Promoting Health Behavior Change in Canada: A Quality Improvement Project Integrating Prevention and Wellness in Frontline Care ABSTRACT: Background: The critical need for Health Behaviour Change (HBC) for preventative care has been highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This quality improvement project assessed the effectiveness and acceptability of Fountain of Health HBC tools as a minimal intervention for primary and secondary prevention among Canadian clinicians and their patients. Methods: Clinicians received HBC education and tools (paper tools and app-based) to assist their patients in setting a S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Realistic, Time-limited) goal at baseline and assessed four weeks later. Primary outcome measures were: 1) patient self-report of success at goal attainment; 2) patient self-reported evaluation of change in well-being and health attitudes; and 3) clinician experience and engagement. Results: A total of 2184 clinicians received HBC education. Of these, 759 clinicians registered to participate in the project. 961 patients set S.M.A.R.T. HBC goals using either the paper tools (PT) or the app format. Patient data revealed nearly all patients (89% of PT users and 90% of app users) at least partially succeeded in attaining their goal at a four-week follow-up. Most patients (85% of PT and 80% of app users) also reported improvement in their well-being. A significant difference in health beliefs and attitudes was found in both PT (p Conclusions: HBC is challenging. Educating and providing clinicians with HBC tools as a minimal intervention was found to be a successful health prevention strategy to improve patient well-being and health attitudes, and achieve S.M.A.R.T. goals. Results show HBC tools, education, and support for clinicians are both acceptable and effective for HBC in frontline care. These findings are relevant and timely given greater reliance on virtual care in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Further research with rigorous methodology is needed to implement programs to achieve sustainable HBC to promote health on a large scale. Show
Since the beginning of time, humans have been ambitious. From building pyramids to writing the Odyssey, humans love making goals and getting things done. Today, we have the SMART goals methodology to help us make valuable goals and reach them more often. SMART goals were outlined back in 1981 by George T. Doran, who noticed that many business goals were too diffuse to have a meaningful impact. He wrote about how goals are not amorphous and inarticulate but measurable and must be achieved if the organization wants to move forward. He created the SMART goals methodology to create meaningful, valuable goals. Since then, the concept has been slightly tweaked into the SMART criteria we know and love today. In This ArticleSo, What Does a SMART Goal Look Like?SMART goals can cover almost any topic, from personal goals like running a marathon to professional goals like focusing on career development or achieving certain key performance indicators (KPIs). The key element of a SMART goal is it fits into a specific framework. The SMART framework breaks a goal down into different parts to set you up for success, with each letter in SMART referring to a different characteristic of the goal. S Is for SpecificMaking a goal specific is key to getting it done. If your goal is too vague, you and your team will be sliding off the rails trying to stay on track. Specificity is your shining beacon, the factor that guides your progress. Instead of just saying you want to increase sales, drill down. Are you trying to improve your channel partner business? Do you want your senior account executives to have different goals than your junior folks? Great! Get specific and write it out. M Is for MeasurableYou know what you want to do — now it’s time to identify how you’ll know you’ve been successful. Define what success looks like in your goal through quantifiable measurements. Words like increase, decrease, or maintain can put you firmly in measurable territory. If you say you want to increase channel partner sales by 20%, you can move that number up or down or keep it the same as you progress. By making your goal measurable, you can see the changes clear as day, with each movement giving you valuable insights about reaching your goal. A Is for AchievableA goal needs to be realistic. Research tells us that goals have a sweet spot — not too hard, not too easy, and just challenging enough. Setting a goal should be challenging enough to require significant effort on your part, but not so hard that it is unattainable. Easy or “do your best” goals aren’t as effective as specific ones. To find that sweet spot, try looking at historical information or the success of people in similar positions. If your sales typically grow by 20% annually, why not shoot for 25% this year? If other representatives have increased their customer satisfaction scores by 10 points, you probably can, too. Get out of your comfort zone and shoot for the stars — just be sure that you’re not shooting