SMART goals
SMART goals include certain features that identify those as effective and achievable. In other words, it is necessary to learn to set a goal before starting to do something and take appropriate measures to achieve a goal.
I think that the next year I will be able to achieve my goals because I am going to apply the concept of a SMART goal to my personal goal related to my professional activity. So, I believe that I can be able to increase the sales level by 6 percent by the end of the next year (end means December of 2011). In this respect, my goal is specific and measurable because I plan to attain the level that will be higher than the current one by 6 percent.
Moreover, I will be able to measure this result with the help of simple calculations by comparing the results that I currently have to the ones that will be achieved the next year. In addition, I plan to reach a level higher than the current one because it seems to be difficult enough to achieve such a goal, thus making it more effective because I will outperform compared to the previous year.
Thus, let me conclude that my goal corresponds to all principles of a SMART goal; it is effective and can be successfully reached within a limited period of time. Thereby, my goal can be said time-bound (a definite time period is required to reach it), specific (specific results are expected to be achieved), realistic (it is not similar to ‘world peace’), aggressive (6 percent is not a small number for me), and measurable (I can check whether I attained it or not via simple calculations).
Strategy
The general strategy includes the application of acquired knowledge to practical activities. I plan to divide the expected increase in sales level into the number of months to reach this level, thus having an opportunity to practice various skills and tactics and analyze their effectiveness. This analysis will enable me to take appropriate measures if some tactics appear to be ineffective. Replacement of measures and certain changes will be introduced if more than one tactic appears to be ineffective.
In other words, I plan to achieve the increase by 0.5 percent by the end of January if starting with the beginning of the year because the period of holidays greatly affects the sales level, which can result in an incorrect assessment of the final achievements. In this respect, I am sure to reach the level increase by 1 percent by the end of February, and each month the level will increase by 0.5 percent.
One of the tactics that can be applied to my action plan is the task significance factor. If I complete tasks that are more significant than those approached before, I will manage to reach the expected level by the end of October, which is two months earlier than the planned period. Besides, I believe that the application of each of the strategies suggested during the study course can fasten the achievement of my goal as a highly effective motivating factor.
So, if I demonstrate the abilities that can be beneficial for the sales rate increase strengthened with the implementation of constructive feedback analysis (if I ask my supervisor to give me constructive feedback on my strategies and analyze it improving my leadership competencies and other helpful characteristics), I can reach the expected level three or even five month earlier.