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{{a|design|{{image|Knee-slide|jpg|Goal accomplished, yesterday.}}}}
{{a|hr|{{image|Knee-slide|jpg|Goal accomplished, yesterday.}}}}Why [[Performance conversation|performance goals]] — especially ones that are  
Why employee performance goals — especially ones that are  


''{{helvetica|'''S'''pecific}}'' <br>
{{helvetica|'''S'''pecific}} <br>
''{{helvetica|'''M'''easurable'}}''''<br>
{{helvetica|'''M'''easurable}} <br>
''{{helvetica|'''A'''ctionable}}''<br>
{{helvetica|'''A'''ctionable}} <br>
''{{helvetica|'''R'''ealistic}}'' and<br>
{{helvetica|'''R'''ealistic}} and<br>
''{{helvetica|'''T'''ime-bound}}''
{{helvetica|'''T'''ime-bound}}  


Aren’t such a good thing.
Aren’t so ''smart''..
===HR likes them===
===They are [[HR]]’s idea===
This ought to be enough of a reason: any piece of management orthodoxy that works for [[Human Resources]] — that make the lives of the high-modernists of [[Personnel]] easier — that makes you more measurable and boxable — is unlikely to work for you, your line manager, or the business you serve. The world is a far messier, less convenient place than is dreamt of in any HCM philosophy. SMART only works on one axis: whether you did it or not can be assessed at a later point in time. A box can be ticked.
This ought to be enough of a reason: any piece of management orthodoxy that makes it easier for the [[high-modernist]]s of [[personnel]] to ''measure'', ''read'' and ''box'' you — will be little use to you, your [[line manager]], or the business you serve.  
 
The world is a far messier, less convenient place than is dream’t of in any [[HCM]] philosophy. “SMART” only works on one axis: whether by some arbitrary point in time, you did an arbitrary thing or not.  
 
A box can be ticked. Personnel happy, but — really, is that all your contribution amounts to?


General rule: ''[[don’t tick boxes]]''.
General rule: ''[[don’t tick boxes]]''.
===They are a [[proxy]] for something else===
===They are a [[proxy]] for something else===
Goals tend to be a [[proxy]] or a [[second-order derivative]] of an idealised state: “getting down to 70kg” rather than “becoming healthy, funny and physically appealing” — which is most likely what you really want. And, as with all Greek tragedies one can attain the proxy without achieving the end state it is intended to achieve — you starve yourself, you may attain 70 kg but have bad breath, a waxen complexion and liver disease.  
Goals are inevitably a [[proxy]] or a [[second-order derivative]] of an idealised state: “getting down to 70kg” rather than “becoming healthy, funny and physically appealing” — which is most likely what you really want. And, as with all Greek tragedies one can attain the proxy without achieving the end state it is intended to achieve — you starve yourself, you may attain 70 kg but have bad breath, a waxen complexion and liver disease.  
::Working hypothesis: the ironies implicit in mythological fortune telling arise ''because'' the “fortunes” that flawed heroes seek are ''goals'' and not ''systems''. So, Macbeth indeed becomes King, but it isn’t the ''experience'' he had in mind. Might Macbeth have found self-fulfilment without actually being king? A happy grandfather, respected by the royal court?
 
Working hypothesis: the ironies implicit in mythological fortune telling arise ''because'' the “fortunes” that flawed heroes seek are ''goals'' and not ''systems''. So, Macbeth indeed becomes King — SMART goal achieved! — but it isn’t the ''experience'' he had in mind. Might Macbeth have found self-fulfilment ''without'' being king? A happy grandfather, respected by the royal court? ''Alive''?
===Goals are set in the past. Work lives in the future===
===Goals are set in the past. Work lives in the future===
Who hasn’t had a goal that has been overtaken by events? Has anyone had one that wasn’t?  
Who hasn’t had a goal that has been overtaken by events? Has anyone had one that wasn’t?  
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Why should goals be “[[SMART]]”? It is not for your benefit, but so that the [[All watched over by machines of loving grace|Machines of Loving Grace that watch over us]] can understand. Your contribution to the betterment of the organisation is ineffable, indescribable and unpredictable. Now, readers: usually, I say things like this with an air of irony: not here. It is true your contribution may not amount to anything much — many of us (probably most) are more trouble than we are worth — but the things that we do which ''do'' make a difference are, in the abstract, ''profoundly hard to judge'', especially from the perspective of [[human resources]].  
Why should goals be “[[SMART]]”? It is not for your benefit, but so that the [[All watched over by machines of loving grace|Machines of Loving Grace that watch over us]] can understand. Your contribution to the betterment of the organisation is ineffable, indescribable and unpredictable. Now, readers: usually, I say things like this with an air of irony: not here. It is true your contribution may not amount to anything much — many of us (probably most) are more trouble than we are worth — but the things that we do which ''do'' make a difference are, in the abstract, ''profoundly hard to judge'', especially from the perspective of [[human resources]].  


