Today’s Post is by Eli Razov, SafeSourcing Account Manager.

A positive attitude can take you to another level. In many aspects of life, the mindset of success will bring those results to you. There are many ways to define success. Is it the car you drive or maybe your title? Maybe it is a little simpler than that. What about the small things we overlook or take for granted? Everyone has their own struggles and day-to-day battles. Maybe you have more than you can handle at work or school is starting to take its toll. Perhaps you play in a competitive sport and the big day is upon you. Or maybe you just cannot relax at home because everyday pressures haunt you.

Negative thoughts breed negative feelings and that can turn to a negative attitude. Those around you can see and feel that attitude or possibly read those feelings. From there it’s transference of negativity which can sabotage even the smallest of encounters. In business and sales, it is said to always smile even when you are on the phone, it can be heard in your tone. When you greet an old friend or a stranger for the first time, always smile because that will have a long lasting effect. But what happens when all of the negativity weighs you down so much you cannot bare it anymore and you simply cannot fake the smile?

While the term easier said than done may be applicable to anything in life, in most experiences that is just negativity rearing its ugly head. So start by trying the thing that sounded so hard or felt impossible. Break the stride of the impossible. How you ask? Know that you can do it. Easier said than done right? No it is that simple. While this isn’t a cure-all, maybe this will help you on your way. Everything we do on a daily basis is a new experience, even if you have had the same job for 30 years and you have been typing the same reports or pressing the same buttons the entire time. There are always outside contributors to the outcome of daily life. So how does the positive attitude work? As simple as it sounds, apply it to these everyday tasks. The simple tasks no matter how menial, know you will succeed. After a while of knowing and seeing your success you will begin to apply it to larger tasks. Maybe you are having a bad morning, spilled your coffee on your shirt or someone cut you off in traffic. Do not let that affect your demeanor. Take your two minutes of inner dialogue and vent. Now focus on your tasks. What do you have next? Simple or tough as it may be you cannot avoid it. So visualize what it will feel like when it is complete …the feeling of success. Feels pretty good right? Keep that mindset the whole time. You worked hard for this and you are ready. This will give you confidence and people will sense that. With that mindset and confidence you have already won half the battle, now comes the easy part. Just do it!

For more information on SafeSourcing and how we can help you with your sourcing needs, or on our Risk Free trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service representative. We have an entire team ready to assist you today.

Today’s post is from our  SafeSourcing archives.

Several years ago lawmakers introduced a bill (HR 5255) the purpose of which is to reorganize how the federal government purchases IT product and services.   In the face of the highly questionable success of the newly launched federally operated health insurance exchange website, many believe that the government is stuck in a pattern of buying technology that is not current, solutions that are not the right fit, and running projects that take years to implement once they have begun.   While this bill focuses on federal government and IT categories the reason for its need could easily be applied to other companies and categories.

Complex procurement processes  – One of the main reasons this bill was introduced was the complexity of the procurement process adopted by the federal government.  Its voluminous RFPs and RFQs are so difficult and confusing to complete that only very large companies with staffs proficient in submitting federal RFP responses are competing for the business.  This leavesmany quality, capable suppliers out of the mix.  What is usually left to choose from is not necessarily the “best of the best” it is more like the “whose left that has the resources to respond?”  Like the federal government, the question companies should being asking themselves is “How easy are we to do business with?”

Rigid guidelines – Along the same lines of complexity is the problem of being too rigid in the procurement guidelines that have been developed.  Even companies with streamlined procurement processes can run into challenges if they are not willing to slightly adjust those processes from project to project as the need fits.  An example of this would be a company that has a strict rule not to take spends less than $100k through their normal procurement processes.  They become so entrenched in the letter of the rule that they fail to go further.  They never explore that $80k spend that could begrouped with either another category serviced by the same suppliers or grouped with another company to get a larger spend as an impromptu GPO.

Build Champions – HR 5255 would have a narrower focus of a roll-out starting with only 5 government agencies participating.  This approach is similar to one that any company should follow when making changes to how they procure goods and services.  Start with departments that need procurement help the most and that are open to having the procurement department and/or 3rd party sourcing partner assist them.  Focus on some projects that can build momentum in the way saving time, money or resources with the outcome.  Once the initial departments are running and satisfied with the process it will be much easier to take that process to the rest of the departments in the organization.

