Achieve your goals

December is a month of celebration, while January is, for many people, a time for reflection, review, and reassessment. That is a wonderful thing and gives us personal insight. However, it is best not to get stuck in that mode of thought for too long. Now is the time to look forward. What are your goals for 2018? How do you plan on achieving them?

You have reviewed your processes, food safety programmes, and quality assurance programmes: are they up to date and future proof? Is your equipment and production environment being cleaned effectively? Can the efficiency of your processes be improved? Perhaps there already is a plan, with concrete action items and areas for improvement. Now the real work starts : get moving, so that at the end of the year you can say, "Yes! I've achieved my goals—I've turned my plans into reality." How do you go about?

To measure is to know! Looking to improve  a process or programme? Choose Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that provide you with information. Use the knowledge of a cross-functional team to determine the right KPIs, measure them accurately, report on them frequently, and evaluate them regularly.

Transparency is the magic word for 2018, also when it comes to internal figures. Don't simply share your future plans with your staff, but also the KPIs  that indicate what goes on every day on the work floor. Put up KPI graphs in the cafeteria or other public spaces in your facility, to showstaff members how they are doing towards achieving the set goals. Use this information during team meetings, too, to make adjustments where necessary  
By sharing information, you create ownership. Transform business objectives into collective goals—turning plans into reality demands teamwork. And when you seeing the desired trend in your KPIs? Then you have good reason to celebrate together—all year long.

www.commercialfoodsanitation.com

Claudia Baenen works at Commercial Food Sanitation (an Intralox company)