And we\u2019re back at it again, I hope you\u2019re having a great week and having a good time living it! I\u2019m Marty with Warehouse and Operations as a Career! Last week we talked a little about the positions of the Lead and the Supervisor. I\u2019ve really enjoyed all the messages and questions that we\u2019re sent in this week, and its so cool so many of us are interested in our jobs and where they can take us! A question was sent in about Goals and Planning, the individual asked how can I plan and or how do I set a goal\u2019s at my job when everything\u2019s up to my boss? He went on to say I know that sounds a little negative but I don\u2019t mean it to be! Well, as complicated as Goals and Planning sounds it\u2019s really simple & we can control them, it\u2019s actually up to us, and us alone, weather we reach them or not.
\nI think the easiest way to start planning our goals is to start with the biggest one, what do we want to do with our Lives and our Careers? Think of it as the end result. I always wanted to be able to do exactly what I wanted too when I was 55. Now I didn\u2019t hit my goal exactly by the time I wanted too but I didn\u2019t miss it by all that much. Once we know where we want to end up it makes it easier to map out how to get there. Think of it as planning a long trip, first we have to know our destination. Think of all the next steps as short term goals. Now we know we\u2019ll need our vehicle & gas, we head out of the neighborhood on the streets that take us to the highway and we map out all the turns needed to get us to point B. Our career path can be planned out much the same. I mean we know what we love doing and we know we\u2019re doing it to earn money. If we know how much money we want to earn we can apply ourselves, get the education or experience we need, and ask others questions, hang out with those that can help or teach us! Of course they\u2019ll be stops along the way, and we\u2019ll adjust our course as needed just like we can and will on our trip.
\nSo we\u2019ve got a job in Operations, that can be our first goal, we know what we enjoy doing right? Our next goal can be to be in the top 25% at whatever we\u2019re doing. If we\u2019re in the production or productivity environments it\u2019s pretty easy to gauge how were doing because there tracked by metrics or percentages. If we\u2019re in a general labor field or sanitation or maybe maintenance fields, anything that\u2019s not tracked by our WMS or warehouse management system we\u2019ll stand out by our knowledge of our position.
\nOur Next goal could be to earn the additional incentive pay that could be associated with our position. If we\u2019re a loader, forklift driver or an order selector that next step may be easily defined for us. In a non-tracked position we\u2019ll learn everything around us, you know those tasks that touch ours and we\u2019re going to make sure our management team knows that we\u2019ve learned them too.
\nNext we\u2019ll identify that next step or job that we\u2019ll need to know to achieve all the experience needed to be the best at the position we\u2019ve set as our target. I was once asked by an Executive Vice President where I wanted to end up with the organization. I was a Dry Warehouse Manager at the time and told him I wanted to be the V.P. of Operations. Of course his first question was why I didn\u2019t say I wanted to be the president of my own facility. I told him I\u2019d decided a long time ago, when I was unloading trucks, that I wanted to retire as a V.P. of Operations because I loved being involved in the day to day of the operations, working closely with the crews and product. I never had an interest in the Sales, Financials or Merchandising side of the company. I\u2019d researched what the VP Position entailed and what it\u2019s earnings could be and decided that\u2019s what I wanted. I worked with him over the next 10 years, he became a president of his own house and I accomplished my goal as a VP within the organization. We both achieved our goals, and I don\u2019t think he ever really understood why I...