You have heard of SMART goals, but ladies and gentlemen, have you heard of FAST Goals? If the answer is no, you are in like company because aside from saying in conversation, “I’ve got some fast goals to beat my husband running,” I’ve just come across this acronym recently for the first time.

But I’m sure glad I did because, with a little old-fashioned research, I’ve found that this little acronym has much to offer in the workplace. So, put down your running shoes, and let’s dig into FAST goals and the ways you can incorporate and set them in the workplace.

How to track progress and measure success with FAST goals

To track your progress with FAST goals, you need to set up and rely on goal-tracking platforms to help. Goal-tracking platforms like Hive will make tracking and monitoring your progress with FAST goals a breeze.

Hive’s Goal-setting tool can move your organization forward and help you view your team as more than a project. 

Using Hive Goals, you can set goals, visualize progress, and keep everyone aligned in a centralized dashboard. With this digital tool, you can ensure that everyone is moving FAST toward the same objectives – Hey, see what I did there?

What are FAST goals?

The FAST acronym comes from the combination of four specific goal-setting criteria:

F – Frequent

A – Ambitious

S – Specific

T – Transparent

FAST goals are more than a set of rules for setting goals; they are also a framework for approaching goal-setting in the workplace. They differ from their more well-known goal-setting acronym cousin: SMART goals.

SMART goals are:

S – Specific

M- Measurable

A – Achievable

R – Reasonable

T- Time-bound

When looking at the difference between SMART and FAST, you should note that both goal-setting frameworks can be effective depending on your business situation and the goal you want to hit question.

For example, SMART goals are useful for setting attainable and realistic goals. In contrast, FAST goals are designed to encourage employees to push themselves to achieve more frequent goals that are ambitious and transparent.

4 Benefits of using FAST Goals

The main benefits of using FAST goals are that they help to motivate employees and make goal-setting easier. You can incorporate FAST into your workflow to see some of the following benefits:

Frequent: Setting frequent goals will encourage your employees to stay focused. When you have a goal that is broken down into smaller, more frequent tasks– setting (and achieving goals) is much more manageable. Plus, there is something so satisfying about successfully completing ten tasks instead of just one.

Ambitious: So many of us get stuck in the trap of setting goals we know we can meet. While it’s great to set and meet goals, if those goals are not pushing you to your limit, they are not encouraging you to do better. Easy goals don’t get the creative juices flowing and don’t push you outside of your comfort zone.

Specific: There is nothing worse than vague goals. When you are vague, the chances that the goal will not be accomplished or it will be completed wrong are incredibly high. To avoid this, create goals that are super niche and specific. If you hone in on what exactly you need to be done, you will increase understanding and accuracy in your task completion.

Transparent: You should never hide what you are doing at the workplace and always put everything on the table for the team to review. When you are transparent about your work, you are kept honest and accountable for your work and actions.

Examples of FAST Goals

Now let’s put some of these FAST goals to the test. Below are two real-world examples of using FAST goals in your workplace:

Example 1: Setting A Marketing Campaign

In this example, a marketing team wants to launch a new campaign for a product. So, instead of setting the typical SMART goal of “increasing sales by 10% in the next quarter,” they use FAST goals instead. Their FAST goals would look like this:

Frequent: They set a goal to launch two small weekly campaigns for the next eight weeks, aiming to increase visibility and awareness.

Ambitious: Their goal for this campaign is to increase sales by 25% in the next quarter, which is more ambitious than their previous goal, which was 5%.

Specific: The team only wants to target a specific demographic through social media advertising, focusing on a specific age range and geographic location.

Transparent: They set a goal to share weekly reports with the team and shareholders on campaign progress, including data on clicks, impressions, and conversions.

Example 2: Team Development

A manager wants to help her team members develop new skills for improving their input on the job. Instead of setting the SMART goal of “each team member will complete one training course this year,” she used FAST goals instead, and they looked something like this:

Frequent: She set a goal for each team member to complete one short online course per month for the next six months.

Ambitious: She asked each member to develop proficiency in a new skill area by the end of the year, which is more ambitious than their previous goal, which did not have any year-end goals.

Specific: She worked with each team member to focus their development on a specific skill area that aligns with their career development goals.

Transparent: She sets a goal to provide regular feedback and support to team members throughout the training process, including one-on-one coaching sessions and progress reports.

While your business might not be in either of these two fields, you can see how using FAST goals helps to create a more focused and ambitious approach to goal-setting. The key takeaway from these examples is that by setting FAST goals, you can motivate your team to achieve more and work towards common goals more efficiently.