Are SMART Objectives still SMART now we are WFH?

SMART Objectives are goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound. Many companies have been using this approach as a tool to provide clarity and focus, and to motivate employees to achieve their goals and fundamentally get a good job done. Until recently, SMART Objectives have been discussed, tracked and adjusted mainly in a face-to-face, office environment. 

What happened when we all suddenly moved to Working From Home?

Online meetings to discuss goals now have to be planned in advance, set up in our calendars, potentially moved to a later date due to other higher priorities. The meetings may not even have video visual, but just a phone call. Dr Albert Mehrabian’s 7-38-55 rule of personal communication states that 7% of meaning is communicated through spoken words, 38% through tone of voice, and 55% through body language. It is undoubtedly harder, therefore, for a Manager to observe how an employee reacts to their input, when they are not in the same room together.

Mehrabian’s theory leaves some doubts in our minds as to whether we, as managers, have lost our “sensitivity touch” to how our people are feeling. To top it off, most managers were used to seeing their teams together with them in the office and no matter how well we know them, we are easily tempted to think they are working less, now they are sitting comfortably on their sofas. Since lock-down many of us seem to have lost our Manager Superpowers. 

Let’s kill a myth

“People who work from home work less”. Not entirely true. Actually most tend to work more, because they have cut out their daily travel and face-to-face socializing time with colleagues. In the office, many people have to stop what they are doing at a certain time to catch the bus, train etc. If they work from home, they don’t have that hard stop. The risk of working too much is therefore greater when working from home. And important to note: people work a lot, and effectively based on their level of motivation, which is unlikely to depend on where they are working, but rather what they are working on.

So what are your team members working on? And by when do they aim to complete it? If you do not have precise answers to these two questions, this may be the reason why you, as a Manager are feeling like you don’t have control in the remote-working context. Here’s where the need for SMART Objectives comes in, even more than before! 

SMART Objectives just got Smarter

The answer to the original question, “are SMART objectives still smart, now we are working from home?” is yes. Actually they just got smarter, because we need to be more surgical in our approach to setting them, working on them and tracking them, to ensure the desired outcome is delivered. And the need to have goals in place has become paramount to the success of businesses that have opted to keep their workforce working from home.

Give your team members clear, strategic, measurable goals to work on, in order to keep them engaged and highly motivated. Remember the last time you worked on a project that you enjoyed? Did you struggle to close your laptop? I certainly did. 

How can SMART Objectives play out well in a remote-working environment?

We need to put a good deal of focus and practice, to ensure we manage SMART Objectives correctly. We must also keep momentum high until the goals have been achieved (and even thereafter). Do not fall into the trap of setting your team’s SMART goals and then believing they are set up for success from there onward, especially when communication with your team is purely remote. 

Here is some advice on the “technical management” of SMART Objectives:

1. Identify goals that can be measured with data 
2. Break your goals down into smaller, sizeable milestones
3. Consider what great looks like
4. Schedule a realistic deadline for completion
5. Regularly review and adjust them accordingly
6. Tackle potential roadblocks together
7. Focus on the process needed to get there, not just on the results 

Furthermore, keeping a strong relationship based on transparency and trust is probably the most important aspect a Manager should aim to achieve with each of his/her team members during remote working scenarios:

MANAGER TRUST + SMART Objectives = HIGHLY MOTIVATED REMOTE WORKING INDIVIDUAL

The below advice on the “motivational” side of dealing with SMART Objectives is equally as important as the above technical points:

1. Set the scene by showing the Big Picture: What the Company goals are and where their efforts fit in
2. Align: Ask for input from your team member on their goals: how will you go about this goal?
3. Be a “Manager-on-a-tap”: Make yourself available 😉
4. Listen and be open to criticism
5. Debrief and expose, applaud and celebrate great results
6. Apply any lessons learned for the next time

SMART Objectives during remote working requires more check-in moments and potentially readjusting, so they work best when Managers are as agile and flexible as flexible-working is itself.