As we begin 2018, I am challenged by a question that was recently posed to me— “Where do you spend your time?” I would challenge all of us to take a look at our calendars for the past three or four months and see just where our time went.

Consider these activities…

Reactive or Strategic: Is the value of your company’s supply chain evolving beyond cost-saving measures into more holistic procurement relationship that has become recognized as a fundamental enabler of business strategies? Or, are you still spending most of your time in a reactive mode fighting fires?

Stakeholder Engagement: How do you or are you engaging with your stakeholders? Have you established mutual key performance indicators that define “what’s important” for both parties and on a regular basis bring them “nuggets” of value?

Supplier Relationship and Development: How much time have you spent with your suppliers? Are you leveraging your suppliers for their experience and market place knowledge and in turn establishing mutually beneficial, collaborative relationships?

Networking: Are you a networking guru taking every opportunity to give to, and receive from your network? Do you spend time at either face-to-face events or on a social media platform exchanging ideas with others? Or, are you working in isolation, unaware that there is a whole universe of knowledge and professionals available to help you do your job better?

So how do you measure up? Are you engaged, effectively utilizing your time to bring value-added activities to your workplace?