Are You Reporting Your Supply Chain Successes to Your Boss?
One interesting fact about supply chain management is that most supply chain managers, I have discovered, uniformly don’t employ monthly and annual supply chain management reports to their bosses. These reports should be designed to inform their bosses of the successes that they are achieving in their departments. Most supply chain professionals just assume that their bosses take for granted that they are doing a good job. Don’t be so sure about this…
To the contrary, one of the most important communication devices that I have found for keeping my bosses completely informed about my supply chain department’s activities is a monthly and annual report. I also recommend this tactic to all of my clients, any chance I get. These periodic reports create a level of transparency, trust and communication that no other tool can provide.
Your bosses are busy, preoccupied and rushed in all things, so you need to get their attention with a formal report that touches on all phases (e.g., savings, statistics, staffing, inventory and asset management, etc.) of your supply chain operations. I call this an integrated supply chain report that is designed to show your bosses your supply chain financial and nonfinancial success. In this way, there is no confusion on what your supply chain department is achieving monthly, quarterly and annually. It’s down on paper for everyone to see!
Another idea I use for these reports is, since most hospitals manage by goals and objectives, I liked to show my department’s progress against my annual goals and objectives on my monthly and annual reports. This made it easy for my boss to see how I’m doing on these goals and objectives without even asking me about them. See how this can make your job easier?
I would like to think that all supply chain managers would buy into this concept (integrated supply chain reports) as the best communication tool to keep their bosses informed of their success, but I know a few will still feel that this is just an extra job that isn’t in their job description.
To them I say, isn’t it worth the extra effort each month and annually to absolutely ensure that your boss doesn’t wonder what you are doing each month and each year to bring more lasting and intrinsic value to his or her hospital, system or IDN. I would think after some reflection the answer would be…YES!
Filed Under: Best Practices
