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Technicians or maintenance personnel have demanding careers. As a maintenance technician, you have many responsibilities. This can be a real challenge, considering so many facets of this job position. However, you can make overcoming any obstacle more manageable with SMART goals.
This article looks at six SMART goal examples for technicians that could help you overcome any challenges you face.
First, we will discuss what SMART goals are and how they work, discussing various challenges maintenance technicians face. Finally, we will look at 6 SMART goal examples for maintenance technicians that you can use as a basis for your own goals.
What Are SMART Goals?
SMART is a goal-setting method used to make setting and achieving goals much easier. SMART is an acronym that stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timebound.
If you set goals according to these five central tenets, achieving your goals will be easier. Let’s look at each of these words to see how they pertain to goal setting.
If you want a more in-depth explanation of SMART goals, check out this Ultimate Guide to Setting SMART goals.
Why Are SMART Goals Important for Maintenance Technicians?
Being a maintenance technician can be a rewarding career. However, you will undoubtedly face various challenges and obstacles.
One of the challenges you may face is being able to properly schedule routine maintenance and adhere to this schedule. Moreover, if you fail to perform regular maintenance on critical systems, more significant problems will arise.
We are talking about unplanned maintenance and unscheduled maintenance. Both types can affect your deadlines and ability to perform other regular maintenance jobs. Unplanned and unscheduled maintenance aren’t good for the bottom line—they cost money.
Maintenance workers always have a lot to do, yet there never seems to be enough time. Moreover, being productive and efficient in taking care of maintenance can be a challenge.
In addition, automating or streamlining systems to make routine maintenance tasks easier can also be e a challenge. Of course, everything costs money, and as a maintenance worker, completing necessary tasks without going over budget is another challenge.
These are some of the most common challenges faced by maintenance workers. However, using this SMART goal-setting method can easily overcome most or even all of these challenges. It starts by setting realistic and specific goals, with specific ways to achieve them, in ways that can be measured over time.
SMART goal-setting makes it much easier to define your goals and measure progress within a given time frame. So let’s move on and look at some of these SMART goals for technicians and how they can help you overcome the most common challenges you might face.
Examples of SMART Goals for Maintenance Technicians
1. As a maintenance technician, my goal is to improve my overall skill set. I currently only know basic repair skills but aim to learn more technical skills, particularly related to HVAC, plumbing, and electrical work. I plan on learning at least one of these skills per year, intending to master all three skills within the next three years, and I will do so by taking various educational courses.
S: This goal is specific—to take classes within a given amount of time to improve maintenance worker skills and perform necessary maintenance tasks.
M: This goal is measurable because you can easily keep track of the skills you know, which ones you don’t, and which classes you have taken to learn new skills.
A: This goal is relatively easy to attain because learning new skills is generally a regular part of this job. There are many physical and online classes in subjects necessary for your job.
R: This goal is certainly relevant, as it directly pertains to your overall ability to perform various routine maintenance tasks efficiently.
T: This goal is timebound—to learn at least one new skill per year, with the end goal being to learn the big three skills within 3 years.
2. My goal as a maintenance technician is to engage in proper inventory and resource management activities. My goal is to obtain the resources I need to perform my duties 100% within the next 3 months through accurate inventory management and budgeting.
S: This goal is specific—to use various methods to engage in inventory and resource management and, moreover, to gather all of the resources needed to perform the job regularly.
M: This goal is measurable because you can easily list the resources you still need and then check them off as you acquire them.
A: This goal is attainable, as resource management is something all maintenance technicians should be doing.
R: This goal is relevant because you obviously need the right resources to properly complete maintenance work on time.
T: This goal is timebound—to obtain the resources lacking within the next 3 months.
3. My goal as a maintenance technician for my company is to reduce reactionary maintenance costs for emergencies by at least 50% within 3 months. I will regularly check and maintain all critical systems through preventative maintenance and track how often all systems are maintained (and their required maintenance schedules).
S: This goal is specific—to reduce reactionary maintenance requirements by performing more routine maintenance and keeping better track of vital systems.
M: This goal is measurable because you can easily calculate how often unscheduled maintenance occurs from one day to another.
A: This goal is relatively easy to attain because performing routine maintenance with a bit of due diligence should not be difficult.
R: This goal is relevant because unscheduled and unplanned maintenance will cost the company money and time over the long run.
T: This goal is timebound—to reduce reactionary maintenance occurrences by 50% in the next 3 months.
4. My goal as a maintenance manager is to convert all processes possible from manual to electronic or automated processes. Hopefully, doing so will allow my company to save at least 10% per month on time spent performing routine maintenance. In addition, I plan to decrease time spent performing regular maintenance through these means by at least 2% per month for 5 consecutive months, resulting in a 10% decrease in time spent performing unnecessary manual tasks.
S: This goal is specific—to convert as many systems as possible from manual to automated processes and to save at least 10% of the time per month performing routine maintenance.
M: This goal is easy to measure because you can time how long it takes for routine maintenance tasks now compared to the following months.
A: This goal is realistic because you can use various methods to streamline processes and increase efficiency.
R: This goal is relevant because reducing time spent on individual maintenance tasks will free time for other required jobs.
T: This goal is timebound—to reduce time spent performing routine maintenance within 5 months.
5. My goal is to increase overall efficiency and time management by creating a list of routine maintenance procedures that must be completed every week. The aim is to reduce unplanned and unscheduled maintenance by 5% a month for 6 consecutive months, resulting in a 30% efficiency increase within 6 months.
S: This goal is specific—to make a list of weekly routine maintenance procedures to be organized and reduce unplanned maintenance.
M: This goal is measurable because you can easily calculate the amount of unplanned maintenance from one month to another.
A: This goal is realistic because simple organization can help increase efficiency.
R: This goal is relevant because the more organized you are, the more productive and efficient you are; therefore, you will be more cost-effective.
T: This goal is timebound—to increase maintenance efficiency by a certain amount within six months.
6. My goal is to purchase the necessary tools and equipment required for my job to ensure I can perform all the required maintenance jobs to the best of my abilities. I will list what tools I do not have, which ones I need, and when I plan to purchase them. I plan to buy all the necessary tools within the next 3 months.
S: This goal is specific—to purchase the tools needed to perform your maintenance jobs.
M: This goal is measurable because you can easily list your equipment and what you still need.
A: This goal is relatively easy to attain because making a list and comparing it to what you purchase should not be difficult.
R: This goal is relevant because you need the right tools for maintenance work.
T: This goal is timebound—to obtain all necessary equipment within the next 3 months.
Final Thoughts on SMART Goals Examples for Technicians
There are many challenges you will face as a maintenance technician. However, by using these SMART goals, you can easily overcome them. It is up to you to determine your biggest challenges. You can then set clear and measurable goals to help overcome them.
And if you want more SMART goal ideas and examples, be sure to check out these blog posts:
- 12 SMART Goals Examples for Engineers
- 5 SMART Goals Examples for Maintenance Workers
- 11 SMART Goals Examples for a Job Promotion
Finally, if you want to take your goal-setting efforts to the next level, check out this FREE printable worksheet and a step-by-step process that will help you set effective SMART goals.
