definition, the ephemeral nature of the desired concepts that become a stumbling block.
2. Specify the dates. So that the path to the goal does not stretch for many months, or even years, indicate the deadlines. Perhaps it is the deadline that will help you get together and act without delay.
3. Work out the plan. This is a very important element that will help you understand the mechanism of your actions and the sequence of steps. If there is no plan, the goal with a high degree of probability can already be considered unachieved already at the initial stages.

Another question that often arises among those who are at the beginning of goal setting is “how to start achieving goals.” However, the answer lies right here - you need to start. No plans will get you closer to achieving what you want without putting them into practice. Realize the intention.

How to get things done: 10 effective steps

1. Learn from the mistakes of others
2. Accept criticism if it is justified (statements like "I think so" are not credible)
3. Enjoy the process of achieving the goal (otherwise, what's the point?)
4. Learn by doing, not by dry theory
5. Don't expect quick results
6. Don't accept failure as defeat
7. Make decisions by carefully weighing the pros and cons
8. Take a daily step towards the goal (these can be simple actions, but regular)
9. Make an action plan
10. Don't get hung up on one process When considering from a psychological point of view the question of how to achieve your goals, remember: do not put this goal "at the forefront." Striving for a ghostly future, you can lose the real present.

SMART Goals: Criteria and Examples

SMART is a technique for setting effective goals in management. The name contains an abbreviation for the names of the criteria that a correctly set goal has: specific (specific), measurable (measurable), attainable (achievable), relevant (actual) and time-bound (limited in time).

From the transcript it is clear what needs to be taken into account in the wording. Such a structure provides a better vision and understanding of the result, which means that it is easier to manage the implementation process and achieve the goal with it.

The first mention of the technique is associated with the name of Paul J. Meyer in 1965, and it became widespread in business in the late 80s of the last century. Today, the approach is actively used in business planning, project management, marketing, Internet marketing and other areas, including personal time management.

In this article, we will look at what SMART goals are, their mandatory characteristics, the setting algorithm, as well as the advantages and disadvantages - we will back everything up with examples and expert experience.

What are SMART goals

These are the goals by which you describe the desired result for the company, its individual division or employee as accurately and in detail as possible.

It is important that the language be understood by everyone involved in the implementation. Only in this case, the goals really work and simplify the life of the organization and its employees, and do not complicate management and routine.

Thus, a goal is clear and effective if it has the following characteristics:

• Specific;
• Measurable;
• Attainable;
• Current;
• Limited in time.

And immediately a spoiler: SMART is not a magic pill for business. This approach does not guarantee that any desired result is easy to obtain, you just need to paint everything according to all the required criteria. It ensures that you have a clear vision of what needs to be achieved, as well as when and how to do it.

Let's get back to the characteristics. Each of the characteristics is a criterion for the effectiveness of the goal. Next, let's take a closer look at what they mean and how to match them.

Criteria for SMART goals

S (specific) – specific and transparent

You need to know exactly what result is expected of you and strive for it.

To formulate a specific goal, answer the following questions:

• What do you expect to receive?
• Who is involved in the implementation?

A specific goal is specific to the product to which it relates and indicates the action required to achieve the result. For example, increase the conversion of the site, increase sales, increase the number of contracts with new customers.

To make the goal even more transparent and ready for implementation, specify a method. For example, increase website conversion by increasing usability, increase sales with the help of a loyalty program, increase the number of transactions by increasing the competencies of the sales department.

How this is implemented in practice, tells the CEO of the Interium digital agency:

We break everything down into simple elements, ask questions if necessary and formulate answers to them - and from this grows a step-by-step strategy. This is how we determine what needs to be done: increase brand awareness or improve reputation, adjust positioning among target audiences, figure out who the recipient of this information is, what we want to tell the audience, will it be the launch of a new product or improvement of existing services, etc.

Valery Sidorenko

M (measurable)

The second smart criterion is the ability to measure it in absolute or percentage terms. It is worth measuring both by the final product and the intermediate results of activities, since effective management is flexible management with control at all stages and levels.

To formulate a measurable goal, answer the following questions:

• By what indicator will you determine that you have achieved the goal?
• What value of this indicator will indicate that you have achieved the desired outcome?

If it is not possible to measure it, it will be difficult to work with such a goal, and even more so to analyze and monitor its implementation by employees. For example, it is impossible to accurately measure how happy a customer is, which means that making customers happier is not the goal, but rather not the most successful advertising slogan, etc.