for a star in a completely different galaxy. While we’re on the subject, the topic of achieving goals is something our team is familiar with. Our appropriately named platform AchieveIt is designed to help you align business goals, including SMART goals, with your business plan. After establishing your goals, this will be the most important step in achieving your goals. R Is for RelevantGoals are great, but they must be worthwhile. For example, it might not be helpful to increase the number of students who sign up for emails if students rarely convert to paying customers. For businesses, making relevant goals that align with other organizational goals is critical. It’s worth noting that some people still use the “R” to refer to “realistic,” but that’s pretty similar to “achievable,” so we prefer the less redundant approach. Relevancy is far better for keeping SMART goals on track and aligning them with business goals. T Is for TimelyDeadlines can motivate you to get something done. Sometimes they’re stressful, but they’re often necessary, too. Setting SMART goals is one of the necessary times. Sometimes the deadline is set for you — “my boss wants me to improve my leadership skills by the end of the quarter” — in which case, it’s easy to make the timeframe for your SMART goal. Other times, you’ll have to do it yourself. Quarterly goals are often a good place to start because they offer enough time to make an action plan but not so much time that you lose all sense of urgency. Questions to Ask to Ensure Your Goals Are SMARTA great way to make sure you’re setting SMART goals is to run through some questions for each part of the acronym. When determining how SMART your goal is, ask yourself the following questions:
How to Make Your SMART Goals Even SmarterThe SMART strategy is one of the most well-known approaches to reaching your goals, but you’ll need to go beyond simply writing SMART goals to ensure the process goes smoothly and is as effective as possible. You can set yourself up for success by giving your goals a little TLC, and you can use your success — or lack thereof — to guide your progress in the future. 1. Create AlignmentAlignment is a popular buzzword, but in this case, it just means making sure your SMART goal supports higher-level organizational and departmental goals. The business has a purpose, and SMART goals should propel it toward that purpose. If the purpose isn’t shared throughout the company, goals won’t align and can hold the business back. Only 22% of employees feel that leaders have a clear direction for the organization. Make sure you aren’t one of them by setting goals that align with larger business needs. 2. Track Your Progress — In Simple TermsExecuting a goal is typically the most challenging part because you simply lose momentum. Developing goals tends to be exciting and motivating, but over time, you lose steam as other things get in the way. Tracking is key to keeping your momentum. It tells you how well you’re doing and can nudge you in the right direction if you need to make changes. Be careful, though. When tracking turns into reporting, it’s easy to go overboard. Convoluted reporting processes, multiple spreadsheets, and an overabundance of KPIs can make tracking difficult and harder to use as a tool for success. Keep it simple and maintain your focus. AchieveIt, for instance, works as a single source of truth, helping you monitor progress in real-time and get simple — yet effective — tracking for your quantifiable data. Maintain focus and motivation by keeping your goal top of mind as you work toward it. 3. Ensure VisibilityVisibility is vital, whether you’re working on your goal by yourself or with a team. Making your progress highly visible and easily accessible allows everyone to stay on the same page and identify opportunities for success and discussion. In addition to tracking progress, you might monitor task assignments, updates, conversations, and other elements related to your SMART goal. The best way to ensure visibility is to create a streamlined process that funnels project updates into effective, simplified reports. Continual visibility of SMART goals allows you to make decisions quickly and pivot your strategy as the project demands. SMART Goal ExamplesNow that you know what goes into setting a SMART goal, let’s explore what one looks like. SMART goals should be outlined in a comprehensive mission statement that includes all components of “SMART.” Your mission statement should start with your quantifiable, specific goal and your deadline: “We aim to increase social media leads by 15% by the end of Q3.” You can also mention the relevance of the goal: “Social media leads typically convert well for us.” Briefly outline who will achieve the goal and how: “The social team will create new campaigns targeting audience engagement and video.” With that basic outline in hand, let’s look at some examples of SMART goals in action. FREE RESOURCE SMART Goals Template This SMART goals template will walk you through the steps to build your own set of S.M.A.R.T goals, and start achieving success today. 1. Increasing Mobile Shopping App UsageA marketing manager for an e-commerce store has been tasked with increasing the usage of a mobile shopping app. She develops her SMART goal to be:
