Last year, I ran a half marathon. But I didn’t just go out and do it. I made a 16 week plan of the runs that I was going to do every day, and how I was going to build up to my 13.1 mile finish.
Professional goals are no different than personal goals like these, but professional goal setting often falls by the wayside. It’s important do strategic goal setting, both for your job and for your department -- especially if you manage other people.
Your professional goals also need a plan-- a course of action, or a list of small daily steps you’re going to take to help accomplish these goals. Here’s how to plan for improvement in 2015.
How To Plan Your Procurement Goals
As a purchasing manager, the goals that you set have to do with business that you work for, so you will need to work with others to first understand the company’s overarching goals for the next year.
Only then can you make a plan for what you will need to do to help them achieve success.
Step 1: Understand Your Company’s Overall Goals
Set up a strategic planning meeting with your boss or company owner. The purpose will be to get a better understanding of what they’re hoping to achieve in 2015.
Get the list of the top 3 goals that the company executives are hoping to accomplish, whether you think you play a part in them or not. Make sure that you also get the “long version” of the company goals, including any smaller ones that you will play a role in.
Step 2: Understand How You Tie Into These Company Goals
Look closely at the company goals, both large and small to see what ones you will play a role in. Make a prioritized list based on how involved you will need to be to help the company accomplish it.
For example, if one goal was to cut costs by 10%, you would have a big involvement in that goal as a purchasing manager. On the other hand, if the goal was to increase sales by 15%, this would be less of a focus for you.
Remember that this is a key list of what the company is hoping to see you accomplish in the next year. Keep this list in the forefront of your mind, because it’s what’s being used to judge how successful you are in your role.
Tips to help you accomplish these company goals
Break each of these larger goals down into smaller pieces. You can make an overall goal list, and outline the steps that you’ll need to take to actually accomplish the goal.
A project management system like Asana can be helpful in this situation. Add your goals in as projects, and then add in each of these specific tasks you’ll need to complete to accomplish the goal.
Make sure you make a mental note to revisit how this is going 3 or 6 months in, and decide if you need to put a different plan of action into place if things aren’t going well.
Step 3: Come Up With Your Own Goals For The Purchasing Department
Now it’s time to brainstorm. Pretend that you are the CEO of your company, and make your own goals for what you’d like to see the purchasing department accomplish.
You know your role better than anyone else, and you understand the impact that your decisions have on the company. Ask yourself things like:
- What would make your department run better?
- How could you make a bigger, better impact on the company’s success?
- What would you change about how you’re doing things now to make them smarter?
Of course, these are usually big goals and will usually require your boss’ (or the company owners’) okay to budget and put these ideas into play. But don’t think about that now-- dream big! Pretend that you can improve your role and your department in any way possible.
Examples of goals like this would be:
- Decrease the cost of our most expensive ingredient by 5%
- Invest in a fork lift to increase efficiency
- Provide training to my purchasing team on XYZ
- Implement strategy meetings (including all new hires) in the purchasing department once a month to increase innovative and cost saving ideas.
- Cut out all unnecessary meetings and instead, allow for 15 minute unscheduled small group planning talks throughout the week.
- Work with R&D to see which ingredients we may be able to swap out to save money.
- Implement a new inventory/purchasing system
Removing the brainstorming barriers will help you come up with some creative ideas. Chances are, some of them will be free, some of them will be easy to implement and some would be a worthwhile investment for the company to make in the future.
Present Ideas Outside of Your Jurisdiction
Go through this list after your brainstorming is over. Are there any that you want to bring to your boss or company owner. Do you have an idea for how you might achieve these goals and how much manpower or investment it would cost? If you have some good ones, bring them to the right people to discuss.
Any good business owner will appreciate an employee that thinks outside of the box, is innovative and always has the company’s best interest in mind. If these ideas don’t get put into place immediately, this is outside of your hands and it’s important to not take it personally.
Step 4: Come up with goals for yourself in your role.
Go back through this last brainstormed list, and look for any goals related to your job alone. Are there any goals that you can work on individually, that don’t require approval from a superior? If so, take the following steps:
- Write your goals down.
- Put them somewhere you will see them everyday, like your wall or a desk drawer.
- Don’t share them with anyone.
Studies show that if you share your goals, you’ll actually be less likely to achieve them. Contrary to popular option, sharing your goals makes you feel like you’re “one step closer” to achieving them, even if you haven’t really done anything. This feeling of being on your way actually makes you less motivated. Keep them to yourself and you’ll be more likely to achieve them.
As you accomplish these goals, you can present them to your boss. Keep a running list, because at the end of the year, you can bring these goals (along with your success with their goals for you) to your superiors attention in your year-end review.
Step 5: Write a To-Do List By Month Or Quarter.
Once you've got all of your goals written down for the year, it's the perfect time to create an action plan. How are you going to get moving on these goals? What can you tackle immediately? When should you get started on the remaining goals, and how are you going to go about it?
It can be easy sometimes to forget about your goals after a few months in if you're not reviewing them on a weekly or monthly basis and taking some specific actions. The best thing to do is write down all of the action steps you'll need to take, and put them on a calendar or into your project management tool.
Sometimes even a simple written to-do list works well. For example, when I write out my yearly goals I actually write them on a simple checklist that I print out and keep in a folder on my desk that I look at every day. At the same time, I also create a new to-do list as I'm approaching each month that encompasses all of the large tasks I'll need to tackle in the next few weeks that will eventually lead to achieving my goals.
The moral of the story: it doesn't have to be complicated or hard, you just have to take the time to think about it all. Your future self will thank you!
Author's Note: This article was originally posted on the Centra Foods' blog in 2015, and is being re-published in preparation for the new year.
