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Working Moms
bridetobe920
member
Objective setting - ugh!
bridetobe920
member
in Working Moms
I work in an administrative role, and it is time to set our objectives for next year. For other people in my department, this comes easier as they have project specific timelines, goals, etc.
In my case, however, I find that I always struggle with coming up with something "different" from year to year.
So, I thought I would reach out here and see if you ladies have any suggestions. Essentially, my boss wants me to "think outside the box" and come up with some key ways that I can essentially make their jobs easier (I support a group of six). In the past, I put things like print calendars in advance, double check all travel documents and print out, etc.
It seems like she is looking for something more creative, however, and I am seriously drawing a blank (being 35 weeks pregnant and counting down the days certainly isn't help my thought process either!).
Any thoughts? Thanks in advance for being creative for me!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Objective setting - ugh!
Could you have any influence over procurement/supplies? Some way to increase efficiency or cut down on excess orders?
Does your department utilize any sort of centralized and shared electronic file storage? (a shared drive?) Could you take charge of keeping it clean and organized?
I like this idea.
I think this is the best way to go, personally. If you are tasked with making their job easier then wouldn't it make sense to go and learn what their needs are that you could potentially fill? The last thing you want to do is invest your time building a skillset or procuring some solution that isn't useful to your team.
Absolutely I would set a 1:1 with each of them and explain briefly what you have written here and then ask them if they could describe an ideal state that would make doing their job easier. Ideal state is truely thinking outside the box because the idea isn't to necessarily reach that goal, but rather to inspire you to seek out of the box solutions.
Be prepared with a couple questions should the conversation stall. For example:
-What are the 2 or 3 least organized aspects of your job?
-Describe the functionality of one or two tools that you believe would make your job more efficient. This could be one the company doesn't have at present, or one that the company does have but you think may not be utilized to its fullest capability.
- If you have your very own personal assistant, what would their job description and responsibilities consist of?
Again, the idea isn't that you are going to fulfill all their wishes (and you may want to state that upfront) but to stimulate possibility thinking that will inspire you to take on new projects and/or responsibilities.
HTH!
Thanks so much for the replies, ladies. I did reach out to my group for their feedback (I agree, that seems like the easiest solution!). When I mentioned this to my boss, she said, "That's fine, but I also want you to come up with some ideas on your own". UGH! Seriously, lady, cut me some slack.
Anyway, I really appreciate the ideas so far.
Thanks!
Sounds like your boss is missing the point. NExt conversation I would restate the message, "As I mentioned previously, I reached out to the team to undertand their needs and get a sense of what opportunities their are for me to help them be more efficient at their jobs. Based on their feedback, I have developed some potential solutions that will both increase my skillset and, as a result, the team's efficiency:...."
I'm interpreting it differently- I think it sounds like the boss wants to empower OP to try to do her own thing, maybe s/he feels OP is too dependent on others for direction and the boss wants her to spread her wings a little and think for herself more and see what she can come up with?
What about utilizing some sort of cloud or share drive task/project management system to help everyone collaborate and stay on the same page (there are some simple free ones out there like asana and gantter or there may be something that is available in house) ... or maybe something where you gather data that could useful in making changes- I'm not sure what field you're in but something like looking at timeframes for accomplishing certain things to figure out where holdups/waste occurs (eg six sigma type principles or assessing trends in purchasing/registration/enrollment/accessing services (again no idea what field you're in)....
Another idea if you think it would fly w/ your boss would be to identify and participate in some trainings that are helpful to your job but not already required- like something computer oriented that you don't know well (advanced excel or some other program, etc) or as I mentioned above, do a six sigma white belt training or something like that (I'm not actually involved in six sigma but I wouldn't mind learning more about it personally, just an example of something popular with regard to efficiency)
GL!