Tag: Business Planning

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How Does Procurement Get a Seat at the Table?

One of the most frequently asked procurement questions is… “how does procurement get a seat at the table?”

For non-procurement people, this means:

  • Being including in purchasing decisions with business customers
  • Customers asking for feedback about suppliers
  • Using procurement data to develop trends and drive better purchasing decisions

This video covers 5 techniques to improve procurement and business engagement:

  1. Aligning Procurement with Business Goals
  2. Building Strong Relationships
  3. Leveraging Data and Analytics
  4. Demonstrating Leadership
  5. Continuous Improvement

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News You Can Use: 10/10/2018

  • How to Disconnect From ‘Always On’ Work Culture

    According to a 2016 study by the Academy of Management, employees tally an average of 8 hours a week answering work-related emails after leaving the office. Echoing that, a 2015 Harris Poll for the American Psychological Association found that 30% of men and 23% of women regularly bring work home. Similar percentages admitted to working on vacation and to bringing “work materials” along on social outings (we hope they don’t mean accordion folders). All of this, many experts in psychology agree, causes stress, ruins sleep habits and cripples our ability to stay active and engaged during actual office hours.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-disconnect-from-always-on-work-culture-1538740171?ns=prod/accounts-wsj

  • Never, ever utter these phrases in a salary negotiation

    I am currently making:
    “I call this The Dreaded Salary Question and it’s tricky because it usually comes up early in the interview process, and most candidates don’t think of it as part of a salary negotiation even though it is,” says Doody. “Answering this question by disclosing numbers can make it very difficult to negotiate effectively later on because it can box the candidate in. Once they disclose current or desired salary, the offers they get are very likely to be tied to those numbers. That can be very expensive if the company might have offered them a much higher salary than they disclosed.”

    https://www.fastcompany.com/90246630/what-not-to-say-in-a-salary-negotiation

  • How to be a better leader: Offer guidance, not instruction
  • The Rumors of Podcasting’s Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

    In today’s “move fast and break things” digital media culture it isn’t surprising that companies and talent can find themselves off course, and need to back up and change tack. When you move quickly, you have to accept that the risk will increase and you’ll make some decisions that you will later wish you could change. Out of all the companies who have recognized the opportunity in digital audio and podcasting, it isn’t surprising that these pivots are happening. If anything, it would be weird and shocking if everyone made the correct maneuvers every time. It would be depressing if no one was willing to admit some things weren’t working.

    https://medium.com/audio-insurgent/the-rumors-of-podcastings-death-have-been-greatly-exaggerated-a25d4066997c

  • Finish the Year Strong to Carry Momentum Into 2019

    As entrepreneurs, we must watch the bottom line at all times. Every move we make has to bring us a return on our investment. Lately, I’ve seen a big shift in the market. The “cut through to the bottom line” mindset can only take you so far. I’ve been able to grow my business faster by focusing on the impact rather than the income. Don’t get me wrong. I charge for my services, and I’m not running a non-profit, but income is not my main focus.

    I recently helped a client create a framework in his business that gave him a sense of purpose. He was ready to sell all his assets and move to an island with his wife and kids because his idea of success was being met by his expectations in his business. I helped him see that he simply needed to focus less on the transactions and more on the transcendence his business could provide. He owns multiple businesses, so it took him some time to figure out how he could help his clients have a better experience rather than treating them as singular transactions.

    https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/319535

Photo by Janusz Maniak on Unsplash

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News You Can Use: 9/8/2016

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  • 3 Examples of When Being Cheap Is Costly for Your Business

    Your employees are critical to the success of your business. Their skills affect the quality of your products or services. And since they interact with customers, clients and vendors, they are the ambassadors of your company. You get what you pay for. Investing more money in your employees can help avoid damage to your business reputation.

    If you need additional help in the future, you can bring in some entry-level workers, knowing you invested in a core staff with knowledge and skills to train them. In fact, fewer well-paid employees can often do the jobs of many lesser-paid ones.

    Moreover, it is very costly, both in real dollars and opportunity costs, to retrain employees. Be willing to pay a bit more to hire and retain people with core shared values and great work ethics.

    https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/281195

  • How to give a great research talk

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/academic-program/give-great-research-talk/
  • How To Build A High-Performance Sourcing Department

    There are times when sourcing staff can feel overwhelmed with work. If a sourcing leader sees their staff drowning in a high req load; it would be a good idea for that leader to roll up their sleeves and help their employees out. Not only will the employee respect their manager’s success at filling reqs; this approach can help reduce the turnover of over-worked sourcers. To quote Vince Lombardi, “Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.”

    http://www.eremedia.com/sourcecon/how-to-build-a-high-performance-sourcing-department-part-5-leading-by-example/
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  • Why Middle Managers Are Secretly the Superheroes of the Workplace

    Managers already have considerable control over employee engagement efforts. We don’t see any reason for this trend not to continue, especially with the number of middle managers working in the U.S. and around the world (The Economist reported in 2011 that Lloyd’s Banking Group would layoff 15,000 middle managers — which begs the question how many they had in total).

    https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/280573

  • 7 Steps to a Perfectly Written Business Plan

    Whether you’re sharing your plan with an investor, customer, or team member, your plan needs to show that you’re passionate, dedicated, and actually care about your business and the plan. You could discuss the mistakes that you’ve learned, the problems that you’re hoping to solve, listing your values, and what makes you stand out from the competition.

    https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/281416

Photo: Rikki Chan