UpTrajectory Review

Susan Thompson's piece in Small Business Trends walks through seven practical steps for setting goals and expectations, leaning heavily on the familiar SMART framework — specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound. The advice runs the well-worn path: define objectives, break them into smaller tasks, set realistic timelines, communicate roles clearly, encourage open dialogue, review progress regularly, and celebrate wins. The article cites a few attention-grabbing statistics, including the claim that writing down goals boosts achievement odds by 90%, and that 83% of employees value recognition more than compensation. For a small-business owner who has never formalized a goal-setting process, this is a serviceable starting checklist.

Here is the honest problem: this is advice most operators have already heard a dozen times, and the article does not meaningfully address why so many small businesses still fail at execution. SMART goals have been standard management gospel since the 1980s. The real challenge for a five-person shop or a growing twenty-person firm is not understanding the framework — it is finding the time and discipline to implement it consistently when you are also handling sales, payroll, and customer complaints. The piece treats goal setting as a discrete project rather than an ongoing operating rhythm, which is where most small businesses actually stumble.

The statistics deserve real skepticism. The 90% figure for written goals traces back to a single, small, often-misrepresented study from decades ago and has been repeatedly debunked as an oversimplification. The 83% recognition-over-compensation claim is similarly stripped of its original survey context. These numbers are not necessarily wrong in spirit — recognition does matter — but presenting them as hard data without sourcing weakens the article's credibility. We would have preferred Thompson either cite her sources properly or drop the pseudo-precision and make the case on logic and experience instead.

What the article gets right, and what is worth preserving, is the emphasis on breaking large goals into manageable steps and building in regular review cycles. For a small-business operator, the cadence matters more than the framework. A monthly thirty-minute review of three to five concrete objectives, with clear ownership assigned to specific people, will outperform any elaborate annual planning exercise. The piece also correctly flags open dialogue as essential — in a small team, misaligned expectations fester fast because there is no layer of middle management to absorb the friction.

If you are going to act on this, skip the seven-step ceremony and start smaller. Pick one measurable goal for the next quarter, write it down somewhere your team can see it, assign one owner, and put a recurring check-in on the calendar. That single habit will do more than any framework. What to watch next is whether Small Business Trends follows this up with content on the harder questions — how to set goals when cash flow is unpredictable, how to handle an employee who consistently misses targets, or how to adjust expectations mid-quarter without demoralizing the team. Those are the problems small-business owners actually bring to their advisors.

The bottom line is that goal-setting advice is a commodity, and this article does not rise above the commodity level. It is not wrong. It is simply not enough. Treat it as a reminder to audit your own process rather than a blueprint to follow, and invest your reading time in sources that grapple with the messier realities of running a small team.

“Remember, 83% of employees value recognition more than compensation, so acknowledging your progress can be a powerful motivator.” — Small Business Trends

Takeaway: Skip the seven-step ceremony: pick one measurable quarterly goal, assign one owner, and put a recurring review on the calendar.