Setting goals and achieving results is an important aspect of our value of performance at Smith & Nephew. Do you have an example of a time where you set a clear goal in your work and achieved the desired results for the goal?

"Four years ago when I was promoted to the Regional Sales Manager position with my current organization, I went over our yearly sales number trend over the last five years and saw that it was trending down slightly each and every year. Knowing I would be under pressure to help improve these numbers, I set the bar high to start a trending increase from year one and continue that over five years. To start toward this goal, I made time to work one on one with my sales reps on their sales techniques and provide training to them. Then, I made significant efforts to boost our product visibility in the marketplace, an area we hadn't focused on in the past. With these two simple focuses, year one saw a double-digit increase and with new product lines coming on a yearly basis, our numbers have trended up each year thereafter."

"In my years working in a large customer service call center, we were having significant issues with customer wait times and this was causing very negative customer feedback on surveys each year. In my first year working as a manager in the call center, I made a goal to help reduce customer hold times on the phone to our call center. First, we analyzed our staffing and we quickly found out that a major roadblock for customers was getting put through to the appropriate person to answer their questions. Immediately, we worked with our IT staff on setting up a new call-holding system with updated customer service options. Once implemented, we then analyzed the average number of calls per week and based on common times for calls, we adjusted our staffing quickly. These changes vastly improved customer hold time on the phone and, in turn, our leadership saw much better results on satisfaction surveys."