It May Be Time To Get Rid Of 'SMART' Management

As 2016 begins, managers worldwide are setting "SMART" goals—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely—expecting them to make this the year they revitalize or transform their businesses. Instead, most of those professionals should retire SMART, or at least rescind its status as standard operating procedure.

Why? Because two broad trends have fundamentally changed the business environment. First, “the boss knows best” paternalism no longer works. Global companies are changing from top-down structures to free businesses. Respect for expertise, not centralized authority, coordinates the communities that create great technologies. Innovative companies give employees off-the-clock time and free resources, and benefit from their tinkering. Such environments thrive with decentralized action. SMART goals cannot add to, and inevitably subtract from, those environments.