Goals and Objectives for Law Firms: OKR’s vs SMART Goals

Once you have defined the value proposition for your law firm but setting goals it is also crucial for the growth of your firm. Why should you have well-defined goals for your law firm?
Having well-defined goals can:

• Help your firm grow
• Achieve objectives
• Improve the operational efficiency of your team

We will walk you through two core methodologies for goal setting: smart goals and OKR or Objectives key and results.
SMART is a framework for creating goals. Developed by Peter Drucker, that has helped thousands of organizations worldwide to grow their businesses.
We are talking about a simple structure that outlines how to create, track and measure progress. So what SMART stands for?

• Specific. A goal should provide a clear description of what needs to be achieved. It should be clear in scope and define exactly what must be accomplished.
• Measurable. To determine when a goal is achieved, it must be measurable. This is where metrics come in. Your goal should be something like “our firm will publish 10 new blog posts this month.” and at the end of the month you actually check if that has happened.
• Achievable. The SMART framework says that a goal must be within the realm of possibility to be achievable. It is important to note that this does NOT mean your goal should be easy. Many high performing teams routinely set moon-shot goals, and end up getting about 75% – 85% of the way to their goal.
• Relevant. The goal must be consistent with your overall organizational strategy.
• Time-bound. A time-bound goal must have a start and end date. Otherwise, there is no way to measure whether or not it is successful. Many companies set goals on a quarterly basis for instance.

And the second methodology for goal establishment is OKR’s that consist of two things: an objective and one or more key results. We try to imagine that objectives are as a destination. They exist to align the team around where everyone is trying to get to – what the end state looks like.
Objectives should set a clear and inspiring goal, but should not contain data-based targets. Key results should be measurable campaigns that benchmark progress towards an objective.

One of the biggest differences between OKRs and SMART Goals is the connection between OKRs and aspirational goal setting. Most management consultants believe that a mix of the two frameworks leads to the highest return for firms and companies. SMART Goals help organizations set OKRs, and OKRs help the entire team set aspirational goals that propel the organization forward.