SMART Goal Setting Strategy - Case Study Example

Ambassador Assignment Lecturer: Introduction Social media technology has become one of the largest networks that millions of people use to communicate each second of each day. So far, there are countless social media platforms today such as: MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter, Google + and LinkedIn. Due to the fact that social media has become the in thing in a lot of people’s lives, some refer to it as their “online home”. This is because, everything they do in their real life they tend to post it online for everybody (family and friends) to view and comment to. Not only is social media technology used for social communications, but companies and/ or businesses also use this platform to increase online brand awareness (Keen, 2012). Online presence has a number of goals and/ or measures that need to be achieved so as to make it successful. These include: availability, sustainability, involvement, connections and recognisability. Availability is the capability to ensure that the online presence has been fully established at all times. Involvement refers to the capability of the social media platform to be frequently used by interested parties. Connections are the capability of the social media platform to allow users to stay connected and/ or in touch with their families and/ or friends. In the event that social media does not fulfil this goal (measure), then it should be improved so as to reflect this attribute. Recognisability is the capability of the social media platform to become aware to the masses of people online. A number of strategies could be implemented so as to create a sound and stable recognisable online presence. This includes mass advertisements of the website. Sustainability is the capability of the social media platform to be maintained so as to ensure that its existence is long lived. With regard to this essay, the goal being set is that of teaching at least seven (7) people before April 1, 2013 what I have learnt from the following books: “The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations”, “How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action” and “Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies”. “The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations” book was written by Beckstrom and Ori. This book was selected based on the sound business ideology that was projected by the authors with regard to the types of organisations that exist. The book started off with a fairly intriguing notion. That is, if you chop off a spider’s head, it dies instantly. However, if you chop off the leg of a starfish, it actually grows back with time. In the business arena, the spider represents all types of businesses that have the top-down and centralized decision making approach. On the other hand, the starfish represents all types of organisations and/ or businesses that have implemented a decentralized decision making approach which is widespread to all their departments. A good example of starfish organisations include: Craigslist, Wikipedia, Skype etc. Based on the described book details, it is without doubt that the book is one of a kind majorly because of the comparisons that the authors have made – that is, the spider and the starfish. The decision that led to the selection of this book is that a lot of authors who write business and management books today do not add a touch of creativity and comparisons to their literature. They all write about technical reviews which lack creativity like the one projected in the book by Beckstrom and Ori. With regard to social media, the book attained different customer reviews on sites such as Barnes and Noble, Amazon and Goodreads. For example, in Barnes and Noble, the average customer reviews was 3.5 stars out of 5 stars. In Amazon the average was 4.5 stars out of 5 stars while in Goodreads it was 3.8 stars out of 5 stars (Barnes and Noble, N.d; Amazon, N.d; Goodreads, N.d). “How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action” was written by Sinek. This book was selected since it revealed why some people and organisations are reluctant to perform while others are more than willing to work to their best to break even in the business arena. Moreover, it also revealed that, successful businesses always remain successful as compared to those that are not mainly due to their business mentality and strategies. The author also taunts the reader to inspire themselves into action rather that just waiting on the “perfect” opportunity to come along. There are a number of decisions that led to the selection of this book. First of all, the book is fairly simple to read and relate to. Secondly, it reveals the success strategies that leaders should implement in the business sector so as to ensure business longevity as well as success. Thirdly, the book projects to the reader the question – Why should you do it? Therefore, it gives the reader a stepping stone to discovering why they should do something that they desire and not how to do it or when to do it or what to do. With regard to social media awareness and reads, the book attained different customer reviews on sites such as Barnes and Noble, Amazon and Goodreads. For example, in Barnes and Noble, the average customer reviews was 4.1 stars out of 5 stars. In Amazon the average customer reviews was 4.4 stars out of 5 stars while in Goodreads it was 4.0 stars out of 5 stars (Barnes and Noble, N.d; Amazon, N.d; Goodreads, N.d). Based on the stated social media statistics (customer reviews), the simplicity and revealing nature of the book can be stated to be the factor that led to the high rankings on social media. “Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies” was written by Bernoff and Li. This book was selected based on the fact that it projected the need for companies and/ or businesses to develop the usage of social media technologies such as blogging, podcasts and YouTube so as to gain positive advantages as compared to sticking to the traditional forms of conducting business. Moreover, the authors incorporate the term "the groundswell" which relates to the structure that technology has over the years laid a solid ground on in empowering the consumers as compared to the companies. Therefore, consumers have the power to either make a company prosper or fail based on what they say (comment) about it on social media platforms. There are a number of decisions (reasons) that led to the selection of this book. First of all, the book is very much open about the need for companies to develop the usage of social media. Moreover, the