Beyond SMART Goals: The Trio That Drives Real Performance
- Brook Rolter
- Jun 6
- 9 min read
Updated: Jun 10
If you’re using SMART Goals for strategy, chances are you’re measuring effort— not results.
SMART Goals have become the go-to standard for writing goals because they're simple, practical, and straightforward. But here's the thing—when it comes to organizational strategy, today's SMART Goals just aren't enough.
When introducing the SMART Goal criteria in 1981 (Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic, and Time-Related), George Doran wanted to improve how goals were written and communicated -- making them more concrete, actionable, and easier to understand. Mission accomplished, right? Well, not quite.
The Problem with Today's SMART Goals
Today, most SMART goals are written to include all five criteria—including target performance levels and completion dates in the goal statement itself. Sure, it makes the goal statement specific. But it obscures the organizational result you're trying to achieve and turns what should be a strategic goal into another time-bound project.
Targets and timelines matter and should absolutely be set—just not embedded in the goal statement itself. Think about it -- what happens when you reach that target? Has the organizational result suddenly been accomplished? Does it lose its importance? Do you need a completely new goal?
This is the issue: when targets and timelines are embedded in the goal statement, the goal is written and interpreted as an activity rather than a result to achieve.
Two Questions Every Leader Needs to Answer
Are we performing the activities needed to accomplish our goals? (Are we on time, on budget, and meeting milestones?)
Are we delivering the organizational results our goals are meant to achieve? (Did our actions lead to the desired effects and improvements?)
When your goals are written as activities that obscure the intended results, measuring activities becomes easy—but measuring organizational results becomes impossible.
Organizational results are the ongoing, observable, and measurable effects produced inside and outside your organization as consequences of the organization’s actions. They're not one-time accomplishments or milestones like "increase revenue by 25%" or "increase customer satisfaction score to 95%" or "streamline business processes by automating repetitive tasks within 9 months."
Organizational results are ongoing states and levels of performance intended to be established, maintained, or improved over time. When clarifying the intended organizational results, you identify what is expected to change or improve because of your actions.
From Activities to Results: A Better Way to See Goals
Let's see what I mean with some real examples. Here are actual SMART Goals from organizations, each paired with their intended organizational results identified through structured discussions:
Activity-style goal: Conduct an employee engagement survey with all full-time employees by June 30, aiming for a minimum response rate of 85%, and identify strategies to improve our employees' sense of value and motivation.
Organizational result: Employees feel valued and motivated.
Milestone-style goal: By the end of Q3, implement a new customer service ticketing system, with all team members trained and the system live for handling all incoming service requests.
Organizational result: Customers experience faster resolution of their issues.
Intent-style goal: Improve the speed and efficiency of customer order processing by the end of Q4.
Organizational result: Customer orders are fulfilled quickly, without rework.
See the pattern? Activity and milestone goals tell you what you'll do or deliver, but not the difference your actions should make. Intent goals tell you what you want to improve, but not how you'll know if it actually improved.
This distinction between writing goals as activities versus results really matters. If you measure only activities and deliverables, you risk mistaking busyness and spending for actual progress and accomplishment.
Enter the SMART Trio
We need more than just SMART Goals to effectively manage strategy and improve organizational performance. We also need SMART Measures focused on evidence of results and SMART Charts to reveal true performance over time.
SMART Goals define the change and results you want to achieve
SMART Measures quantify evidence of those results
SMART Charts reveal true performance, transforming data into insight
Building on the SMART Goal concept, the following table shows the SMART acronym and criteria tailored to the unique purposes of goals, meaningful measures, and performance charts that reveal true performance.
***** The SMART Trio approach was developed after witnessing numerous organizations, public and private sector, run into the same recurring issues when implementing strategy—even when using SMART Goals. The SMART Trio extends the original SMART acronym and criteria beyond goals.
The criteria for SMART Measures and SMART Charts presented here are heavily influenced by, and draw extensively from Stacey Barr's PuMP® methodology, which is a structured approach to create meaningful performance measures that drive strategic improvement and evidence-based decision making. *****
For many organizations, developing meaningful measures for organizational goals remains a challenge. Why? Because developing meaningful measures for strategic goals demands a different thought process than developing measures for activities or processes—and that starts with being clear about the organizational results intended.
When your goals don't clarify the results, the measures you create inevitably fall short. They track activity rather than achievement, generate data instead of insight, and produce reports without meaning.
SMART Measures: Focusing on Results, Not Activities
SMART Measures are smart because they focus on results, not activities. If goals, even SMART Goals, fail to clarify results, applying SMART Measure criteria through a structured approach will translate them into clear statements of results.
SMART Measure criteria work together to ensure performance measures provide clear and relevant evidence:
Sensory-Evidence Based — The measure uses sensory evidence (what you can see, hear, touch, etc.) that is observable, objective, and quantitative.
Meaningful — The measure provides management insight about performance and progress to make informed decisions for achieving an organizational result.
Assigned — The measure has assigned owners responsible for maintaining its relevance, accessing data, monitoring performance, and initiating improvement actions.
Result-Focused — The measure reflects direct evidence of an organizational result -- not the activities, outputs, or milestones contributing to it, nor a downstream consequence.
Trackable — The measure uses data collected over time frequently enough to reveal patterns and detect real changes in performance.
SMART Measures aren't just another name for KPIs. They're the product of a structured approach to clarify results and identify evidence, ensuring they reflect results, not activities. SMART Measures are meaningful by design.
SMART Charts: Turning Data Into Insight
SMART Measures define and provide evidence. SMART Charts turn that evidence into insight—revealing what's changing, what isn't, and where to focus attention. That insight is exactly what's needed. Too many leaders are thirsting for insight but drowning in data.
