Goals

As I have stated before, I wish to consult for automotive dealers who need help in their parts departments.  I have 30 years of experience as a parts manager in dealerships.  This will be the first of several articles that I plan to post over the next few months.  My contact information is:  pratt.ken@gmail.com or 253-561-3698.

Have short and long-range objectives been established?  Is there a prioritized plan to achieve them?  Does everyone know they’re part in contributing to the end product? 

Goal setting is a powerful process to helps members of your team realize what and how they contribute to the overall success and profitability of your organization.  Properly thought out they act as the road map to the future of your operations.  The parts department depends on other departments as well as themselves to attain objectives and goals.  Likewise, the service department depends on the parts department to manage many facets their operations.

For example, a service manager sets a goal of reducing the amount of time that technicians spend at the back counter obtaining parts in order to increase his shop efficiency and thus increase his gross income as well as profit.  But he doesn’t tell the parts department.  This will be a classic failure.

Everyone involved in the back counter transaction must be aware of the goal.

Each goal needs a specific, measureable, attainable, relevant, time-bound, (SMART).  Study the process as it is and then decide how much you want to change it and set a timeline.  For example:

If we reduce the wait time for technicians by 30% by the end of April 2015, parts and service personnel will receive _______________.

We will reduce the wait times for technicians by 30% by the end of April.

First of all, they are specific and definitely measurable if you did your proper research before setting the goal.  I don’t think anyone will disagree that they are attainable.  They have a deadline and one of them offers something relevant to the personnel involved.

Now, by telling everyone involved what the goal is and helping to train them in ways to meet the goal we actually can obtain a 30% reduction by April 2015.  Once processes are in place employees will become accustom to it and with guidance it will be come second nature and employees will look for ways to bring about change.

There are many ways to change processes for the better and goals is just one of them.

I’ll discuss setting financial goals next time