Teaming up with Suppliers For More Savings…. Part II of II

May 12th, 2016

What are you doing to team up with your suppliers in order to achieve savings for both of you?

 

Today’s post is our SafeSourcing Archives.

Yesterday we began taking a look at some of the ways you can arrange to run a sourcing project for products on behalf of your suppliers to increase the opportunity for the suppliers of those products, lower your suppliers’ costs while lowering your costs for those items or services as well.  Today we will conclude the series by looking at the project itself and the process of using the results to achieve greater value for your company.

Determine the greater opportunity – Once you have determined where your spend lies in relation to your suppliers’ other customers and opened a dialog with them about your plans, it will be time to begin laying out the scope of what the project will entail.  Much of this will be determined by the amount of involvement your suppliers wish to provide in the way of information and management of the process.  The first major part of this step will be to understand if there are other products or services that need to be included in the project even if your company does not use them.  These create a greater opportunity for the suppliers and will results in better results for you and your incumbent suppliers.  The second part of this step is to determine the volume, frequency and location these items will need to be delivered to so that you can begin rounding out the specification and terms and conditions documentation.

Control the project yourself – No matter how much involvement your incumbent suppliers wish to provide you in this process, it is imperative that you own and manage the project from start to finish.  The insight you will gain on these products and services throughout the process will be extremely valuable and will be the foundation by which the final negotiations are achieved with the manufacturers.  Establishing and maintaining these relationships can also be important in later stages should there be customer service issues that your suppliers are unable to leverage properly themselves.

Leverage the results to your advantage – When the project is complete you will be left with a detailed view of the manufacturers, their offerings and their pricing.  You will have at your disposal all of the tools necessary to not only negotiate better value from the manufacturers but also better terms for how those products and services are then charged to you from your suppliers.  Your efforts will be used by your suppliers with all of their customers, improving their margins across the board.  This type of leverage will allow you to reduce or eliminate upcharge percentages from your suppliers or possibly to receive some other benefit in exchange for the results you were able to achieve.  This step would include reaching out to the manufacturer(s) selected and obtaining a letter of intent stating you are working with them and they will honor the pricing to your suppliers and their customers as well.

Sourcing projects on behalf of your suppliers may not be something you are used to running; however the benefits are just as real as traditional sourcing efforts.   These projects provide manufacturers greater volume opportunities and provide your suppliers and their customers and you with better service, value and pricing and should be included in all annual project reviews.  For more information about SafeSourcing 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.

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Teaming up with Suppliers For More Savings…. Part I of II

May 10th, 2016

What are you doing to team up with your suppliers to achieve savings for both of you?

 

Today’s post is from our SafeSourcing Archives

It seems like every article and blog you read about sourcing deals with how to get the best value out of the relationships you have with your vendors and for most companies this is not a bad thing.  One of the areas that frequently gets overlooked is the opportunity to leverage your company’s spend on behalf of your suppliers to achieve better pricing for you, them and their other customers.  Products like pallets, roofing materials, corrugated or other packaging related material are perfect categories to look for this situation because they are frequently costs that are passed straight through from the manufacturer to your supplier to your company.

By negotiating better prices than your suppliers have themselves, you can help your suppliers lower their costs for their other customers and you.  This gives them added incentive to work with you and can provide a much bigger spend opportunity to the vendors than just yours alone.  Today’s blog will focus on some of the steps you can take in engaging all of the interested parties in this process.

Understand your portion – Before anything gets set in motion or communications are begun with outside suppliers or your incumbents, it will be critical to get an idea of where your volume of product from your suppliers falls in relation to their other customers.   This understanding will help you and your company level set before speaking with your suppliers about the project.  Your leverage will come in direct relation to the portion of spend your company represents with not only your incumbents but also the amount it would represent for a new supplier.  If you make up 10% of your incumbents pass through cost for a product, you still may be able to run the project, however the leverage your spend and the results you achieve represent will need to tempered differently than if your spend represented 50% of your incumbents spend in this area.

Engage your suppliers – At the onset, engaging your suppliers and/or distributors in this process will be key.  By letting them know in advance that you are looking to negotiate your volume on your own, you give them an opportunity to examine their current suppliers and customer needs and help you form an event that provides a much larger opportunity for the market.  The other advantage to notifying your suppliers, regardless of their involvement, is that there will be no surprises once the process is complete and they understand the direction your company is going.