SafeSourcing helps our customers every day develop new sourcing strategies and examine the processes that have grown “long in the tooth.”  For more information on how we can help your team or on our “Risk Free” trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.  We have an entire customer services team waiting to assist you today.

We look forward to your comments.

Todays post is from our SafeSourcing Archives

Sourcing temporary labor is never easy. To begin with you require a clear definition of what type of labor you are planning to source as well as a good understanding of national and local labor laws. Quite often companies fall into the trap of using a temporary labor agencies job descriptions that are not clearly defined and way to broad. In fact many times these descriptions are not more than catchall categories. As an example, can someone please tell me what job descriptions fall into the industrial work category? For each of you that try, we will most likely end up with a collection of descriptions that are several multiples larger than the number of people responding. In fact, this is what agencies are looking for because “One mans meat is another mans poison”. Without a clear definition you are at the mercy of sourcing agencies. An example might be how an agency differentiates between a secretary, administrative assistant and an executive assistant and how they up charge for each.

If you were to visit Wikipedia one of the world’s greatest sources of data and search for the term Temporary Labor, you would receive the following The page “Temporary labor” does not exist.  They would however give you a link on that page to the subject Temporary Work where the following paragraph gets you started with what you are looking for.

Temporary work or temporary employment refers to a situation where the employee is expected to leave the employer within a certain period of time. Temporary employees are sometimes called “contractual”, “seasonal”, “interim”, “casual staff”, or “freelance”; or the word may be shortened to “temps.”

The key when trying to source temporary labor is that if you are looking to source temporary work and do not want to get taken advantage of, your specifications and terms and conditions need to be spot on as to what you are looking for. The more detail you provide the better because grey area is where you will end up paying for more than you are asking for.

If you need help with this category,  please contact SafeSourcing.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Today’s post is written by Ivy Ray, Account Manager at SafeSourcing Inc.

The importance of clear and concise communication should never be underestimated. We live in a time where, more than ever, we are receiving multiple streams of communication on a continuous basis.

Failure to communicate in a concise manner can result in an outcome that ranges from minor delay, to missed opportunity, or even major destruction; as in the case of the 1981 skywalk collapse at the Kansas City, Missouri, Hyatt Regency Hotel.

In the collapse, the structural failure was due to a change in the initial design drawings, by the fabricator, which the design engineer reviewed and returned to the fabricator, stamped with the engineering review seal, authorizing construction. The fabricator built the walkways in compliance with the directions contained in the structural drawings, as interpreted by the shop drawings. The change was not clearly communicated through all channels of the construction team, and the load capacity was never tested.

There have been publications and lectures which have come from this unfortunate incident, such as, “Avoiding ‘Failures’ Caused by Lack of Management” and Gerald W. Farquhar’s “Lessons to be Learned in the Management of Change Orders in Shop Drawings.”

When working with or clients for national and international associations, from various time zones, communication tends to be done through email.  People are busy. According to a report prepared by The Radicati Group Inc., in 2015, the average business professional received/sent 125 email messages in one day. This is one reason why long, rambling emails have become such a scourge. Providing a clear concise message will help a person use their time wisely while managing their in-box. Simple, direct language keeps people tuned in to what’s important. These are things that need to be considered when sharing information via email with a group of people working together on the planning of an event.

The 7 Cs provide a checklist for making sure that your meetings, emails, conference calls, and reports, are well constructed and clear – so your audience gets your message.

Communication needs to be:

1) Clear

2) Concise

3) Concrete

4) Correct

5) Coherent

6) Complete

7) Courteous

“Simple messages travel faster, simpler designs reach the market faster and the elimination of clutter allows faster decision-making.” – Jack Welch

For more information on how SafeSourcing can assist you in exploring your procurement solutions for your business or on our “Risk Free” trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.  We have an entire customer services team waiting to assist you today.

We look forward to your comments.

References:………………………………………………

http://www.engineering.com/Library/ArticlesPage/tabid/85/ArticleID/175/Hyatt-Regency-Walkway-Collapse.aspx

https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCS_85.htm

http://www.radicati.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Email-Statistics-Report-2011-2015-Executive-Summary.pdf

Today’s blog is a repost is from Michael Figueroa, Assistant Director of Customer Services at SafeSourcing.