If you want to increase loyalty to the company, then the SMART wording will look something like this: "Increase customer loyalty to the company by 20%." It includes several steps - to conduct a survey and calculate points before the events, to carry out some action that is aimed at increasing loyalty, to conduct a survey after the event, and only then measure whether the goal was achieved or not.

There are also simpler goals that are easier to measure. For example, increase website conversion by 2%, increase sales by 15%.

For example, in our vision, in order to increase awareness, it is necessary to increase the number of brand messages by 2 times or up to 500 messages for a certain period. Another example: we can achieve an improvement in reputation by strengthening the positive tone in the information field: for example, we implement the ratio of positive and neutral mentions to negative ones in the proportion of three to one, or we can launch positive or neutral “waves” for certain audiences. In fact, we turn even emotions into numbers - likes and dislikes. Reactions and other actions of the audience can be expressed in the level of engagement. Such a specific and measurable goal will be easier to achieve. In addition to measuring in numbers, we ourselves must understand why these 5,000 subscribers are needed, what it will give. By answering this question, we can do our job better.

Valery Sidorenko

A (attainable or achievable) – achievable, realistic

A goal is achievable if it can be realistically achieved, taking into account external and internal resources. At the organizational level, SWOT analysis is often used to determine achievability.

To assess the realism, answer the questions:

• What will help you achieve?
• What's in the way?
• Are there additional conditions on which achievement depends?

Reachability has no effect on the formulation. If the goal is unrealistic and inadequate for the organization in principle, then there is no point in setting it - employees will not be motivated to try to do what is initially impossible to do.

R (relevant)

Synonyms for this criterion - reasonable, useful. The goal will be such, provided that the desired result does not upset the balance with other areas and priorities of the business, does not contradict the mission and strategy of the company.

To assess the relevance of the goal, answer the question:

• Why achieve it?
• What benefits will it bring to the company?
• Does this goal align with the strategy and mission?
• Does it conflict with other objectives of the organization?
• Is it in line with market trends?

If, when reading the wording, the question “Why” arises, and you cannot answer it, the goal is not justified. For example, “Get competitive advantage in the market” is not a goal, but a way to achieve it. Why this competitive advantage is needed is the goal, and not just for the sake of it.

We need to align the SMART goal with the organization's current development goals. We determine what the project is for: to increase the loyalty of existing customers or to attract new ones? Are we trying to increase sales, or will a good reputation help a candidate in the election?
So the goal becomes as relevant as possible to the key priorities of the customer. Of course, this is an ideal picture, in practice there are cases when what the customer asks for may not fully correspond to the priorities of other departments, but the market is developing, and in the future this element will become as significant as the rest.

Valery Sidorenko

Compliance with the criterion "Relevance", just like "Achievability" suggests that it is necessary to conduct an analysis during development. Here, similarly, if the goal is not consistent with the general directions of the organization's development, it makes no sense.

T (time-bound), tracked

To make the goal not just beautiful words on paper, but a real guide to action and a motivation tool, determine and write down by what number it needs to be achieved.

This means that you need to create a schedule with a deadline, or write down how long the implementation of the SMART goal can take. Thanks to this, it is easier to control whether you meet the deadlines, whether you have enough time resources throughout the entire process, so as not to miss deadlines. When there are no deadlines, work turns into “work for the sake of work”.

To limit the goal - answer the question:

• How long can it really be achieved?
• How long does it take to reach it?

If we apply this criterion to the example with an increase in conversion, the wording will sound like this: “Increase website conversion by 2% in six months.”

Further in the article, we will analyze step by step how to formulate a SMART goal.

Algorithm for setting SMART goals

Step 1. Formulate a need

Assess what needs to be changed or improved in the company. Ideas can be gleaned, for example, from a SWOT analysis. See what weaknesses cause efficiency to “sag”, what can be improved to stand out from competitors or debug business processes.

SMART can be applied to any area of ​​an organization: finance, marketing, manufacturing, human resources, and so on—anything that can be predicted and managed.

Narrow as much as possible: take into account one area, one aspect, so that the rule “one result = one SMART goal” is observed.

At the end of this step, you will have a brief statement of what needs to be done for the organization. For example, you take the process of attracting customers and want to increase their number.

The general SMART wording, while without clarification on dynamics and timing, will sound like “Increase the number of new customers” - we will describe all further stages using this example.