Tomorrow we will look at the final steps to consider when running projects for products on behalf of your suppliers.  For more information about SafeSourcing 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.

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Low Quote does not always earn the Business!

May 10th, 2016

With a title like this, you have got to be thinking that I am nuts!

 

Today’s post is from our SafeSourcing archives.

With a title like this, you have got to be thinking that I am nuts! You are probably saying things like “Why would low quote not get the business?” or “Why would someone want to pay more money for the exact same product?” These are all true and valid thoughts, but what I have to tell you is that there are more things involved in a decision process than just the low quote. It’s more about the overall value. The OVERALL VALUE gets the business.

There are many factors that come into play in the overall value. The following are a few to consider when making the decision to buy a particular product or service from a vendor.

Quality: Just because a product is the same doesn’t always mean they share the same quality. For example, if you were looking to buy copy paper, the “House Brand” may be cheaper than the name brand paper, but the quality may be a lot lower, causing constant paper jams in your copy machine. You want to make sure that you get a quality product for the lowest price possible.

Customer Service: You want to make sure that when you consider buying any product, the supplier provides excellent customer service. This is important because if you ever have to contact them for a problem, you want to be confident in knowing that your problem and/or concern will be addressed quickly and efficiently.

Value Added Services: Value Added Services are always a great perk. These are services a company would offer to help them stand out from their competitors. It could be they offer Free Shipping on a product or they may offer one free year of Technical Support on a computer or other type of electronic. Things like this should really factor in because, for instance, a company may provide you the lowest quote on the product, but may charge you a ton is shipping, where the person that quoted a little higher is offering free shipping, which actually makes their product the cheapest.

Here at SafeSourcing, we ensure that you receive the best overall value. We look at more than just the price, but all the other key factors as well. For more information on how we can help you with your procurement needs 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.

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Why do companies make the same old tired statements time after time?

May 6th, 2016

Sales are down so we need to control expenses!

 

Today’s post is from Ronald D. Southard, CEO and SafeSourcing Inc.

When one reads a lot, articles constantly jump out at you that just make you say duh!

Sales are down so we need to control expenses is one of them. I am beginning to think that they actually might have a book of business school phrases that includes statements like this. These statements always seem to come out during earnings season or just after in order to offer protection versus erosion of equity particularly in publicly traded companies. What always slays me is that as a shareholder I would like CEO’s and CFO’s to come out with this plan long before the excuse is event needed. If you have the right team in place, one would already know that sales are falling based on your teams long range forecast and action should have already been taken to mitigate those results.

In today’s issue of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL under corporate news there was just such an article. I will leave out the name here to protect the guilty. But, wouldn’t it be nice if we started to see articles that went something like this. COMPANY <Insert Name> focused spending reduction preserves earnings estimates. 

There are just too many companies with too many tools out there today that can assist companies in reducing costs in all product and service areas including commodities for executives to need to use these statements after the fact. I say assist, because most Fortune 500 companies have procurement departments and many have leadership in the procurement area at the officer level like a CPO. These teams in most cases are very competent based on their headcount. However what we regularly see in the procurement space is that all the great intentions and planning in the world does not return the best net landed cost to companies when they try to source by themselves.  Understaffed teams, historically evolved procurement practices and less than optimal supply chain management create these results when headcount is not optimal. For the most part we typically see double digit improvement across the board in savings when Tier I and Tier II companies enlist the assistance of e-Procurement solution providers like SafeSourcing Inc.

E-Procurement solution providers for the most part today offer their tools in Architecture as a Service and Software as a Service Cloud based solutions.  The benefit of these offerings are an almost immediate or instantaneous ramp up time, little to no IT involvement, cost neutral pilots and the opportunity to walk away just as quickly.

During the last six years, SafeSourcing has run billions of dollars in spend through our e-Procurement tools in the form of RFI’s, RFP’s and RFQ’s or Reverse Auctions. Average savings over this time are in excess of 23%. No other solution provider can make this claim. The reason for these results is partly our tools and mostly our people. Isn’t interesting that we see better results for companies because they are understaffed and because of our people.

Here’s an example: You are a fortune 500 company and your buyer or category manager has to source stretch wrap. You have users in your DC’s or Warehouses, but the person sourcing this category may or may not talk to them and only sources this category once or twice every couple of years. The question this begs, is are they up to speed with the current stretch wrap technology.

