“Auld Lang Syne” is a Scottish poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 and then set to the tune of a traditional folk song. Roughly translated auld lang syne literally means old long since but can be paraphrased into statements such as long long ago, the olden days, for old time’s sake or the good old days.

However, pining to much for the old days can have a negative effect on your planning for the days, weeks and years ahead. I’m sure as this author has, many of you have heard sourcing individuals say things such as “we’ve always done things this way” or “that won’t work for us”. In today’s world with all of its economic and global pressures, this is particularly dangerous way of thinking for sourcing professionals. The good news is that we still have some time before the New Year and we should use it reflectively to build our resolutions for the upcoming year that should then drive our sourcing business goals.

Although a number of strategies can be used for this thinking for both individuals and groups. The most important thing is to capture the data in its most raw form and then refine it from there. This may occur in group open discussions and white board sessions with a moderator or in private free thinking session where you personally write down all of your own random thoughts. The important thing is to write them down. Statistically people who write down their goals have over an 80% higher success rate of achieving them. Research tells us that of those people that do make New Years Resolutions only 75% make it past the first week of the year and the numbers drop dramatically from there.

We will be discussing our thoughts on e-sourcing and e-procurement resolutions for the New Year over the next few days in order to provide our readers with a base from which to draw for their own refinement.

Best of luck with your goals and we  look forward to and appreciate your comments.

?“Auld Lang Syne? is a Scottish poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 and then set to the tune of a traditional folk song. Roughly translated auld lang syne literally means old long since but can be paraphrased into statements such as long long ago, the olden days, for old time?s sake or the good old days.

However, pining to much for the old days can have a negative effect on your planning for the days, weeks and years ahead. I?m sure as this author has, many of you have heard sourcing individuals say things such as ?we?ve always done things this way? or ?that won?t work for us?. In today?s world with all of its economic and global pressures, this is particularly dangerous way of thinking for sourcing professionals. The good news is that we still have some time before the New Year and we should use it reflectively to build our resolutions for the upcoming year that should then drive our sourcing business goals.

Although a number of strategies can be used for this thinking for both individuals and groups. The most important thing is to capture the data in its most raw form and then refine it from there. This may occur in group open discussions and white board sessions with a moderator or in private free thinking session where you personally write down all of your own random thoughts. The important thing is to write them down. Statistically people who write down their goals have over an 80% higher success rate of achieving them. Research tells us that of those people that do make New Years Resolutions only 75% make it past the first week of the year and the numbers drop dramatically from there.

We will be discussing our thoughts on e-sourcing and e-procurement resolutions for the New Year over the next few days in order to provide our readers with a base from which to draw for their own refinement.

Best of luck with your goals and we? look forward to and appreciate your comments.