What's Your Plan?

I'm talking to a lot of people these days that are starting the budgeting and planning process for 2009. As I talk to them, I'm reminded of a comment made by my colleagues over at Viewnyx. Viewnyx, for anyone who's not familiar with them, makes an excellent in-cab camera system that monitors things like speed, braking, signalling, etc. and automatically records what's happening in front of the vehicle so that fleets can identify unsafe activity and do something about it proactively. In a conversation with them several months ago, they commented that they're surprised how few fleets have annual targets for collision reduction. Most every fleet knows their collisions-per-million-miles rate, but not very many actually set targets for reducing that number.

I also find that odd, so I've gotten into the habit of asking people about their own objectives, and lo and behold, I'm finding the same thing - not very many fleets that have specific targets for collision reduction. 

In order to measure the improvement (and the bottom line impact of that improvement), you have to have specific numbers. "Improve as much as possible" is not a viable objective, since there's no way to know if you've ever met that objective. On the other hand, setting an objective of reducing at-fault collisions by 5% (or 10%, 15%, etc.) over the previous year is a very specific, measurable objective, where the bottom line impact can be predicted and measured.

Same thing goes for HR issues as well. If your turnover dropped by 10% year-over-year, what impact would that have on the bottom line? If you could cut your cost of on-boarding by 10% (hiring, processing, orienting new drivers) what would that mean to the business? How about a 10% reduction in the amount of time it takes new drivers to ramp up to full productivity? 

As we enter the fall 'planning season', in a changing and uncertain economic climate, it's ever more important to set specific, measurable objectives for the coming year and identify what's required to meet those objectives.

In the examples above, I used 10% as a baseline number, but it could be anything. What targets 

do you have for improving your safety and HR programs? What steps are you taking to meet those targets?

Let me know.