1. Do you as a company still hand wrap?
2. Are you using the lowest level gauge and mil weight?
3. Do you know the best size rolls to source?
4. Is the product pre-stretched?
5. Are you aware of all global and regional suppliers?
6. Are you using machine wrap or transitioning to it?

These are just a few of the questions that a SafeSourcing project professional is aware of because they source this and other product categories dozens of times a year.

So why are costs not as low as they need to be at all times? And why do CEO’s and CFO’s have to make the same old tired statements time after time? Because they are not aware just how easy it is to augment their procurement department with resources that will cost them nothing because the average ROI for these services is typically 10X or higher. And because their team keeps telling them that we have an ERP system and tools so we can do it better. Our results would obviously indicate that this is not so.

If you really want to learn how to reduce your costs on Expense and cost of sales categories, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Services Account Manager to learn more.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments

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Are Reverse Auctions Strategic? YES THEY ARE!!!!!!!

May 5th, 2016

It really does not depend on who you ask as much as how you intend to use them!

 

Today’s post is from Ron Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing.

This argument has continued unabated for years so this author is going to jump in and take a look based on my teaching background albeit that was a long time ago if you remember the 3 – R’s.

First of all, what is strategic is entirely up to the person or group using the tool, whether or not they have used it before and if it returns the results they require as part of their strategic plan. There really is only one meaning to the word strategic. So can a reverse auction be strategic? Of course it can. A companies overlying strategy whether we agree with it or night might be to simply get costs under control as quickly as possible. At least in the first year of tool use. I shudder to think that this would be a company’s entire strategy, but in these times of economic survival, it may well be. I can envision the following. The economy, competition or board of directors are kicking a company’s ass and the CEO calls a  staff meeting and says we have a new strategy and for the time being everything else will take a back seat in order to get our costs down. Come back in a week and tell you how you are going to do this immediately.

Now for the English lesson.

The word strategy is a noun that has several definitions. According to Wiktionary, 2 of those are.

1. A plan of action intended to accomplish a specific goal
2. The art of using similar techniques in politics or business

The word strategic is an adjective which we know is a word that modifies a noun and can also me modified by an adverb. So think of strategic as meaning of and pertaining to strategy and can be used comparatively as in something that is more strategic or less strategic.

So can a reverse auction or auctions be strategic. Of course they can and one example would be if your strategy was to simply reduce costs immediately. They can also be more strategic as part of a going forward strategy as well as provide other strategic benefits such as cleaning up your specifications and reporting as well as providing new sources of supply.

If your plan strategic or otherwise calls for reducing costs a.s.a.p. please contact a SafeSourcing customer’s services representative. We can help, and more of you may keep your jobs.
We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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Global Food Risks

May 3rd, 2016

Weather, disease, and global food supply chains

 

Today’s post is by Michael Figueroa, Project Manager at SafeSourcing

Last  year  California farmers are predicted to lose $3 billion due to persistent drought[1].  Avian Flu has cost nearly $3.3 billion nationwide in the US[2], while the resultant egg shortage continues to wreak havoc with the market by doubling egg prices[3]. Yields in North Korea are feared to come in as low as 50% below normal due to drought, which could pose huge humanitarian needs and market risks[4]. The average amount of arable land needed to support an American standard of living is approximately 10 acres per capita[5], though as of 2012 there were only between 0.49-0.6 acres of arable land on earth per capita[6]. The UN has stated that food production must double by 2050 in order to meet demand[7] due to rising population as well as rising global affluence. As the world population continues to increase the number of hungry mouths on the globe, it becomes ever more vital to have a strategy for dealing with disruption in food production markets.

Unfortunately, one of the greatest challenges to this problem is understanding what all of the potential risks are. As unpredictable weather patterns emerge, we are warned to expect the unexpected by the scientific community due to global warming, and political disruptions are equally unpredictable. Though there are recommended steps for discovering the unknown variables, and managing what is known.

Identify the risks: Does your organization have a risk mitigation department? One that focuses on proactive measures to ensure continued production in a crisis, not just financial hedging?

Coordinated risk management: Form alliances with national and international producers and brokers establishing protocols for responding to shortages that protect the most vulnerable populations from food shortages.

Identify the weaknesses in your supply chains: An example would be diversification of farm location can mitigate drought risk confined by geographical location.

