Yesterday I was working with a client to develop a workshop they have asked me to facilitate in order to help them turn their existing relationship into a high gear, highly collaborative Vested relationship. I came up with a title for the workshop that included the word “winning.” My client asked me to take out [...]
Most people in this industry, me included, tend to write about what outsourcing is, or should be. That’s a natural and normal approach, especially as we develop concepts and systems and the right way to outsource—such as (ahem) the Vested Outsourcing way! But sometimes looking through the other end of the lens can bring a [...]
Sometimes it is worthwhile to go back to the future—especially when it comes to pulling Stephen R. Covey’s, The 7 habits of Highly Effective People, off the shelf for a quick review. Covey’s classic bestseller on personal effectiveness, published in 1989, has huge lessons for business and leadership effectiveness; it also has great resonance for [...]
The old adage about being careful what you ask for applies to contract terms and conditions in spades: you may think you are properly protecting an outsourcing arrangement and insulating it from risk, but the flip side is that numerous T&Cs mean more costs that eat away at profits. Copious, onerous and (often) unnecessary T&Cs [...]
Recognition for groundbreaking work from the peers in our industry, namely from the Supply Chain Council this week, is both a wonderful honor and also great challenge. SCC announced the winners of the 2011 North American Supply Chain Excellence Awards at the annual Supply Chain World conference in Baltimore. There are three award categories, operational [...]
Don’t mistake a transaction, even a friendly and efficient transaction, as true collaboration. If someone arranges to purchase widgets from a widget-maker that’s the essence of the make-buy decision but it’s not the crowning achievement of a real partnership. Or as Ben Gomes-Casseres puts it, “a partnership is not a purchase order.” Writing this week [...]
Transparency is another of the oft-used buzzwords that is more spoken about and wished-for than actually implemented. I’ve always been a fan of Seth Godin, but I was struck by this latest post from Seth Godin that talks about a sort anti-transparency movement which – in my opinion – is not healthy. The first example [...]
Win-win thinking is not just something nice to say. It’s smart business and really is beautiful… In the article “All in the Game,” lead researcher Kate Vitasek explains why smart companies are challenging winner-takes-all approaches and are going all in to win-win approaches.
DC Velocity’s Basic Training column this week has an interesting take on gainsharing and the value that it can bring to the logistics outsourcing world. It’s mostly spot-on and very kind. But I must firmly set the record straight when the authors, Art van Bodegraven and Kenneth B. Ackerman assert in their “Gain sharing, pain [...]
Members of the University of Tennessee’s Center for Executive Education share their five steps and a series of tips to improve your outsourcing relationship right from the start, in their article “5 Steps to Improving Your 3PL Relationship.“