Common chart types like bar charts, gauges, dials, and threshold-based line charts, actually mislead you when showing performance over time. They invite (and frequently require) subjective interpretation, leading to confusion and misinformed decisions—causing you to waste resources acting on noise (random variation in performance) or miss opportunities by failing to recognize real performance changes.
SMART Charts solve this problem by filtering out random variation—like removing static from a radio broadcast. SMART Charts use XmR charts (specifically the X chart tracking actual performance)—what Stacey Barr calls 'smart charts'—with statistical rules designed to display true performance over time and ensure consistent interpretation.
SMART Chart criteria ensure each chart illustrates performance within historical context, reveals statistically valid evidence of change, and enable easy interpretation for anyone:
Signal-Based — The chart reveals statistically valid signals of change, so you can act on genuine performance changes rather than reacting to random variation.
Minimalist — The chart is clean and uncluttered, displays only one measure per chart, and contains just the essential elements needed for easy and accurate interpretation.
Actionable — The chart displays performance in historical context and enables informed decisions by answering: What is current performance? Has it changed, and by how much? Is action needed?
Reliable — The chart displays actual data and applies sound statistical rules to ensure interpretation is consistent and evidence-based, not opinion-driven.
Time-Series — The chart displays performance over time, with targets reflecting desired performance levels and timing of improvement initiatives.
SMART Charts unlock the true value of your data, help you focus attention where it matters most, and support effective execution.
The SMART Trio in Action: An Example
Here's an example of how SMART Goals, SMART Measures, and SMART Charts helped a management team know if their efforts were effective and accomplishing what they wanted.
After a company introduced new products the previous year, they were bombarded with customer complaints about long and late deliveries. In response, management set a SMART Goal to “Improve the speed and efficiency of customer order processing by the end of Q4” and defined improvement initiatives with two measures to track progress
Order processing time
Cost per order processed
But after months of work and significant cost, they struggled to know if their efforts were making a real difference. Customer complaints decreased slightly, but overtime increased.
So, they decided to take a SMARTer approach.
Step 1: Clarify What They Really Want to Achieve
First, management clarified what "Improve the speed and efficiency of customer order processing" meant. The results they really wanted were:
Customer orders are fulfilled quickly
Customer orders are fulfilled without rework
Step 2: Design Measures That Actually Show Evidence of Results
With intended results clarified, they designed measures that would provide evidence of the results. But they didn't use the first measures that came to mind. They looked for measures that provided the best evidence of the results intended.
For "Customer orders are fulfilled quickly" they identified two potential measures:
The number of calendar days from when a customer provides a purchase order until the complete order is shipped, per month
The number of calendar days from when a customer order was approved by the Finance Department until the order is shipped, per month
Since customer responsiveness was a strategic priority for the company, they selected the first measure because it would provide the strongest evidence of fulfilling orders quickly from their customers' viewpoint:
Order Fulfillment Time - The number of calendar days from when a customer provides a purchase order until the complete order is shipped, per month
For "Customer orders are fulfilled without rework" they identified several potential measures:
The total hours spent reworking customer orders, per month
% of total hours spent fulfilling customer orders that are rework, per month
Total number of orders requiring rework, per month
% of customer orders requiring rework, per month
Although each would be valuable, two measures provided the strongest evidence of orders being fulfilled without rework:
% Orders Needing Rework - % of customer orders requiring rework, per month
Order Rework Hours - The total hours spent reworking customer orders, per month
Why these two? The percentage orders needing rework shows the scope of the rework problem, while rework hours show the actual impact on resources. Together with existing quality measures, they provide the best evidence and a more complete management picture.
The Results Were Clear
With measures designed specifically to focus on results and charts designed to reveal actual changes, management finally had evidence of results. The SMART Charts showed exactly when order fulfillment improved and by how much — no more guessing whether their teams were making a difference.
The evidence was clear: Order fulfillment time improved significantly, driven by reductions in both order rework hours and orders needing rework. Although rework hours remained higher than desired, they made significant progress on order fulfillment and could focus on improving rework hours even more.
Goal: Improve the speed and efficiency of customer order processing by the end of Q4 2024
Organizational Result: Customer orders are fulfilled quickly
Organizational Result: Customer orders are fulfilled without rework
This example illustrates the kind of insight possible when SMART Goals, SMART Measures, and SMART Charts are used together.
The SMART Solution
Without clarifying the results to be achieved, goals become tasks, and task lists get mistaken for strategy. Without performance charts revealing clear, valid signals of change, decision-making relies on opinion and hierarchy rather than evidence.
The trio of SMART Goals, SMART Measures, and SMART Charts gives you a practical way to shift from activity tracking to achieving results and demonstrating value.
Are you achieving the results you want?
How do you know?
If you can't confidently answer those two questions, you’re not managing performance — you’re managing motion.
These ideas are part of a practical, evidence-based approach to organizational performance management and strategy execution—grounded in the PuMP® framework and adapted for real-world results. The SMART Trio builds on PuMP’s principles to help leaders clarify results, design meaningful measures, and interpret performance with confidence.
Brook Rolter helps clients integrate strategy, organizational performance, and execution to improve mission results and build lasting capabilities. He has consulted internationally in both public and private sectors and is Stacey Barr's licensed US Partner for PuMP.
The post Beyond SMART Goals: The Trio That Drives Real Performance first appeared on RolterAssociates.com
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Reference information:
Stacey Barr PuMP Academy
George Doran There's a S.M.A.R.T. Way to Write Management's Goals and Objectives (1981)
Video Interview with George Doran conducted by Kevin Gazzara
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