21 iun. 2014

Easy to measure is easy to focus upon



We all know the meaning of SMART for setting goals. It is a very useful tool to have a quick assesment of the work and its results. Even if only one feature has the name 'measurable', yet each of them needs to be measured throughout the processes of solving the tasks to achieve the desired goal.

The speed of changing in external markets and the growing importance of human factor in internal markets, both impose a steady evaluation of the degree each item keeps being appropriate and significant for successfully accomplished work.Therefor, we need to measure all of them:
- is the previous 'specific' characteristic of the goal - the whats&hows - fitting the present set?
- is the settled 'way to measure' sufficient for all the items interfering with the processes?
- is this path 'attainable', is it well resource-tailored in the given situation?
- is the 'realistic' matching the daily-new reality?

It is obvious, all four are not so easy to relate to, but the last one is much more easy to keep on track. Consequently, there is a focus on it, and slightly, in a very 'perverse' and dangerous way, managing the work becomes managing the time - the real progress to the real goal is getting unclear under the layers of crystal-clear attained deadlines.How come? Because time is in itself a well defined and 'touchable' variable.
It is easy to focus on something easy to measure.

When it is about coaching it is about goals. It is about SMART goals. It is the coach's challenge to support her/his client to choose easy to measure variable, yet critical for the successfully achieving the desired outcome. 
 
Image source: www. dailyplanit. com