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450. SMART Is a Cycle, Not a Statement · Daily Influence

• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to Daily Influence, your daily dose of positive influence.
• 0:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm Brian Smith founder of IA Business Advisors and co-author of the Iain team series.
• 0:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Each day we share stories and insights to help you find be and build your influence in a positive and responsible way.
• 0:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm Greg Kleeneau, partner at IA Business Advisors, and co-host of Daily Influence.
• 0:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Be sure to follow, subscribe, and share Daily Influence with someone who could use a little extra positivity today.
• 0:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: And make us part of your daily routine, whether it's during your commute on a walk or an quiet moment just for you, because you're influenced matters.
• 0:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we have start the year talking about smart goals and how to build those goals a little bit more structurally and as we put it smart and smart goals aren't our idea and fact they've been around since the 80s and they are the foundation of our entire smart.
• 1:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: management system which is so much more than a smart goal and I'm going to really connect that to what we've been talking about the last couple of days or the last couple of episodes that I've been working and speaking to you about here on the daily influence.
• 1:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: In those last two episodes we talked about why goals fail without milestones.
• 1:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: Even smart goals will fail without milestones if they're
• 1:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: particularly goal success.
• 1:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: And today I'm going to take that next step because smart doesn't just stop at the goal setting process.
• 1:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: When smart has done right, it becomes not only a goal, it actually becomes a discipline that we hold ourselves accountable to.
• 2:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it's also at the exact same time a framework or a foundation.
• 2:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: And what that means is that it is something that
• 2:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: learns it grows with us, it evolves, it adjusts and improves on a continuous basis.
• 2:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's exactly why we've designed it as it gives us a way to have continuous improvement.
• 2:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: And quite frankly, this is how leaders stop reacting and start managing with real intention.
• 2:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: The first thing that I think I've found is when we think of goals, even smart goals as a one-time event, you know, it's this place that's down to the road somewhere over there, down the calendar, months away, days away, doesn't matter how far away it is, but look, smart goals are often written approved and then forgotten.
• 2:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: What that makes happen is that it turns smart into a statement instead of
• 3:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: a way of life instead of a discipline or a framework.
• 3:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: And when there is no revisit, no feedback, no adjustment, execution drips, and we talked about that in the last couple of episodes where I've talked about milestones and how they support getting rid of that.
• 3:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it's what makes leaders end up reacting instead of
• 3:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: of leading in a goal without a feedback loop is just a wish with some structure.
• 3:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: And look, we need more than that to achieve our goals, we need more than that to move us into this opportunity of continuous improvement.
• 3:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: So smart allows for us to become powerful because it operates as a cycle.
• 3:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: SmartWorks best when goals, objectives, milestones, tasks, and feedback are connected and the revisited over and over and over again in this feedback loop.
• 3:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: And milestones tell us where we are at all times.
• 3:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: They give us that measurement.
• 3:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: Feedback tells us what's working and what's not.
• 4:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: Adjustments tell us how to lead forward and
• 4:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: involved in the goals that we've set for ourselves and the milestones that guide us.
• 4:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And in the day-to-day action and feedback that keep us moving towards those milestones.
• 4:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the cycle looks like this, set, execute, measure, learn, adjust, recommit.
• 4:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's how smart
• 4:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: becomes self-correcting, but it's also how it is a discipline, how it supports a discipline, how it also gives us that framework to lean into for the support we need to reach where we want to go.
• 4:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: These cycles that milestones give us.
• 4:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: these cycles that smart help us to understand.
• 4:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: They create leaders, not just results.
• 4:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Think about how people engage when they are given smaller tasks, how they learn along the way, those baby steps that we can use to reach bigger places.
• 5:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Think about how when we do that, how smart in a cyclical fashion,
• 5:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: how they can help individuals begin managing themselves better, not waiting to be managed.
• 5:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: Think about how teams can learn how to think in progress, not perfection.
• 5:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Think about how leaders shift from problem solvers to clarity builders in these environments.
• 5:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Leadership maturity shows up when progress is discussed openly, and milestones give us that opportunity and continuous feedback which creates that continuous improvement cycle.
• 5:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is our data, they're not failure.
• 5:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: They allow us to have more meaningful touchpoints along the way, which gives us that more focused attention on the path that we're on.
• 6:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: And adjustments become
• 6:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: and this is where accountability really builds in our team environments.
• 6:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's also how organizations move from effort to excellence.
• 6:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: We become superior in what we do.
• 6:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: So look, smart isn't about writing better goals.
• 6:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's about building better thinkers.
• 6:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: When smart becomes a cycle, individuals grow.
• 6:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: When smart becomes part of our discipline,
• 6:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: teams mature and when smart becomes part of our foundation, leadership scales.
• 6:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: In our next episodes, as I move into this as part of our foundation of 2026, we're going to get deeper.
• 6:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to talk about ownership, accountability, individual influence.
• 6:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: The things that we've built our brand on and built our consulting methodology on our core values, our mission.
• 6:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: And because
• 7:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: People do, we are going to take you into places where I hope you will see better success, better goal attainment, better learning, better leaders in your organizations.
• 7:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I look forward to talking to you again in these future episodes and bringing you deeper discussion in goal attainment, milestone management, leadership development, continuous improvement.
• 7:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hope you have a great day.
• 7:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: We'll talk to you again soon.