Step 2. Check the goal for relevance

Determine if this goal does not contradict the company's priorities, and what, due to its implementation, will change for the better for the company.

It is obvious that any business strives for commercial success. Let's say you are mastering the market and heading for expansion - then attracting more customers will come in handy and will ultimately help you earn more revenue, and therefore profit.

The goal should be weighty and significant, and most importantly, answer the question “Why?”. For example, while working with the number of verified hits, we also track the conversion to a transaction in order to understand that our work will bring returns to the business.

Maria Eliseeva, Speaker of the AGM Group

The case when the goal may not be relevant: if you have such a large flow of customers that the sales department simply cannot cope with all incoming requests, or there is not enough production capacity to meet the demand from the target audience . In this case, expanding your customer base is a shot in the foot.

Step 3: Quantify

For example, revenue, audience reach, conversion rate (%), number of repeat customers, mentions, and other metrics that can be measured and compared on a “before and after” basis.

Metrics is an important step because it helps you track your SMART progress.

Consider two things. First, you first estimate what figure you would like to receive in order to achieve the desired revenue or profit. Secondly, this figure must be adequate, realistically achievable, otherwise there is no point in setting a goal.

For our example, the quantitative indicator is the number of new customers. How many customers do you need - you can answer this question using a forecast, for example, using the special service "Forecast in Yandex.Direct", if the goal is related to online advertising.

Let's say we want to increase the number of customers by 10%. This means that the SMART goal will sound like: "Increase the number of new customers by 10%." So, the wording has become more specific, it remains to clarify the deadline.

Step 4. Set a deadline

Set a schedule, assign responsibility for the implementation and set a deadline by which you need to achieve the goal. In the schedule, write down the planned completion dates for each stage, so that it is easier to control the process.

Here the requirements are the same: a realistic desired completion date. Set aside enough time to complete all the steps to achieve your goal.

How to do it? If you have statistics for previous periods, you can evaluate whether you managed to receive as many clients over the same period, in our case.

For example, let's take the period that we allocate to launch an advertising campaign to attract. Thus, we get: "Increase the number of new customers by 10% in 3 months."

Step 5. Check the achievability of the goal

Determine all resource constraints. These include:

• Temporary resources;
• Labor resources;
• Information resources;
• Cash resources;
• Competencies;

and so on.

If everything is enough, you can formulate a goal and start implementation; if not enough, decide where to get additional resources.

Goals are achievable, taking into account market value and cost-effectiveness for the client, so that his profit grows. If the client's expectations are unattainable and unlikely, we do not take such a goal into work and justify why we do so.

Maria Eliseeva

Step 6. Make the goal concrete

Formulate the goal as clearly as possible so that it is clear to everyone who works on it. To do this:

• Use action verbs to make the goal practical;
• Specify what indicators you want to achieve and in what quantitative terms;
• Indicate by what date or in what period the goal is to be achieved.

The principle can be visualized in the form of a table:

