What is S.M.A.R.T. A.S.S.?

S.M.A.R.T. A.S.S. a division of
The Association Management Company
represents the following

Specific | ”The objective should be specific and not vague. For example,
an objective of “99% member contact” makes it more specific to a Membership
Maintenance team rather than “high member contact”.

A receptionist can have an objective of “Picking up calls by the 1st ring".

Measurable | It should be possible to measure the achievement. This is the area
where managers get confused. An objective of "Achieve highest possible speed"
for a car is not measurable; whereas "Achieve 250 miles an hour" is measurable.
It follows that if an objective is set, there has to be a method to gather data and
prove the objective has been achieved.

Achievable | Always set objectives higher than what has been achieved,
but not so high that it can never be achieved.That is why a 99% contact is more
achievable than 100%. Or a 0.5% error rate is more achievable than a 0%.
That's why setting achievable objectives improves confidence in a team more so
than an unachievable one. The closer you get to a near perfect score, the more
difficult it becomes. It may be very difficult to get from a tolerance limit of 99.2%
to a 99.7% figure.

Realistic | The objective should be realistic to the team or department it is being
formulated for. For example, can a Communications Committee achieve 99%
member satisfaction? Probably not but the communications team would be better
off having a Realistic objective of contacting 100% of members thus providing the
members the opportunity to tell them if they are satisfied or not.

Timely | Managers should set goals which are time bound. A Chief Staff Officer
can set a goal which says, “Annual membership revenues will increase by 10%”.
The “Annual” part makes it timely. Otherwise, the team wouldn’t know when it has
to achieve the target.

Association | Representation for the not-for-profit sector (charities, foundations,
societies, etc.).

Support | This is the skilled professional whose goal is to provide
management expertise.

Services | Specialized services created to provide associations with an
effective and cost-effective environment.

Now that you know what S.M.A.R.T. A.S.S. represents, look forward
to receiving a new S.M.A.R.T. A.S.S idea every two weeks to help
you manage your association effectively.

For more information on The Association Management Company, please go to our website at www.theamc.org
Click here to contact us or Call 1.866.591.0699