How to set goals for your Procurement career in 2025 and maximise your chances of achieving them

Here we are at the start of a new year, ready for a fresh start and prepared to take on whatever lies ahead in 2025. Many of us might set out with an intention to achieve a new goal. Perhaps a personal wellbeing goal of becoming more active, or a professional goal of achieving a promotion.

The grim reality is that over 90% of goals that are set in the new year tend to be given up within just a few months. It’s not the lack of desire to achieve a goal that gets in our way, but it’s usually because we haven’t set ourselves (and the goal) up for success properly and we eventually get sucked back into familiar habits and environments that have kept us comfortable, or even stuck, for far too long.

Sound familiar? Here are 5 key areas to focus on if you really want to achieve your goals in your Procurement career this year:

Get specific

Goals that are too vague are unlikely to succeed. Get as specific as you can about your goal. WHAT exactly do you want to achieve? WHEN do you want to achieve it by? What will it feel like when you’ve achieved it? HOW will you know when you’ve achieved it?

Here is an example:

Instead of saying “I want to be more visible as a Procurement leader within my organisation”, it will feel more achievable and measurable if you get really specific and narrow it down. For example: “I want to be more visible to the executive team and key stakeholders so that I can get more buy-in to my team’s strategy and I will do this by ensuring I have an informal coffee chat with each of them by March 2025. 

A specific and achievable goal provides clarity and focus. It’s also easier to measure success and celebrate milestones along the way.

Break it down

Goals are easier to approach when we break them down into manageable steps and give ourselves recognition for achieving each one.

Big goals can often feel overwhelming, especially when you’re dealing with the day-to-day aspects of your Procurement role. When they’re too big, they tend to slip down to that part of the list where the activities are put on there to show good intentions, but you know that you’ll never actually get around to doing them. Before you know it, you’re halfway through the year and firefighting your way through to December.

To combat this, break your goal down into smaller manageable steps. For example, taking the visibility goal from above:

1. Identify key stakeholders that you need on board in line with the Procurement strategy for 2025.
2. Identify Procurement sponsors who can influence tricky stakeholders.
3. Reach out to key Exec members/stakeholders to find out availability.
4. Send a short intro for why you’d like to meet and how you can help them and what you’d like to get out of the chat.
5. Prepare for the conversation and identify the desired outcome for each of the meetings.

Each small step you make brings you closer to your main goal, keeping you motivated, less overwhelmed and on track. A clear roadmap also helps you to track progress and adjust timelines if you need to.

Check your resources

Thoroughly understand what lies in the gap between where you are now and where you want to be when you reach your goal.

Here are some tips to get you started:

• Assess your current skills and experiences: what strengths can you leverage, and what areas need development?
• Understand your mindset gaps: reflect on what might be stopping you: is it fear, lack of confidence or courage? The more we are aware of the mindset challenges that hold us back, the greater chance we have of identifying the steps to overcome them.
• Understand the support you need: as the saying goes, if you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together. You have finite resources on your own, no matter how productive you are. Who or what support do you need to get to your goal?
• Stay human: build in time to rest from the goal to avoid burnout. When our motivation and focus is high for achieving a goal, or when the stakes feel high, we can often neglect to give ourselves a rest. Giving 100% every single day isn’t sustainable without building the rest you need.

Make yourself accountable

Goals are most effective when they are fully yours. By this I mean that the actions you need to take are within your control and that you can take full accountability and responsibility for them. When you make yourself accountable for your results, you are much more likely to take action. You can do this by:

• Writing down your goals: research has shown that we can be 42% more likely to achieve our goals when we write them down.
• Sharing your goal with someone you trust: for example a mentor, coach, manager, or colleague. This will help you to create an additional layer of accountability (and they will also be cheering you on as you work towards achieving it).
• Reviewing regularly: evaluate your progress at regular intervals, celebrate the wins - no matter how big or small. Reflect also on your learnings and adjust your plan if needed.

If you can make yourself fully accountable for achieving your goal, you will remain resilient in the face of any challenges that come your way. 

Align your goal

When setting a personal goal, make sure the goal is aligned with your values. Your values represent what is important to you to feel fulfilled in your work or life. They are what bring you peace of mind. Examples of values could be adventure, independence, achievement etc.

If your goal is not aligned with your values, you may struggle to achieve it. Or if you do achieve it, you may not feel fulfilled when you reach it because your values are not being met.

If your goal is linked to your organisation, make sure you can align it with the organisation’s objectives as it will make your goal feel more relevant and will also maximise your chances of receiving stakeholder buy-in to your goal.

Connecting your goals with the bigger picture makes them more meaningful and demonstrates your strategic value as a Procurement professional.

Bringing it all together for 2025

Working in Procurement brings a lot of variety as well as a challenging workload. But setting clear goals for your personal and professional development plays a key part in your career fulfilment, Procurement talent retention and evolving the Procurement profession.

If you are ready to enlist specialist coaching support, get in touch with me to find out how we can work together for as little as £20 per month.