Move to non-biofuel energy production: Using energy sources such as nuclear, solar, and wind allow farming capacity to be used for food instead of bio-fuels, which some studies have shown to be a net-energy loss product[8].

Early warning: Have mechanisms in place for capturing information regarding shortages and market disruptions.

Supplier resilience standards: If you are a purchaser, adopt requirements of your suppliers for managing risk that incentivizes food production resilience.

In the face of dealing with all of the food commodity disruptions in the market, and increasing pressure to shave already thin margins, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that a major disruption doesn’t just mean loss of revenue, but can also mean loss of life within the markets of the most vulnerable consumers. For example, US food aid to foreign countries comes from US commodity surplus, but aid has decreased by 64% in the last decade due to reduced surplus[9]. This and many other examples are why it’s so extremely important for those of us working in the food procurement and production industries to build resilience into their long term strategies.

For additional insight on this topic I highly recommend the report by the UK-US Taskforce on Extreme Weather and Global Food System Resilience[10].

For more information on how SafeSourcing can assist your team with this process 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.

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[1] “Drought May Cost California’s Farmers Almost $3 … – NPR.” 2015. 18 Aug. 2015 <http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/06/03/411802252/drought-may-cost-californias-farmers-almost-3-billion-in-2015>

[2] “Bird Flu Cost the US $3.3 Billion and Worse Could Be Coming.” 2015. 18 Aug. 2015 <http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2015/07/15/bird-flu-2/>

[3] “Egg prices in the US nearly double after outbreak of avian flu.” 2015. 18 Aug. 2015 <http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/16/egg-prices-in-the-us-nearly-double-after-outbreak-of-avian-flu>

[4] “North Korea fears famine as drought halves food production …” 2015. 18 Aug. 2015 <http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/19/north-korea-fears-famine-as-drought-halves-food-production-says-un>

[5] “The State of World Population 2011 – UNFPA.” 2011. 19 Aug. 2015 <http://foweb.unfpa.org/SWP2011/reports/EN-SWOP2011-FINAL.pdf>

[6] “Arable land (hectares) | Data | Table – The World Bank.” 2010. 19 Aug. 2015 <http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.ARBL.HA>

[7] “Food Production Must Double by 2050 to Meet Demand …” 2014. 18 Aug. 2015 <http://www.un.org/press/en/2009/gaef3242.doc.htm>

[8] “Economic Cost of Biodiesel and Corn Ethanol per Net BTU …” 19 Aug. 2015 <http://www.ag.auburn.edu/biopolicy/documents/Economic%20Cost%20of%20Biodiesel%20and%20Corn%20Ethanol%20per%20Net%20BTU%20of%20Energy%20Produced.pdf>

[9] “Food Aid Reform: Food For Peace By the Numbers … – usaid.” 2013. 19 Aug. 2015 <https://www.usaid.gov/foodaidreform/ffp-by-the-numbers>

[10] “Extreme weather and resilience of the global food system.” 2015. 18 Aug. 2015 <http://www.foodsecurity.ac.uk/assets/pdfs/extreme-weather-resilience-of-global-food-system.pdf>

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Are you and your Pest Control provider partners?

April 29th, 2016

Working in partnership with a pest control provider.....

 

Today’s post is by Ryan Melowic; VP of Customer Services at SafeSourcing.

According to Gregory Pest Solutions, “Working in partnership with a pest control provider, clients’ shared responsibilities fall into three areas. First is the maintenance of high standards of sanitation, which includes thorough cleaning on a regular schedule.  Secondly, communication of pest sightings and documentation in the Pest Sighting Log is a key part of the success of any program.  Thirdly, if any preparations, repairs, or the need to arrange for special access to areas is required prior to treatment, it is the client’s responsibility to make sure that these contingencies are taken care of.

The responsibility of the pest control providers’ personnel also falls into three categories. First, they will thoroughly inspect the facility to determine if pest issues exist. Monitoring of these areas will be provided, as well as documentation of location and type of any pest issues. Secondly they will develop treatment strategies that utilize the least amount of the least toxic material available to control pest issues.  Thirdly, they will provide up to date, complete documentation and information for the facility.  If any sanitation issues or structural deficiencies are noted during the inspection, it will be noted on the service report.”

SafeSourcing has a wealth of knowledge on pest control sourcing. For more information on how we can help you with your procurement needs 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.

 

 

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Are you ready for entrepreneurship in your business?

