Create SMART Objectives for Your Green/Sustainability Plan

The five elements of a One Page Green Plan™ (OPGP) are the Vision, Mission, Objectives, Strategies, and Action Plans, as stated in a previous blog. We’ll discuss each of these elements in successive blogs, starting with the Objectives. We can start the planning process with any of these five elements, depending on the mindset of the green leader and their team. We choose to start here with Objectives, which have a shorter time frame than the Vision, Mission, or Strategies.

Within the OPGP methodology, objectives are numeric goals that we expect to achieve within a period of one year. The one year timeframe works well since it corresponds to natural business planning cycles, is long enough to allow for adjustments to meet the objectives, and is short enough to maintain the interest level of the parties involved. It also allows the organization to report its progress to all stakeholders on a regular basis, in a way that is meaningful to them.

All objectives should be SMART – Specific, Measurable, Agreed Upon, Realistic, and Time-bound:

• SPECIFIC so that there is clarity as to the expected results.
• MEASURABLE: Utilize a metric that makes intuitive sense. If available, use a baseline measure from the recent past as well as a future expected result.
• AGREED UPON: Key stakeholders have agreed to the choice of objective and specific targets.
• REALISTIC within the cultural, organizational, and financial capabilities of the organization.
• TIME-BOUND: As stated above, we like a one year timeframe for green objectives.

As discussed in the previous blog, we select objectives that meet all four factors of a Balanced Scorecard methodology. We should have 1-2 objectives from each of Financial, Customer, Process, and People. Examples of Green Objectives with a one year timeframe might read as follows:

• Financial: Increase Gross Margins from 10.0% to 10.3% by 12/31/2011.
• Customer: Decrease customers average energy costs for using our product from $99/year to $90/year by 12/31/2011.
• Process: Reduce manufacturing waste from 12 bins/month to 8 bins/month by 12/31/2011.
• People: Increase percentage of employees involved in “green” efforts from 25% to 40% by 12/31/2011.

Please note that as the planning process proceeds through the other elements of the One Page Green Plan™, the initial objectives may no longer meet all SMART criteria. The objectives should then be changed or replaced to meet the newly discovered realities.

Visit us again in a couple of weeks to find out about creating SMART Strategies. In the meantime, download a sample One Page Green Plan™ and Objectives at http://www.skibaconsulting.com/freetools.html.