{"id":679,"date":"2015-09-25T22:23:35","date_gmt":"2015-09-26T03:23:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/bearz\/?p=679"},"modified":"2016-01-01T16:27:00","modified_gmt":"2016-01-01T21:27:00","slug":"entwining-experiences-being-smart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/bearz\/entwining-experiences-being-smart\/","title":{"rendered":"Entwining Experiences: Being SMART"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Welcome to the second part of Charles Featherer’s five-part guest series on Entwining Experiences! If you missed the first part, make sure to check it out here<\/a>. — Bearz<\/em>]<\/p>\n

\"Charles<\/a>

Charles Featherer
Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey<\/em><\/p><\/div>In Boy Scouts, some adult leaders take a 6-day training program called Wood Badge. Originally created by Lord Robert Baden-Powell, Wood Badge has changed some over the course of its nearly 100-year history. The current version of the course incorporates leadership techniques liberally borrowed from other programs around the world. Why reinvent the wheel?<\/p>\n

Today, I want to share with you what it means to have SMART Goals. SMART is, as you\u2019ve likely already guessed, an acronym for a helpful set of guidelines we should all use anytime we set a goal for ourselves or our group.<\/p>\n

\"SMART<\/a><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s look at how this can apply to judging an event: <\/p>\n

Adam will be working an SCG Premier IQ with an expected attendance of 250 players. He\u2019s going to be in charge of the paper team and will have at most 4 other Judges helping him at the start of a round. He sets a goal for himself to get match slips out to all the tables in under 5 minutes.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s break down why this is a SMART goal.<\/p>\n

Specific<\/h2>\n

This goal has a clear statement of what Adam expects to achieve. It\u2019s stated in a way that’s clear and doesn’t allow for interpretation. When Adam looks back on the day, he can clearly understand whether he met his goal each round. This is an important first step in the design of a goal and often answers questions such as “Who?”, “What?”, and “Why?”<\/p>\n

Measureable<\/h2>\n

This is the yardstick by which you can measure your success. It does no good to create a goal that doesn\u2019t have a quantifiable aspect to it. In Adam\u2019s case, he\u2019s set a 5 minute time limit – something easily checked against his phone, watch or a round clock if one is in use.<\/p>\n

Attainable<\/h2>\n

<\/p>Unfortunately, this is where many goals go awry. Many people set expectations that are too high. This can be a failing point for some Judges, as I imagine more than a few of us are “type-A” personalities.<\/p>\n

Let’s make this more concrete by looking at our example. Five minutes sounds like a reasonable goal. If Adam had said two or three, he\u2019d almost certainly be setting himself up for failure.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth noting that experience carries weight with this aspect of SMART. The more times you\u2019ve done something in the past, the better you can frame a reasonable expectation. When put into new situations, instead of arbitrarily setting a goal you should ask others who have completed the same task in the past about a reasonable expectation. <\/p>\n

Relevant<\/h2>\n

How is this goal relevant? Relevancy can involve multiple axes: it could be important to the event as a whole, to the Judge making the goal, to the development of other Judges, or more.<\/p>\n

In our example, fast completion of this task frees all the Judges involved to do other jobs. Adam has recognized this and is setting a goal that means those assigned to him can be freed to cover the floor or help in other areas of the event.<\/p>\n

Timely<\/h2>\n

<\/p>At first glance you may think this metric is a repeat of “Measurable.” It\u2019s not. Timely, or Time-Bound, is a reminder to check on how your goal is performing in a time sensitive manner. It\u2019s asking the question, \u201cWhen will I know if I\u2019ve completed my goal successfully?\u201d<\/p>\n

In Adam\u2019s case, he would evaluate his goal at the end of the day. He can also take the pulse of his goal halfway through the day to see if adjustments need to be made.<\/p>\n

Sharing Goals<\/h2>\n

There is one aspect of SMART goals that our example hasn’t covered yet. When appropriate to do so, SMART goals must be shared. If Adam sets a goal that relies on work by others, but doesn’t tell the people helping him of his goal, he’s setting himself and the Judges under him up for failure.<\/p>\n

In this example, Adam should say something as simple as, \u201cI\u2019ve set a personal goal today to make sure match slips make it out to all players within 5 minutes of the start of each round.\u201d This way, if a Judge finishes dispersing slips faster than the others, they can step in and lend a hand if another Judge seems slower or has been delayed by a player interaction.<\/p>\n

Beyond SMART<\/h2>\n

<\/p>Setting SMART goals is a great way to improve yourself as a Judge. SMART applies in virtually all aspects of the program, from running an event to working on a project. It can also be employed at work, at home, or with other groups you work with or volunteer for.<\/p>\n

I encourage everyone to use this technique. I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll reap dividends, as well as a better understanding of what success looks like to you.<\/p>\n

Next time, we\u2019ll look at how we can incorporate SMART Goals into a grand idea that, for the moment, I\u2019m going to just call a “Ticket.” I\u2019m very excited by this concept, and I hope you will be as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How can we set good goals? Be SMART about it! Learn more in the second part of our five-part guest series by Charles Featherer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[13,14],"tags":[],"language":[],"class_list":["post-679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entwining-experiences","category-guest-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/bearz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/bearz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/bearz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/bearz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/bearz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=679"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/bearz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":690,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/bearz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679\/revisions\/690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/bearz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/bearz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/bearz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=679"},{"taxonomy":"language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/bearz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/language?post=679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}