“Switching Costs” is a familiar term in the world of business economics, but now the term is being applied to personal tasking and efficiency. In almost any office environment, the ability to multi-task is seen as a standard requirement for any job, but the term itself is misleading. The way we perform activities is much more akin to task-switching than to performing multiple tasks simultaneously.

Most of us are incapable of talking on the phone while writing an email on a completely different topic at all, and those of us who can do both simultaneously will experience an extreme decrease in quality of performance in both tasks. What we really do when we “multi-task” is switch from one activity to another in rapid succession.  Just like we incur switching costs in efficiency when we switch our production parameters or a miscellaneous service provider, the brain will lose some of our processing capacity as it switches gears to deal with each new interruption.  A recent study done at Carnegie Mellon University tested the performance of participants completing manual computer related tasks when they were switching from one activity to another. In every case, the performance of the participants decreased with every unexpected change of task. The best performing participants however, were the ones that expected to be interrupted and were not, outperforming even the control group. But how can we use this idiosyncrasy of the brain to our advantage?

Anyone familiar with Parkinson’s Law understands the theory that “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”. However, what if the inverse was true? What if the less time we thought we had to complete our work, the smaller an increment we would use to complete it?

Slice up your tasks into manageable segments instead of dealing with every interruption immediately. For instance, don’t stop what you are doing immediately for every new email that arrives. Instead, set up an alert so that you only immediately respond to emergency messages, and set aside a ½ hour twice a day or however often is needed for only responding to emails. Minimize the number of times you have to task-switch during the day so that you can give your undivided attention and best performance to one activity at a time. Schedule your activities with flexibility for emergencies and your workday surprises will fit into your expectations of the day, where your brain will already have the framework in mind to deal with it.

At SafeSourcing we understand how many inputs you receive in your daily procurement related activities. Let us simplify the process by segmenting the flood of information you receive every day and help you find the best strategic fit for your sourcing needs.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Today’s post is written by Heather Powell, Director of Customer Services & Project Manager at SafeSourcing Inc.

“Understanding the different forms that knowledge can exist in, and thereby being able to distinguish between various types of knowledge, is an essential step for knowledge management (KM). For example, it should be fairly evident that the knowledge captured in a document would need to be managed (i.e. stored, retrieved, shared, changed, etc.) in a totally different way than that gathered over the years by an expert craftsman.”_1.

Over the centuries many attempts have been made to classify knowledge, and different fields have focused on different dimensions. Within business and KM, two types of knowledge are usually defined, namely explicit and tacit knowledge. The former refers to codified knowledge, such as that found in documents, while the latter refers to non-codified and often personal/experience-based knowledge. KM and organizational learning theory almost always take root in the interaction and relationship between these two types of knowledge. Some researchers make a further distinction and talk of embedded knowledge. This way, one differentiates between knowledge embodied in people and that embedded in processes, organizational culture, routines, etc. (Horvath 2000).

Explicit: information or knowledge that is set out in tangible form.₂

Implicit: information or knowledge that is not set out in tangible form but could be made explicit.₂

Tacit: information or knowledge that one would have extreme difficulty operationally setting out in tangible form.₂

_{Embedded: knowledge that is locked in processes, products, culture, routines, artifacts, or structures (Horvath 2000, Gamble & Blackwell 2001).1}

All knowledge is a mixture of tacit and explicit elements rather than being one or the other. The “build it and they will come” expectation typifies this approach: Organizations take an exhaustive inventory of tangible knowledge (i.e., documents, digital records) and make them accessible to all employees. Senior management is then mystified as to why employees are not using this wonderful new resource. In fact, knowledge management is broader and includes leveraging the value of the organizational knowledge and know-how that accumulates over time. This approach is a much more holistic and user-centered approach that begins not with an audit of existing documents but with a needs analysis to better understand how improved knowledge sharing may benefit specific individuals, groups, and the organization as a whole. Successful knowledge-sharing examples are gathered and documented in the form of lessons learned and best practices and these then form the kernel of organizational stories.₃

Stay tuned for next month’s blog where we explore more about Knowledge Management Framework.

