My apprenticeship requires me to complete a variety of different Scottish Credit & Qualifications Framework (SCQF) units related to marketing, the business environment and a lot more.

The units I have completed as part of my QA apprenticeship so far are:

  • H8PK (Understanding the business environment)
  • H8PL (Legal, Regulatory, Ethical requirements in marketing)
  • H8PL (Legal, Regulatory, Ethical requirements in marketing) [Personal reflection]
  • H8R0 (Social Media marketing for a business)
  • Course 1 (Email and Social Media Marketing)

The Social Media portion from the first QA course I have attended included a section on SMARTER thinking which is interesting. Here’s what I learned.

SMARTER targets are targets that are Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic, Time-Bound, Ethical and Recorded.

Specific targets allow you to have a clear idea of what you are working towards. If you are not specific with your goals, you will not be able to achieve them.

Measurable targets are useful as you should be able to track your progress and see how close you are to completing your goals that are set out. If your targets are not measurable, you will lose track of how much progress you have made.

Agreed goals are important as you need to be aware that everyone in your organisation has a general agreement on the goals that you are setting and that they are manageable for not just you, but for everyone within the organisation.

Realistic goals are key as yo need to be aware that your goals should be manageable, if you are setting crazy goals that you know you won’t achieve, then that will ruin the business morale as you are never going to achieve your goals.

Time-Bound goals revolve around you setting a deadline for your goals and knowing when you want them to be completed by. If you don’t have a time frame when you want to have them completed by, you will never be able to achieve them as the deadline can go on forever.

Ethical targets consist of how these goals will impact on your organisations moral compass. The goals will need to associate with the businesses ideas and moral compass so that you can maintain your values whilst setting business goals.

Recorded targets involve writing down your goals before you start so that you have a visual prompt that this is something that you need to get completed. If you aim to remember all your goals, they will eventually be forgotten about and there won’t be any sense of achievement as you will never complete them let alone start them.

 

Adapted from: https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/setting-smarter-goals-in-7-easy-steps.php