Action verb	noun (name of the indicator)	The target indicator	The period or period of execution	In order to ... (additional item)
				, increase	Number of customers, orders, contracts, traffic, profit, quality assessment	By 30%, 200 customers, 100 contracts, 2 times	For 3 months, by October 1, until 2022	Stand out from competitors, become a market leader, scale the company, automate part of the processes SMART goal setting: examples Recall that SMART can be used in almost any type of activity - from local services such as hairdressing, dry cleaning, to large industries like real estate and industrial construction, as well as for any line of business of the company. In confirmation - the following two examples. Example 1 - SMART for project activities: "Implement 12 construction projects per year." This goal is: Specific, because there is a certain action, which is the result; Measurable, as there is a quantitative indicator - the number of projects; Achievable, since the figures are not taken from the ceiling, but derived from the analysis of statistics for the past period - the number of implemented projects and the growth dynamics of this indicator; Up-to-date as the company is expanding and has all the necessary resources, staff and equipment. Everything is calculated in the business plan, and the costs are included in the budget; Limited in time, as there is a period for which the specified number of projects must be implemented, and monthly productivity was taken into account in it. Example 2 — SMART for SEO site optimization: “Increase site traffic from Yandex and Google search engines by 10% in 2 months using search engine optimization of existing content. ” This goal is: Specific, as the result, action and method is clear - increase traffic through SEO optimization; Measurable, as it indicates by what percentage the volume of traffic should increase; Achievable, since the indicator was set taking into account the productivity of specialists and past statistics; Relevant, since organic traffic is a working source of targeted requests for the company's website, that is, applications often come from search; Limited in time, as we have previously studied the statistics. Here is a clear example of a goal that meets all SMART criteria: Next, let's look at a real case, which makes it clear how the technique works. The case was shared by Ksenia Yuryeva, a practicing psychologist and Gestalt therapist at the online Smart Child and Family Psychology Institute. Input: A wholesale cosmetics company sets a goal for the sales department to increase the number of contracts concluded within six months. The first point is concreteness. In our case, this is a link in the company, for which a task is set and a clear understanding that it will be implemented by the sales department. At this point, everything is clear. The second point of analysis is measurability. There is an error in the wording of this paragraph. There is no specifics of the desired result, we propose to revise this parameter, let's say in percentage terms. We get: "Increase the number of concluded contracts by 20%." The third point is reachability. It is necessary to analyze due to which factor changes will occur. Achieving the goal is possible through the implementation of sales scripts and a developed plan for training employees. Next, we determine the importance. The goal is important, as it leads to an increase in the profit of the company. The last point is the term, it is announced. We get SMART technology for the sales department: in six months to increase the number of contracts concluded with new customers by 20% through the implementation of sales scripts. Let's also consider an example from a personal setting of a SMART goal from an entrepreneur Dmitry Zaborovsky: “One of the most striking results that I got with the help of SMART was writing a book. I set myself a specific, measurable, achievable and realistic goal - to write a book about mortgages, and most importantly - set a deadline for its completion - until September 30, 2020. If I had not set a deadline, the goal would have turned into just a dream. The process of writing a book is lengthy and laborious. The desire to drop everything halfway overcame me regularly. However, I pulled myself together and divided the goal into stages - I decided to write a small volume every day (at least 1 hour a day). I stayed in the office after a working day for almost a year and worked on the text of the book. As a result, I finished the book even a week earlier than planned. This is an example of how setting a goal with SMART helps in achieving it.” Next, we give examples of how not to formulate SMART goals and explain for each why this is wrong: ❌ Study competitors' advertising materials This is one of the stages of competitive analysis, not a SMART goal, as it already fails the first criterion - specificity, not to mention the others. The goal in this case will be to answer the question: why study promotional materials. ✅ Increase the number of requests from the site by 30% in 3 months Now "Study competitors' advertising materials" is one of the ways to achieve a SMART goal, which will help you save time and find interesting solutions for offers. Of course, we do not advise anyone to copy, but it will never be superfluous to peep, analyze and make your own. ❌ Increase employee satisfaction with working conditions There is no quantitative indicator and its target value. The question arises: how is employee satisfaction measured and how to evaluate it in general? In addition, the term is not specified, that is, the wording does not meet the criterion of limited time. ✅ Increase the staff satisfaction index by 50% in half a year This version of the wording has all the components: a quantitative indicator, the desired dynamics and the timeframe for achieving the SMART goal. ❌ Make the site more customer-oriented by 13% In this example, the main mistake is the lack of a clear vision of the desired result. A customer-centric website is a very general concept. What they want specifically: to increase the number of applications, usability, page views or something else - the topic is not disclosed. Accordingly, since there is no indicator, then the figure of 13% - an attempt to make the goal measurable - does not make sense. ✅ Improve website usability