Clear Goals are an alternative to the traditional SMART goals that we’re all familiar with and hear so much about in business and elsewhere. So, what is a CLEAR goal? It’s a goal setting method that stands out among all the others, because it’s specific, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (or not). A CLEAR goal can be used as the basis of building a business vision or mission statement, as well as short-term and long-term action plans to achieve it.
When it comes to achieving your goals, setting clear and compelling statements that you can build out, embrace, and act upon can make all the difference in the world. In the business world, these statements take the form of vision and mission.
Clear Goals provides an alternative to the SMART model of goal setting and help you create goals that are specific, meaningful, and well-defined. With CLEAR Goals, you’re able to clearly define what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and how you plan to do it. This allows your team to focus on exactly what they need to do in order to achieve your vision and mission. And by focusing on CLEAR Goals, your business will be more innovative, efficient, successful, and better positioned for future growth.
What is CLEAR goals?
CLEAR is a powerful tool for setting goals. It stands for: C – Concise, L – Measurable, E – Elaborate, A – Attainable, R – Relevant. When used correctly these five words can clarify any goal statement to bring out its most compelling strengths. Here’s how to make sure you’re incorporating them into your next goal setting process. With each goal you set, always ask yourself: Is it concise?
Who created CLEAR Goals?
CLEAR is an alternative goal setting method to SMART goals. It was developed by Adam Kreek an Olympic Gold Medal rower who knows a lot about setting goals.
What does CLEAR Stand for?
CLEAR is an acronym that stands for:
- Collaborative – Encourage teams to work together collaboratively
- Limited – Limit the duration of time
- Emotional – Emotional connection inspires energy and passion
- Appreciable – Brake down into smaller goals so quicker and easier to accomplish
- Refinable – Set a clear objective, but be flexible if the situation or new information changes the goal. Embrace, refine and modify the goals
What makes a good CLEAR Goal?
What makes a good CLEAR goal?: Does your goal take up only one line or one whole page? Can someone complete their task without having to refer back to something else? Is it absolutely clear what they are doing or how they are going about doing it? Are there any missing steps that need clarification before someone can begin working on their project? Does your goal contain more than three phrases or sentences when written out?
If so, it may be wordy. Cleaning up wordiness is a quick way to make sure you’re creating an actionable, concise goal. A good rule of thumb: if you have to check another document or have more information needed from others in order for them to execute their part of the process, then your goals may be too vague for effective execution.
For example, increasing website traffic by 75% by December 31st is clear because it directly tells team members exactly what to do (the numbers themselves give a sense of urgency) but also allows for some creative thinking and flexibility through its approach. On the other hand, I want more website traffic doesn’t give your team members much direction since every person has different ideas on how to achieve such a broad statement.
When you set a goal, whether business or personal, focus on it being clear, expandable, easily embraced by everyone.
Why not put CLEAR Goals on your to-do list.