Animal Welfare Professionals

Hello,

I know that it is a good idea to have SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely) goals for personal and professional growth. At our shelter, I have a hard time of thinking of SMART goals for my kennel staff though. I can think of things that aren't specific or measurable! But that's not very helpful. Does anyone have any examples of some SMART goals for their staff which they have implemented at their shelter? Thank you!

I can’t speak to shelter goals but in business we had employees and management write 6month, 1 year and 5 year goals for professional growth and tied raises and bonuses to these. Measuring attainment was done using agreed-upon definitions for success and % of attainment. The employees and management were usually harder on themselves than those doing reviews. Also, they worked harder to achieve the goals since they wrote them.

Have you created performance rubrics which will allow measurement? Are there goals or a mission statement that each position has a way to strive for?

Hi gomdal. We have some overarching strategic goals which include Highest Quality Care for Animals, Elevated Stature in the Community, Being a Community Leader in Animal Welfare, Mobilizing the Community on Working Toward our Vision, and Long Term Sustainability. We then have performance measures related to each goal area. Those measures were difficult to devise too. I suppose one the best things I could do is highlight and emphasize those goals to staff and then allow them to come up with their own goals based on the organization's goals and values.