April 27th, 2016

Do you have Intrepreneurs in your company with the same desire and spirit?

 

Today’s post is by Christine McConnell, Account Manager at SafeSourcing

Being an entrepreneur is not easy. Having team members that are Intrepreneurs (in house entrepreneurs) may be just as important to your company’s success.

Here’s a short quiz to get you thinking:

  • While working as part of a team, do you fade back or step up to the foreground?
    • I like to consider all input but would rather lead
    • I prefer being one of several leaders
    • I am always the leader
  • Are you a risk taker?
    • After I’ve done my research
    • No way Jose
    • Bring it on I’ll try anything
  • How easily do you get stressed out?
    • I only stress under real pressure
    • Every little thing can freak me out
    • I never let ‘em see me sweat
  • What are your views on competition?
    • Crush them
    • Ignore them
    • Collaborate with them
  • What is your main motivation?
    • I have a product/service that is new to the market space
    • I want to get rich quick
    • I’ve always dreamed of being my own boss
  • How do you handle rejection?
    • If it’s not happening I’ll throw in the towel
    • I never give up… it’s a numbers game
    • I go back to the drawing board
  • What is the key to success?
    • Luck: being in the right space at the right time
    • Having the best product /business plan
    • It’s all about passion and persistence
  • What is your money management style?
    • Just call me Frugal Frannie
    • Hey Big Spender
    • It’s a struggle but I‘m working on it
  • What is your work style?
    • I am real worker bee
    • I pride myself on working smarter not harder
    • Party on Garth
  • Do you believe in luck?
    • Yes I do (fingers crossed)
    • I believe that you create your own luck
    • I think that you can be prepared for “lucky” opportunities

So how do you score the quiz? You simply think long and hard about your answers, examine your work style and motivations, and look deep into your heart because at the end of the day only YOU can decide if you’re ready to commit to entrepreneurship. Be completely honest about your responses. Ask yourself: why do I truly want to be an entrepreneur? Again, there is no correct answer. However if you answered “I’m a big spender who wants to get rich quick” then you could be in it for the wrong reasons. Becoming an entrepreneur is one of the most challenging life goals you’ll ever take on, so having the right motivation to get you through the tough times will be crucial. Good luck out there!

Interested in learning how SafeSourcing can help your company run more efficiently? Like to try a risk free trial? Please don’t hesitate to contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative. Our team is ready and available to assist you!

 

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Self- Awareness in Your Business

April 26th, 2016

The ability to recognize and understand……

 

 

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

In my first blog, “What is Emotional Intelligence? Why It Should Matter in Any Business?”, I identified what emotional intelligence (EQ) is and how it applies to any business. In my second blog, “Emotional Intelligence in Action”, I explain the What, How, and Why the competencies of EQ work.  In my third blog, “Five Components of Emotional Intelligence and Your Business” I gave the basic definition of the five components of emotional intelligence. In this installation, I will provide a deeper explanation of Self-Awareness and how it applies to you as a leader and your business.

1). Self-awareness. The ability to recognize and understand personal moods and emotions and drives, as well as their effect on others.1

A self-aware person who knows that tight deadlines bring out the worst in him plans his time carefully and gets his work done well in advance. Another person with high self-awareness will be able to work with a demanding client. They will understand the client’s impact on their moods and the deeper reasons for their frustration. People with high self-awareness are able to speak accurately and openly—although not necessarily effusively or confessional—about their emotions and the impact they have on their work.

An example:2

Jordan is a negotiator. He has an important position in the procurement division of his company. He has to purchase 30,000 new gizmos for an important piece of equipment his company produces. He has been in negotiations with two key sellers. Seller A sells the gizmos at a unit price of $15.00, Seller B at $13.00. After several meetings with both sellers, Jordan notices that he always feels energized when he has met with Seller A- the meetings just seem to fly by. In contrast, he always comes away from meetings with Seller B feeling drained and with an uncomfortable, nervous feeling in his stomach. After much thought, Jordan persuades himself to ignore the feelings and to the rational thing; go for Seller B with the cheaper unit price: “This is business after all.”

For several weeks after the decision Jordan continued to feel uncomfortable and anxious about the new supplier. After three months of cooperation the supplier stopped replying to Jordan’s calls and, eventually, when Jordan manages to track him down, explained that they were experiencing staffing problems and would not be able to meet the supply of the gizmos for the next two months.