So [[SMART]] goals — especially the specific, measurable and actionable part — is not about making life easy for ''you'' but making evaluation easy for ''The Man''. Your performance must be, in {{author|James C. Scott}}’s clever phrase, “[[legible]]”. Literally, ''[[machine-readable]]''. What The Man cannot see yields you no credit: this is like a dark inversion of Terry’s maxim: [[what the eye don’t see the chef gets away with]].  All that ''ad hoc'' mentoring you did; that moment of insight, in the heat of the deal, that took ten percent out of the operating costs of the project; those times you patiently covered for an AWOL colleague to make sure the project happened; your immaculate drafting that rendered that complex issue plain for the business — none of that will bear on your appraisal, because ''no-one can see it''. But did you complete your opinion reviews on time and to budget? Why yes, counsellor, you ''did''! Why should your target be ''measurable'', other than because the institution bearing down on you needs some way of assessing it in a binary way?  But (again, following Scott’s reasoning) these SMART goals then create perverse incentives, for employees know they are measured and rated only what can be read, so deprioritise “illegible” good behaviour, in favour of measurable [[box-ticking]].
So [[SMART]] goals — especially the specific, measurable and actionable part — is not about making life easy for ''you'' but making evaluation easy for ''The Man''. Your performance must be, in {{author|James C. Scott}}’s clever phrase, “[[legible]]”. Literally, ''[[machine-readable]]''. What The Man cannot see yields you no credit: this is like a dark inversion of Terry’s maxim: [[what the eye don’t see the chef gets away with|what the eye don’t see, the chef gets away with]].


All that ''ad hoc'' mentoring you did; that moment of insight, in the heat of the deal, that took ten percent out of the operating costs of the project; those times you patiently covered for an AWOL colleague to make sure the project happened; your immaculate drafting that rendered that complex issue plain for the business — was any of ''that'' a SMART objective?  Will it bear on your appraisal? If rendered in terms of SMART goals, no, because ''no-one can anticipate it, and no-one can see it''.
But did you complete your [[netting opinion]] reviews on time and to budget? Why yes, counsellor, you ''did''!
Why should your target be ''measurable'', other than because the institution bearing down on you needs some way of assessing it in a binary way?  But (again, following James Scott’s reasoning) these SMART goals then create perverse incentives, for employees know they are measured and rated only what can be read, so deprioritise “illegible” good behaviour, in favour of measurable [[box-ticking]].
===The utopia of goals===
The JC has written a bit about the allure and basic incoherence of [[utopianism]]. Utopia makes a few basic but essentially delusional assumptions about the world, such as that not only can it be solved, but that our enlightened, scientific method, it ''is'' being, incrementally, solved. Seen this way, (well-directed) goals are a tool in the enlightenment kit for delivering that final {{strike|entropic|blissful}} state. This is, of course, a form of pound-shop utopianism, suffering from all the usual confirmation biases: (goals didn’t pan out? Can’t have been well enough directed. Can’t have been properly executed). No circumstances can falsify the working assumption that it is only human frailty which keeps us from our nirvana.
===Or systems?===
===Or systems?===
[[Scott Adams]] has written a bit on goals. Among his observations: on the day you set a goal, you are failing it. You continue to fail at it until the point you achieve it, at which point, it is finished: now what? It gives no guide to future action. It is better, thinks Adams, to create behavioural systems which are designed to yield positive effects: rather than a goal of "be selected for the national team," go for "spend an hour each day practicing a sport I enjoy". Here you can succeed from the get go, reap benefits that are tangential to that idealised state (fitness, experiences, meeting new people etc), and you can use what you learn to dynamically adjust your pattern of behaviour to meet changing circumstances. If it should turn out you don't like cricket that much, or grow more interested in pursuing sports psychology - you can adapt your system on the fly.  
[[Scott Adams]] has written a bit on goals. Among his observations: on the day you set a goal, you are failing it. You continue to fail at it until the point you achieve it, at which point, it is finished: now what? It gives no guide to future action. It is better, thinks Adams, to create behavioural systems which are designed to yield positive effects: rather than a goal of "be selected for the national team," go for "spend an hour each day practicing a sport I enjoy". Here you can succeed from the get go, reap benefits that are tangential to that idealised state (fitness, experiences, meeting new people etc), and you can use what you learn to dynamically adjust your pattern of behaviour to meet changing circumstances. If it should turn out you don't like cricket that much, or grow more interested in pursuing sports psychology - you can adapt your system on the fly.  
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But what would [[HR]] do?
But what would [[HR]] do?


 
General rule: ''Don’t do what HR would do.''
 
{{sa}}
{{sa}}
*[[Performance conversation]]
*[http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6114.html Goals Gone Wild: The Systematic Side Effects of Over-Prescribing Goals Setting] (Harvard Business School)
*[http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6114.html Goals Gone Wild: The Systematic Side Effects of Over-Prescribing Goals Setting] (Harvard Business School)
*{{br|How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big}} — Scott Adams
*{{br|How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big}} — Scott Adams
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