New Delhi, May 13 -- If you are a professional, it's likely that you have recently completed a goal-setting exercise as part of your annual performance appraisal. Irrespective of the template followed for this activity by the HR department of your organisation, the fundamental principle behind such an exercise is similar for most enterprises: to help employees become more productive, accountable, and focused on meeting their targets in the new financial year.

One of the most common tools used in the corporate world to keep professionals on track is a goal-setting framework that goes by the acronym S.M.A.R.T. Management consultant George T. Doran first mentioned it in an article for Management Review in 1981. According to this model, the ...