One thing is certain here: Jordan failed to listen to his emotional brain or intuition. Trust is an important value to Jordan and his intuition was telling him that there was something about Seller B he did not trust. Jordan chose to ignore these clear signals and ended up paying the price.

By developing our Emotional Intelligence in the five EQ domains we can become more productive and successful at what we do, and help others to be more productive and successful too. The process and outcomes of Emotional Intelligence development also contain many elements known to reduce stress for individuals and organizations, by decreasing conflict, improving relationships and understanding, and increasing stability, continuity and harmony.3

Please stay tuned for the next blog on how self- regulation can help you and your business.

We enjoy bringing this blog to you every week and hope you find value in it. For more information on how we can help you with your procurement needs 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:

  1. http://inspirebusinesssolutions.com/blog/5-main-components-of-emotional-intelligence
  2. Neale, S., Spencer-Arnell, L., & Wilson, L. (2011). Emotional Intelligence Coaching: Improving Performance for Leaders, Coaches, and the Individual. Philadelphia, PA: Kogan Page (p 106).
  3. http://www.businessballs.com/eq.htm

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Five Components of Emotional Intelligence and Your Business

April 22nd, 2016

In my first post on this subject.......

 

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

In my first blog, “What is Emotional Intelligence? Why It Should Matter in Any Business?”, I identified what emotional intelligence (EQ) is and how it applies to any business. In my second blog, “Emotional Intelligence in Action”, I explain the What, How, and Why the competencies of EQ work.  In this third blog, I will give a quick explanation of the five components of emotional intelligence, and in the next series of blogs, I will present a more thorough breakdown of each and how they apply to businesses and procurement.

I must explain that the five components listed below were developed by Daniel Goleman, a science journalist who brought “emotional intelligence” on the bestseller list as an author of a number of books including “Emotional Intelligence”, “Working with Emotional Intelligence”, “Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships”, “Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence” and most recently “A Force for Good” The Dalai Lama Vision of Our World”.1

These are the five components of EQ and their most basic definitions. Also, I have identified the hallmarks of each; a hallmark is a sure sign.

1). Self-awareness. The ability to recognize and understand personal moods and emotions and drives, as well as their effect on others.2

a.) Hallmarks of self-awareness include self-confidence, realistic self-assessment, and a self-deprecating sense of humor. Self-awareness depends on one’s ability to monitor one’s own emotion state and to correctly identify and name one’s emotions.1

2). Self-regulation. The ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses and moods, and the propensity to suspend judgment and to think before acting.1

a.) Hallmarks include trustworthiness and integrity; comfort with ambiguity; and openness to change.1

3). Internal motivation. A passion to work for internal reasons that go beyond money and status -which are external rewards, – such as an inner vision of what is important in life, a joy in doing something, curiosity in learning, a flow that comes with being immersed in an activity. A propensity to pursue goals with energy and persistence. 1,2

a.) Hallmarks include a strong drive to achieve, optimism even in the face of failure, and organizational commitment.1

4). Empathy. The ability to understand the emotional makeup of other people. A skill in treating people according to their emotional reactions.1

a.) Hallmarks include expertise in building and retaining talent, cross-cultural sensitivity, and service to clients and customers.1

5). Social skills. Identifying social cues to establish common ground manage relationships and build networks.2

a.) Hallmarks of social skills include effectiveness in leading change, persuasiveness, and expertise building and leading teams. Additional traits are Communication: Listening and responding appropriately, Influence and Leadership: The ability to guide and inspire others, and Conflict Management: The ability to diffuse difficult situations using persuasion and negotiation.1,2

By developing our Emotional Intelligence in these areas and the five EQ domains we can become more productive and successful at what we do, and help others to be more productive and successful too. The process and outcomes of Emotional Intelligence development also contain many elements known to reduce stress for individuals and organizations, by decreasing conflict, improving relationships and understanding, and increasing stability, continuity and harmony.3

Please stay tuned for the next blog on how self-awareness can help you and your business.

We enjoy bringing this blog to you every week and hope you find value in it. For more information on how we can help you with your procurement needs 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:

  1. https://www.sonoma.edu/users/s/swijtink/teaching/philosophy_101/paper1/goleman.htm
  2. http://inspirebusinesssolutions.com/blog/5-main-components-of-emotional-intelligence
  3. http://www.businessballs.com/eq.htm

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