Here's how you can showcase your strategic planning and goal setting expertise in an interview.

- Think of specific projects or initiatives where you played a key role in strategic planning and goal setting. - Be ready to explain the context, the strategies you developed, the goals you set, and the outcomes. **Situation**: Describe the context within which you performed a task or faced a challenge. - **Task**: Explain the actual task that was involved. - **Action**: Detail the specific actions you took to address the task. - **Result**: Share the outcomes or results of your actions.

I would highlight a specific project relevant to the job role using the CAR framework: For example: Context: I organized a technology fair for 11 plants, involving 9000 employees. Action: I identified key stakeholders for communication throughout the entire timeline, developed a detailed strategic plan to achieve the goals, executed the plan, and monitored KPIs. Result: This approach led to active participation that exceeded six months' results in just five days.

In my experience, a notable example of strategic planning was the implementation of a continuous improvement program to improve some opportunities. 1) Setting clear goals: what is the opportunity (use smart framework); 2) Define sponsors and project leaders for each identified opportunity. 3) Provide education, tools and resources to help the execution. 4) Measure and follow the steps and any road block or constrains that may appear. 5) Recognize the teams effort and achievments.

Highlight your strategic planning and goal-setting expertise with these points: -Demonstrate Problem-Solving: Share a scenario where you identified a major issue and developed a strategic plan to resolve it. -Showcase Team Leadership: Explain how you set goals and led a team to achieve them, emphasizing collaboration and effective communication. -Highlight Results: Provide metrics or outcomes that demonstrate the success of your strategy, such as project completion ahead of schedule or under budget. These examples offer clear evidence of your skills and potential contributions.

- Mention any specific tools or methodologies you used, such as SWOT analysis, SMART goals, or strategic frameworks like OKRs (Objectives and Key Results). - Highlight your proficiency with project management tools if relevant.

Be data driven and you'll find root causes and that will help you to set up an strategic plan to solve the issue. The use of consolidated tools never gets old fashioned, like 5W2H, 8D, PDCA...

- Discuss how you stay current with industry trends and how this informs your strategic planning. - Explain your approach to setting long-term goals and ensuring they are adaptable to future changes.

Being collaborative and people's based is one of the strongest alied we would have in engineering management. Communicating the strategic vision is essential to gain stakeholder buy-in. It's very important to check the understanding of the goals and plans clearly with the team, ensuring everyone understood their role in achieving the objectives. I like to promote collaboration and motivation through regular meetings, continuous feedback, and recognition of the team's efforts.

Showcase your commitment to continuous learning by regularly reading industry journals and articles, engaging with peers and mentors at industry events to gain fresh perspectives, and applying new knowledge to improve strategies and achieve goals. These practices demonstrate your dedication to staying updated and enhancing your expertise.