book also states what businesses stand to lose in the event that social media technologies are not implemented in the operations of the company. With regard to social media awareness and reads, the book attained different customer reviews on sites such as Barnes and Noble, Amazon and Goodreads. For example, in Barnes and Noble, the average customer reviews was 4.0 stars out of 5 stars. In Amazon the average customer reviews was 4.1 stars out of 5 stars while in Goodreads it was 3.7 stars out of 5 stars (Barnes and Noble, N.d; Amazon, N.d; Goodreads, N.d). Based on the stated social media statistics (customer reviews), the openness and advice that the book projected can be stated to be the leading factor that led to the high rankings on social media. The goal being stated is that of teaching at least seven (7) people what I have learnt from the three described books. As such, the goal being set has to first of all fulfil the SMART goal setting strategy. This includes the following variables: Specific; Measurable; Attainable; Realistic and Timely. Specific ensures that the goals stated are clearly described so as to avoid confusions in what is to be achieved and what is to be left out. In this instance, the specific goal is that of teaching people what I have learnt from the three books. Measurable refers to the setting of goals that can be measured with time. For example, with a social media platform, the measurable attribute can be associated with determining the number of comments and website visits that the page has. In this instance, measurable refers to the fact that the goal can actually be achieved. Attainable refers to the capability of setting goals that can be easily attained with little or no strains. In this instance, the goal has already been specified. Moreover, it is also measurable; hence, this means that it is attainable. Realistic and/ or relevant refers to the setting of goals that seem real and can be achieved with available resources. For this case, the goal that has been specified is measurable and attainable since this is a task that can be conducted with minimal resources – that is the internet. Timely refers to the capability to set goals that can be achieved in a limited time frame. For this case, the goal has to be achieved by April 1, 2013. Hence, there is time to make this goal a success. Finally, it can be stated that the goal is SMART. So far, the actions that have been undertaken with regard to achieving the goal include: Sharing the three books in my FaceBook profile; tagging my friends and family to the books links; posting about specific quotes that intrigued me and sharing related content that is worthy to note while starting a business. Based on the above actions, I managed to get 10 of my friends who liked the three books. Moreover, 5 of my family members also commented to the books each describing how they related to the content of each book. For example, some of the reactions were: “It is true, social media is the in thing now. If you plan to start a business social media can help you gain masses of consumers”; “Businesses need to be decentralized so as to have efficiency in operations”; “The book by Sinek has truly helped me to determine why exactly I need to take action to strive for success in my business”. Summary of online activities with evidence The online activities that were undertaken included blogging and positing in FaceBook. However, the online activity that yielded more results was that of using FaceBook. I managed to post about the three books in my FaceBook profile. From there, I tagged my family and friends to the links of the three books. Moreover, since I had read the books, I also posted some of the ideas that I had learnt from the books. In that sense, I received a number of comments from my friends and family members attesting to the facts that had been described in the three books. The evidence for this factor is in the comments that I received. They are as follows: “The spider and starfish comparison is very creative of the authors to intrigue the reader into their idea”, “It is true, social media is the in thing now. If you plan to start a business social media can help you gain masses of consumers”; “Businesses need to be decentralized so as to have efficiency in operations”; “The book by Sinek has truly helped me to determine why exactly I need to take action to strive for success in my business”. As such, the above online activities are what propagated the success and attainability of my SMART goal. Conclusion While setting goals, the SMART strategy has to be implemented so as to determine whether the goal to be achieved is: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. If the goal to be achieved is specific and lacks all the other elements of the SMART strategy, then the goal shall not be successful. However, if the goal fulfils all the steps in the SMART strategy then success is inevitable. The goal in this case was that of teaching more than seven people before April 1, 2013 what I had learnt from the three described books. The task involved a number of online activities such as posting about the three books online, their links as well as sharing important quotes and phrases that had been described in the books. It is without doubt that the SMART strategy proved to be very convenient. The setting of the goal was quite easy and simple. Moreover, I managed to teach a total of 15 people about the three books. This was evidenced by the number of comments that I received while posting information about the three books – some of the comments have been detailed above. In addition to that, one of my friends also gave me a link to another book that had relating information. As such, it can be concluded that the goal was fully achieved in the set timeframe. References Amazon. (N.d). Books. Web. Retrieved from: http://www.amazon.com Beckstrom, R. A., & Ori, B. (2008). The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations. USA, Penguin Group Inc. Barnes and Noble. (N.d). The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations. Web. Retrieved from: http://www.barnesandnoble.com GoodReads. (N.d). Books. Web. Retrieved from: http://www.goodreads.com Keen, A. (2012). Digital Vertigo. How Today’s Online Social Revolution Is Dividing, Diminishing, And Disorienting Us. London, UK: Constable and Robinson. Li, C., & Bernoff, J. (2008). Groundswell, Expanded and Revised Edition: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies. Boston, USA: Harvard Business Review Press Sinek, S. (2011). Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. Penguin Books Read More