by 13% by September 1, 2021 Added an indicator and a deadline, and the goal became clearer and more specific. If all the criteria are not met, there is no correct distribution of energy and focus in the “goal space”. In this case, unnecessary tasks are formed through which energy leaks and the goal is not achieved in the desired quality or within the planned time frame, or both. Thanks to the SMART criteria system, each step that leads to the goal is defined as much as the desired outcome. Very often people make mistakes due to the fact that they do not take into account the detailed study of the intermediate stages. Ksenia Yuryeva, psychologist and Gestalt therapist from the online Smart Institute for Child and Family Psychology, Alternative SMART decoding options During the existence of the system, it has been refined: criteria for goals according to SMART have been added and existing ones have been deciphered in a new way. Here are examples of modified models: - SMARTER - additional criteria: evaluated (evaluated) and reviewed (reviewed). It was clarified here that a SMART goal is a goal that can be assessed for adequacy, achievability, etc. The criterion "Revised" means that as external and internal factors change, the goal can and should be reviewed and adjusted. For example, during the economic crisis, when changing contractors, suppliers, etc. - SMARTER - additional criteria: ecological (ecological) and recorded (recorder). A goal that is sustainable means that the changes that its implementation will entail will be safe for the company and employees. A recorded goal is a goal recorded on paper or electronic media. - SMARTTA - additional criteria: trackable (trackable) and consistent with other goals (agreed). There is nothing new here, they just emphasized that the achievement of the goal needs to be monitored, and that we set only goals that are consistent with other goals of the company. All known decoding options that take place in practice: S is not only specific, but also significant (significant), expandable (stretchable), simple (simple). M is not only measurable, but also motivating, meaningful, and manageable. A is not only attainable (achievable, attainable), but also agreed (agreed), acceptable (acceptable), appropriate (appropriate), applicable in practice (actionable), action-oriented (action-oriented), ambitious (ambitious) ) aligned with corporate goals. R is not only relevant, but also realistic, result oriented, resourced, reasonable. T is not only time-bound, but also timed, trackable, testable, timely. Benefits of SMART goals First, SMART goals can be used as a tool to motivate employees. They indicate in detail to each participant what is required from him, what will be his contribution to the common goal. Comment by Masha Eliseeva, AGM Group speaker, on measurable goals: “SMART goal setting seems to me to be rooted in the entire digital environment. In our agency, we set all goals in time, clear, achievable and, of course, measurable. All our goals are tied to monthly and yearly periods. For each period, we have a clear measurable performance indicator (KPI). Usually, the key measures are the number of targeted, that is, verified, hits and cost per lead. We also use the following metrics: coverage, traffic to a landing page or website, audience engagement level, number of subscribers. We indicate one or another promotion channel, their budget and KPI forecast. We have a detailed media plan for each project.” Secondly, according to the SMART goal, it is easier to draw up an algorithm of actions and immediately put it into practice, since the model emphasizes certainty, a clear structure and a clear vision. Thirdly, even at the stage of goal setting, the SMART goal allows you to assess whether there is enough time and other resources to achieve it. Fourth, the method is universal - suitable for both business and personal purposes. The system can be used both for short-term simple tasks - to hold two meetings with clients A and B before 12-00 Monday of such and such date - and for the implementation of important life goals, for example, to buy an apartment, write a book, take a course on English, etc. Dmitry Zaborovsky, entrepreneur In what cases is it best to use the model, entrepreneur Semyon Sivtsev says: “SMART is great for setting goals with a predictable outcome: When you need to delegate familiar business processes; When it is necessary to describe instructions, regulations, technical cards, etc. ; If you regularly formulate goals using this methodology, you can develop the habit of acting quickly and saving time by increasing the proportion of specificity that displaces water. First, it is not suitable for strategic purposes, only for short-term. SMART technology is a great approach when you need to set small goals that can be achieved in a short period of time. For example, when we work with content or fix errors. Provided that the goals are larger - say, the growth of site traffic - then SMART technology will not be useful without a broad vision. But in this case, SMART goals can serve as milestones on the path to success. Andrey Priobrazhensky, co-founder of the promkod.ru service Secondly, SMART is not always suitable for purposes for which it is difficult to predict the outcome. Examples: activities that require creativity. Third, SMART is only appropriate if you have enough time to plan. In particular, to agree with employees on whether they understand the goal to the same extent as you understand it, whether it is achievable for each of them. If something needs to be solved urgently, choose other methods. Fourth, it is important not to fall into such a trap here: the model was initially developed not as a way of setting goals, but as a way of formulating them. It is not enough for the goal to sound, it is important that it be adequate and relevant, so we recommend that you double-check it at the end according to the “Relevance” criterion. Grigory Sarychev, Executive Director of the Smart group of companies, tells how it works in the field of project management. “SMART goals are set for each division of the company, and often their achievement is possible only through the interaction of different divisions. For example, running an online marathon involves the departments of marketing, design and production, the methodological