Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Coaching
FORTUNE, 2/21/00
Are empathic
“..it
always bleeds into the interpersonal….My
responsibility is to help them look inside
themselves as much as outside.” Coach
Ciampa
Is it realistic?
Is it measurable?
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Trackable
S-Specific: You should state exactly what you are
responsible for. Research has shown that a person
who says he wants to do one thing or another -
giving himself an alternative - seldom gets beyond
the “or.” He does neither. This does not imply
inflexibility. Flexibility in action implies an ability to
be able to make a judgment that some action you
are involved in is either inappropriate, unnecessary
or the result of a bad decision. Even though you
may set out for one goal, you can stop at any time
and drop it for a new one. But when you change,
you again state your goal without an alternative.
M-Measurable: Your goal must be stated so that it
is measurable in time and quantity. For example,
suppose your goal was to finish a proposal this
week. You would specify your goal by saying, “I am
going to complete the end of the year report, with
final revisions by Friday, June 30th.” That way, the
goal can be measured; when Friday comes, you
know whether or not you have achieved it. Ideally,
you also want to be able to measure such variables
as cost and quality. From the manager’s viewpoint,
this is important because when you observe
someone’s behavior, you want to be able to
determine whether it is contributing toward the
accomplishment of the goal or taking away from
goal achievement.
A-Achievable: The goals you sent must be
accomplishable or reasonable with your given
strengths and abilities. Too many companies set
impossible goals that are simply not realistic. While
you want to stretch yourself, you do not want to set
goals that are so difficult that they’re unattainable,
thus, serving to be demotivating. For example, if you
were a rather obese 45 year-old, it would be foolish
to set a goal running the four minute mile in the next
six months-that simply would not be achievable.
R-Relevant: About 80% or the performances you
want from people comes from 20% of their activities.
Therefore, a goal is relevant if it addresses an
activity that makes a positive difference in overall
performance. (Clearly, your goal should never be
destructive to yourself or to others. Destructive
goals should not be supported. If someone is
seeking potentially destructive goals, an effort to
encourage him/her to consider different goals
should be made.)
T-Trackable: Ideally, you want to be able to
monitor progress. In order to do that you’ve
got to be able to measure or count
performance frequently, which means you
need to put a record-keeping system in place
to tract performance. Monthly reports or time
sheets are examples of systems that allow
you to easily track performance.