Understanding different terms

1
Understanding different terms

• Aim (eg to be a safe and prosperous community)
• Goal (eg to reduce crime and increase wealth)
• Objective (eg to halve the crime rate and
  increase average income by 10)
• Target (eg to have the burglary rate in the
  neighbourhood reduced to 2 a week and incomes
  averaging 29,000 by March 2008)
• Standard (eg having a crime rate of X per
  thousand per week)

2
What are Targets for?

• Targets exist to
• provide direction / let people know what is
  expected of them in contributing to the
  organisations goals
• provide a formal structure for giving and
  receiving feedback on performance
• help assess and improve an organisation, team or
  individuals performance
• help identify learning and development needs
• provide a challenge
• increase motivation and satisfaction
• deliver priorities

3
S.M.A.R.T.E.R. Targets

• Specific (positively stated)
• Measurable (quality, quantity, time, cost)
• Agreed (understood and owned)
• Realistic (meaningful and achievable)
• Timebound (therefore trackable)
• Exciting (stretching and motivational)
• Rewarding (recognised)

4
Setting S.M.A.R.T. Targets

• Focus on outcomes - what will be achieved, to
  what standard, in what quantity, with what
  resources, by whom, by when
• Use precise and active verbs e.g. to identify,
  measure, produce, write, reduce, meet etc.
• Be precise, do not use vague or woolly language
• Use plain English and avoid jargon
• Regularly monitor progress against the target and
  revise it if necessary

5
Specificexamples of active verbs

• To increase
• To write
• To produce
• To deliver
• To complete
• To co-ordinate
• To have organised
• To select
• To create

• To manage
• To measure
• To identify
• To reduce
• To develop
• To respond
• To provide
• To facilitate
• To contribute
• To carry out

6
Measurable

• Quality
• Quantity
• Time
• Cost
• Resources

7
Agreed

• You can get commitment and ownership from
  agreeing rather than imposing targets
• Ensure proper consultation with the community and
  find the best ways for their views to be heard
• The needs and interests of the organisation, team
  and individual all need to be considered

8
Realistic

• Targets should neither be too easy nor
  impossible.
• They should stretch the organisation, team or
  individual to achieve the best results possible

9
Timebound

• Targets should have an end date so that you can
  monitor, review and evaluate them.
• For a one year project, monitoring would normally
  be at least quarterly and review 6-monthly.
• All involved should know what the timeframe is
  for the project and their individual targets at
  those dates.