We hope you enjoyed today’s blog. For more information on how SafeSourcing can assist you in exploring your procurement solutions for your business or on our “Risk Free” trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.  We have an entire customer services team waiting to assist you today.

We look forward to your comments.

——————————————————————–

^Resource: 

1. ^{http://www.knowledge-management-tools.net/different-types-of-knowledge.html}
2. ^{http://www.knowledge-management-cafe.com/faq/what-explicit-implicit-and-tacit-knowledge}
3. ^{https://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/titles/content/9780262015080_sch_0001.pdf}

Today’s post is written by Heather Powell, Director of Customer Services at SafeSourcing Inc.

“Knowledge management (KM) is a discipline that promotes an integrated approach to identifying, capturing, evaluating, retrieving, and sharing all of an enterprise’s information assets. These assets may include databases, documents, policies, procedures, and previously un-captured expertise and experience in individual workers.”₁.

KM is about making the right knowledge available to the right people. It is about making sure that an organization can learn, and that it will be able to retrieve and use its knowledge assets in current applications as they are needed. In the words of Peter Drucker it is “the coordination and exploitation of organizational knowledge resources, in order to create benefit and competitive advantage” (Drucker 1999).

Three key reasons why actively managing knowledge is important to a company’s success are: 1.) Facilitates decision-making capabilities, 2.) Builds learning organizations by making learning routine, and, 3.) Stimulates cultural change and innovation _2.

Fortune 500 companies lose roughly “$31.5 billion a year by failing to share knowledge” (Babcock, 2004, p. 46), a very scary figure in this global economy filled with turbulence and change. Actively managing knowledge can help companies increase their chances of success by facilitating decision-making, building learning environments by making learning routine, and stimulating cultural change and innovation.₂ By proactively implementing knowledge management systems, companies can re-write the old saying, “Change is inevitable, growth is optional” to “Change is inevitable, growth is intentional.”₂

Stay tuned for next month’s blog where we explore more about explicit and tacit knowledge management.

We hope you enjoyed today’s blog. For more information on how SafeSourcing can assist you in exploring your procurement solutions for your business or on our “Risk Free” trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.  We have an entire customer services team waiting to assist you today.

We look forward to your comments.

Today’s post is from our SafeSourcing Archives

Every year businesses are moving waste out of their building that becomes part of the $18 billion dollar industry for other companies.   While they continue to pay millions of dollars to have their trash removed, other companies are reaping that unclaimed money and generating huge profits.  The problem is that most companies don’t realize the potential money they are losing and even fewer know the steps that could be taken to easily begin capturing some of this revenue for themselves.

Ask the experts  – The first thing most companies need to realize whether it is in IT, HR, operations, or Waste Removal, is that they do what they do well but they aren’t experts in everything.  Consulting with a 3rd party expert on how the company is structured and how it handles waste can lead to great solutions that can equal a revenue stream back to the company.  Many times these consultants will work for a small contingent percentage of what the company makes back by using their recommendations.  Many times they will offer to work with the employees at different locations to help educate them as well.  These consultants will be able to explain how to separate one category of trash from another and what affect that can have on a bottom line.

Understand the trash – Frequently businesses don’t develop strong recycling programs because they don’t understand their own trash and what makes some more valuable than other and how doing simple things like keeping certain recycled materials separated from other types can almost double the revenue the company can get back.  Comingled recycled material, even if it is two types that have high revenue potential attached to them (corrugated and stretch wrap material), pays much less than the same products if they are picked up already separated.  This is due to the cost the recyclers pass onto the company for having to manually sort what is picked up.   Understanding the business and its waste will help prioritize the rollout of any program based on the highest revenue potential.

Top down effort – No matter how a company plans to attack its waste for revenue potential, it must developed into an educational program that hits at every level from the CEO down.  Without the buy-in at the top, the people who will eventually be responsible for executing the plan will never treat the program seriously.  Many companies will even attach performance reviews and incentives to their employees/departments/divisions who return large revenue streams back to the company.  Working with an independent consultant or your normal waste removal company can help with this step.

Developing a strong recycling program can not only benefit a company financially but is also seen as a positive aspect of doing business with the company by potential partners and customers.   For more information on how we can help you understand the options for getting assistance with developing this type of program or on our “Risk Free” trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.  We have an entire customer services team waiting to assist you today.

We look forward to your comments.