2. Raising the Average Sale AmountThe sales manager of a small furniture store decides he wants to help his team improve their average sale amount by developing skills for add-on sales, such as protection plans, installations, and accessories. To do so, he creates a SMART goal that is:
3. Improving CommunicationA contractor has received feedback that he has poor communication with his team. He decides to create a SMART goal:
4. Getting More LeadsAn admissions team for a large college wants to increase the number of students applying for the school’s new engineering program. To get there, they create a SMART goal for generating more leads with the following factors in mind:
5. Reducing Staff TurnoverA manufacturer has been dealing with high turnover rates on the shop floor. To fix it, the HR manager implements a SMART goal that is:
6. Boosting Blog TrafficSay a small consulting firm wants to increase blog traffic from technical professionals in the industry. The marketing team takes on the task with a SMART goal:
5 Tips for Executing SMART GoalsSetting SMART goals is one thing, but executing them is another. Below are some tips for making sure your SMART goals happen. 1. Share Your Goals With Stakeholders and Team MembersSharing your goals with others can keep you accountable, and if you’re working on a team-wide goal, it’s essential to keep everyone on track and on the same page. Use a work management tool as your central source of truth for reaching your goals. You can connect with others more often and easily see what everyone is up to. 2. Regularly Check ProgressMonitor your progress often. If your goal is a point on a map, progress checks are mile markers. If you suddenly notice the numbers going in the wrong direction, you know you need to change course. Consider creating weekly project updates where you highlight milestones and wins and discuss any changes or focus areas that might be needed. 3. Evaluate Your AchievementsIf you met your goal, stop and celebrate! Then, look at the entire project and review what went right and what might have held you back. If you didn’t reach your goal, you can evaluate your progress to see what could have helped you reach it. Regular check-ins can help you record progress so you can more easily review your goals after the deadline. 4. Split the Goal Into Smaller PartsYour SMART goal should be specific, but if it still seems a little daunting, try breaking it down into smaller, more easily achievable tasks. 5. Establish a Support SystemWhether you’re working solo or with a team, make sure you have a support system in place. If someone is struggling with a task, they should be able to talk to their teammates, who can help with the task or boost morale. Using AchieveIt to Make, Meet, and Exceed Your SMART GoalsNow that you know what SMART goals look like, how to set them, and how to make them even smarter, you’re almost ready to go forth and achieve! The last thing you’ll need is a tool built for helping businesses achieve their SMART goals. AchieveIt is a platform organizations use to turn their biggest, best initiatives into reality. It helps ensure that your great ideas don’t fizzle out because of a lack of focus or clarity. AchieveIt supports businesses in meeting their goals by:
From global corporations to federal agencies and regional healthcare systems, many organizations have become success stories for using AchieveIt for integrated plan management solutions. Learn more about the platform online or reach out to us for a free demo to see AchieveIt in action. Let’s actually do this. Ready to improve your plan execution? Organizations of all types leverage AchieveIt to connect, manage, and execute their most important initiatives. Replace manual processes & siloed systems with interconnected plans in a single, automated platform. What is the Doran management review of 1981?In the November 1981 issue of Management Review (AMA Forum), George T. Doran's paper titled "There's a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management's goals and objectives" introduces a framework for setting management objectives, emphasizing the importance of clear goals. How do I reference Doran 1981?Article citationsMore>> Doran, G.T. (1981) There's a SMART Way to Write Management's Goals and Objectives. Journal of Management Review, 70, 35-36. Which SMART model was originally outlined by George T. Doran in 1981?SMART goals were developed by George Doran, Arthur Miller and James Cunningham in their 1981 article “There's a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management goals and objectives” . Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely (SMART) Specific: What are you trying to do? Who is going to be part of the team? What are the five 5 SMART goals?Setting specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) objectives is a good way to plan the steps to meet the long-term goals in your grant. It helps you take your grant from ideas to action. |