Goal Setting
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Specific
Measurable
Action Oriented
Realistic
Timely

Goals are critical to the success of any organization. They provide a sense of direction and purpose to the time you spend together. To be most useful, your organization's goals should be SMART.

Specific

Your goal should be clear and provide direction about how to get started.

Instead of...	TRY THIS!
"More participation in Hall Council"	"To increase participation in Hall Council, we will provide opportunities for students in the hall to get further involved by developing committees to plan events and activities.

Measurable

Once you have some specific goals, consider what it would mean to be successful in completing these goals. In other words, how will you know you accomplished what you set out to do.

Specific goal...	MEASURABLE OUTCOMES!
"To increase participation in Hall Council, we will provide opportunities for students in the hall to get further involved by developing committees to plan events and activities.	"All committees will have 1 representative per wing" "All committees will produce 3 ideas per semester for the hall council to explore." "Hall council will give committees an opportunity to provide feedback on all hall council initiatives at each hall council meeting."

Action Oriented

Once there are specific goals and measurable outcomes, successful organizations will need to define how to accomplish these goals. Members of your organization need to be actively involved in deciding where to go from here.

Specific goal...	ACTION PLAN!
"To increase participation in Hall Council, we will provide opportunities for students in the hall to get further involved by developing committees to plan events and activities.	Decide how many committees and what the focus area of each will be. Conduct interest survey within the hall to gauge interest and to find new ideas for committees. Discuss the committees will plan in the hall council meeting

Realistic

Now that you have a specific goal with measuarable outcomes and an action plan for how to accomplish this goal, every organization should take time to consider if these goals are realistic. Do you believe your organization has the time, resources and interest in making this happen.

Timely

The last step is to implement your ideas. Students in the residence halls expect something to be produced from your organization. Give them a reason to be involved and invested in what you are trying to accomplish.