How to set goals that actually drive results

We all have to deal with different projects in life or at work on a regular basis. Our decisions about where to focus our efforts and spend our time depend a lot on our goals — for a particular project, the business, or in our personal lives.

Having a clear goal is the first step to getting any project or initiative moving. But most teams skip this step — or rush through it — and pay for it later.

In my work with organizations ranging from corporations to startups, I’ve consistently seen the same pattern: teams begin discussing project activities before stating and clarifying the goal of the project itself. It is so easy to get carried away with creative ideas and actual implementation that we forget successful implementation is directly connected to a specific goal.

I watched this happen recently with a client’s team. They sat down to discuss the functionality of a new product. As the discussion progressed, new ideas flooded the table and the list of “must be implemented” items started to grow. About 30 minutes in, one of the team members paused and said: “Folks, let’s not forget the initial goal of this product — because right now it sounds like we want every possible feature implemented.”

He was right. His comment helped the team regain focus and cut ideas that weren’t contributing to the original goal. That one moment saved weeks of misdirected effort.

“What do we want to achieve, and why?”

This question should be the basis for every next step and every implementation plan — not the other way around. It also serves as the clearest benchmarking tool to evaluate whether achieved results are satisfactory.

When unclear goals are set — or not set at all — teams interpret expectations differently, effort gets distributed across too many directions, and leaders spend more time correcting course than moving forward.

Unclear goals and outcomes are a leadership problem, not a planning problem.

Do we need to set goals at all? Absolutely. Otherwise:

• how would you know where to go?
• how would you tell if your result is good or not without a specific and measurable target set beforehand?
• How would you give meaningful feedback to your team if expectations aren’t clear?

When asked about the necessity of goal-setting I always recall the exchange from Alice in Wonderland:

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where—” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

If you don’t know where you’re going, you will get somewhere. It just might not be where you needed to be.

Research confirms what most experienced leaders already sense: specific and ambitious goals lead to a higher level of performance than easy or general goals.

How goals affect outcomes — four mechanisms

In Historical Perspectives in Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Laura L. Koppes identifies four ways that goal-setting affects outcomes:

Choice — Goals help us choose where to focus our attention, directing our efforts toward goal-relevant activities, and away from undesirable and goal-irrelevant actions.

Effort — Goals increase the intensity of effort. If you normally produce four outputs per hour and set a goal of six, you work more intensely toward it.

Persistence — The tendency to work through challenges is greater when pursuing a specific goal.

Cognition — Goals lead individuals to develop and change their behavior — often in ways they wouldn’t have anticipated without the goal.

These aren’t motivational claims. They’re observable mechanisms. Which is why a goal that isn’t specific and measurable and written down isn’t a goal. It’s an idea, or a wish — and it won’t direct behavior.

How to set goals that work — the SMART framework

The SMART approach is the most practical framework for ensuring a goal is well-formed at the individual and team level. Easy to remember, and it contains the essence of what makes a goal actually useful.

Specific — A specific goal tells you exactly what is expected, why it matters, who is involved, where it will happen, and which attributes are important.

Measurable — If a goal isn’t measurable, you can’t know whether you’re making progress. A measurable goal answers: how much? how many? how will I know when it’s accomplished?

Attainable — Goals should be realistic but ambitious enough to stretch you. If a goal is ambitious but not achievable, it demotivates rather than drives. An attainable goal causes people to identify previously overlooked opportunities to move closer to it.

Relevant — A relevant goal supports and aligns with larger strategic goals. It answers yes to: does this seem worthwhile? is this the right time? does this match our other priorities?

Time-bound — A goal needs a specific deadline. A commitment to a date focuses effort on completion. A time-bound goal answers: when? what can we do in the next six months, six weeks, or today?

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Examples of measurable goals

GOAL 1

Not measurable: Increase awareness of Product A

Measurable: Increase awareness of Product A from 10% to 25% among 25-35 year old women by the end of this year

GOAL 2

Not measurable: Increase number of clients

Measurable: Increase number of clients in the youth segment (18-25 y.o.) from 10 000 to 35 000 by the end of this quarter

GOAL 3

Not measurable: Lose weight

Measurable: Lose weight, from 90 to 75 kg (from 198 to 165 lb) in the next 4 months

The difference between the two versions in each example isn’t just wording. It’s whether the goal can direct behavior — and whether you’ll know when you’ve achieved it.

Beyond SMART — how OKRs take this further

SMART criteria ensure a goal is well-formed at the individual level. But in a scaling organization, well-formed individual goals aren’t enough if they’re not connected to each other and to the company’s strategic direction.

That’s where OKRs — Objectives and Key Results — come in. Popularized by Intel and later adopted by Google and thousands of other organizations, OKRs operate at the team and organizational level. The Objective answers “where are we going?” and the Key Results answer “how will we know we got there?” — each Key Result being, in effect, a SMART goal.

In my work implementing OKRs with leadership teams across different industries, the most common failure isn’t the framework itself — it’s that teams set OKRs without first understanding how to write a well-formed, measurable goal. SMART is the foundation. OKRs are what you build on top of it.

Your turn

1. Make a list of three goals you have at work or in your personal life
2. Evaluate each one using the SMART criteria — and convert any general goals into specific, measurable ones

A goal that survives the SMART test looks and feels different from the one you started with. It directs your attention, focuses your effort, and makes the decision about how to spend your time significantly easier.

What’s one goal you’re currently working toward that, if you’re honest, isn’t specific or measurable enough yet?

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