department, and the sales department. SMART goal for the entire process and decomposed into individual activities for each department and employee. Specificity: online family psychology marathon (topic, how many days, marathon artifacts for users, etc.) the percentage of those who left a request for a consultation, placed an order, made a purchase, etc. Reachability - selection of speakers, technical possibility of conducting and fixing metrics, processing of received leads by sales department employees. Importance - how much income this event will bring to the company, how it will affect the image and brand awareness, etc. Definiteness in terms - choosing a good date, determining deadlines for all preparatory work for a successful online marathon on a specific date. This focus helps everyone involved understand what we are doing, why we are doing it and how we will implement it. But setting a SMART goal alone is not enough. After all, as a rule, even one employee, not to mention a focus group or department, has not one goal, but several, and besides, they are intertwined with the tasks of other employees. Here the question of what to do first and what to do next, how to synchronize people working towards a common goal, sharply arises. We use a combination of SCRUM and Kanban for this. Each employee receives their stickers with tasks linked to a common goal card, and the project manager, together with the heads of departments, determines what exactly will be performed in a particular sprint (we have a week) and monitors progress at meetings every day. Thus, the use of SMART is, of course, a necessary but not sufficient condition for quality project management. The study and implementation of additional techniques is necessary in order to manage not only your own actions, but also the actions of the company as a whole. An important point, which, as a rule, is not taken into account in the model - pay attention that the goal is motivating and ambitious, leading to development. Entrepreneur Semyon Sivtsev shares his experience in using SMART and life hacks: “The main drawback is that there is nowhere to come from with new introductory SMART. The methodology in its purest form does not imply constant development by default, and gradually planning through SMART begins to strain due to the fact that people waste time describing the same tasks. It is therefore possible to add HADI cycles to SMART planning. I slightly modified the structure, and this is what happened: the goal is formulated - usually to fulfill the profit plan in such and such a period in such and such a volume in order to receive such and such a bonus to salary (this is an explicit goal) and moral satisfaction from the work performed (or other personal motives are not an explicit goal). How to fulfill this plan is described in the body of the plan: 1. SMART goals for the search for hypotheses (H - from HADI). Education and self-education, consultations and meetings, business trips and new experiences; 2. SMART formulated goals for testing actions from hypotheses (A from HADI). New business processes and their elements, sales markets and target audience, planning and reporting systems, tools, etc. In addition, the obligatory abandonment of old processes, markets, etc. Otherwise, the new goals will be impossible to fit. 3. SMART goals for planning and reporting (D for HADI). Drawing up an action plan and reporting on it, calculating indicators for wages (conversion percentage, average check, repeat sales, number of meetings, fulfillment of the plan for turnover and profit, etc.), reports on calculating the effectiveness of previously tested actions. 4. SMART goals for current activities. It is assumed that these are implemented, proven, new actions (I - from HADI). It is best if the result overlaps the planned goal by two or three times, because no plan is ever implemented by 100%, except for outright hack-work. For example, to fulfill plan X for profit, you need to hold 8 meetings - schedule 15-20 potential customers. Like any regular management tool, SMART has one main drawback - it must always be dealt with. It's not a magical tool, but it's the closest thing I know to magic. Like, probably, some kind of sports exercises - you can see the effect at a distance. And, rather, not a drawback, but a recommendation. The goal may change due to various factors, external and internal. Formulate the goal so that its criteria can be changed if necessary. In the digital industry, there are also situations where there is a process component or many unknowns: the actions of competitors and opponents, changes in site algorithms, changes in the rules of social networks, external news events indirect, etc. Time limits should be clear but adequate and flexible. It is important to constantly measure and adjust actions, and hence the strategy and timing. Valery Sidorenko In conclusion A SMART goal is a kind of instruction for an employee or department on how to achieve the desired result. It will work if the goal you formulate is: Specific; Measurable; Reachable; Current; Limited in time. For example, “Conclude 700 contracts with new customers by 01/01/2022 due to the increase in the competencies of the sales department” - SMART, as it meets all the criteria. “Study competitors’ promotional materials” is not SMART, as the goal does not reflect the end result. In itself, the study of competitors' advertising is not a goal, but one of the tasks that will help on the way to another goal. To develop effective goals, use the following algorithm: Formulate a need; Check target for relevance; Make the goal specific; Quantify; Set a deadline; Check the reachability of the target. And to help you, here is a list of questions to ask when setting SMART goals. You can save and print it or distribute it among employees so that they always have before their eyes questions that should be relied upon when posing: And finally, a bit of humor: implicit SMART from dramatic and not-so-dramatic literature. Learn more Reading comprehension help for 3rd graders Adjectives for important Max from wild things Most fun word to say What makes primary colors Preschool reading tips Spelling games fourth grade Reading strategies for 7th grade The sound of letters in alphabet Sight word activities for second graders Harold and the purple crown