Welcome to the fifteenth episode of Coaching Skills for Leaders. This week's topic: Get Specific With Goals This week I was listening to the HBR IdeaCast and a recent interview with Dr. Heidi Grant Halvorson about her book: 9 Things Successful People Do Differently I've also been reading Get Rid of the Performance Review! by Samuel Colbert To reach me with questions, comments, feedback: CoachingforLeaders.com/feedback Examples of actual ineffective goals: "Communicate more effectively" "Develop leadership skills" "Communication skills to be improved (writing) and get your point across more clearing and concisely" "Improve quality and completion of assigned duties" "Begin working outside of their comfort zone towards new opportunities and/or subject areas" SMART Framework S - Specific M - Measurable A - Attainable R - Relevent T - Time-phased Examples of more effective goals, utilizing the SMART framework: Establish procedures with vendors to reduce year-over-year error rates by 20% before June 30th Become a subject matter expert on departmental software use by achieving Microsoft Office Specialist Certification by the end of the year Develop skill in departmental training activities by facilitating one training class in Q1 of 2012 and receive participant satisfaction scores that are 80% or higher Stay connected with this show on iTunes or on Facebook I'd love your feedback on this show as well as any questions or topics you'd like me to address in future shows: Visit CoachingforLeaders.com/feedback to submit comments, questions, or feedback See you in a week for the next episode!