Practical Solutions to Business Puzzles

Negotiate to set everyone up for success on mission critical projects
Monday, November 28th, 2005

One of my pet peeves when I was in sourcing was all the games that sales people played. Bait and switch, broken chair, sun in the eyes, scheduling interruptions, authority, divide and conquer, salami/loaf of bread, and the list goes on… and on… and on…

And the sourcing people at other companies had their own set of games. Broken chairs, sun in the eyes, scheduling interruptions, divide and conquer, salami/loaf of bread, authority, bait and switch, and the list goes on… and on… and on…

There has to be a better way, right? You are right. There is.
(more…)

Posted in Customers, Marketing, Negotiations, Sourcing | No Comments »

Identifying and developing effective training
Monday, November 28th, 2005

When one handles training and knowledge transfer acquisitions, it often seems like the approach that most people take in evaluating training from either a supplier or a customer perspective is the “I know it when I see it” test.

Everyone thinks that they understand training and that they can chose among training solutions. Yet, experience suggests that as much as 80% of training dollars are spent for training that does not meet an organization’s objectives. Few people understand how to handle training and knowledge transfer acquisitions and sales.
(more…)

Posted in Marketing, Resources, Sourcing, Training | No Comments »

Why dive in head first?
Sunday, November 27th, 2005

Have you seen people jumping into projects without first defining what they are trying to accomplish? I see this happen in class all the time and, sadly, I even see it happen in business…

Jumping into a project without first figuring out what is to be accomplished and determining project parameters seems a bit like jumping into a swimming pool head first, without checking to see whether there is any water in it.

Planning’s importance

The Art and Science of Negotiation by Howard Raiffa (ISBN 0-674-04813-X) cites a study of 32 senior (more…)

Posted in Planning Tips, Solving Problems | No Comments »

Working too much can hurt an organization’s bottom line
Sunday, November 27th, 2005

When you go on vacation, do you check e-mail and voice mail? As many as 40% of workers do so according to an article in today’s Dallas Morning News.

How often do you take work home or work long hours? Experience suggests that most managers and executives are working at least a 60 hour work week and taking work home at night and on weekends. This is a recipe for burnout and stress-related illnesses.

If you are on medical leave, do you actually “leave” the work at the office? Again, experience suggests that (more…)

Posted in Business Trends, Leadership, Solving Problems | No Comments »

Mentors for Diversity Firms
Saturday, November 26th, 2005

In this blog, I talked about resources where potential customers and prime suppliers can find diversity firms and where diversity firms can register their interest in consideration as part of diversity programs. The resources listed in the blog provide a good starting point for networking as well.

If one is trying to find mentors for diversity firms, the results of this search provide a second option…

mentor protege “supplier diversity” “historically underutilized”

Experience suggests that many large companies are happy to be contacted by certification-eligible diversity suppliers and that such companies often provide some degree of support for the certification-eligible diversity suppliers. Consequently, one can also visit the websites of large companies to determine the process for expressing an interest in doing business with the firms. This may be a third option, depending on one’s situation.

Highway to Hana, Maui, Hawaii 2005

Posted in Networking, Resources | No Comments »

Sources to find diversity firms
Saturday, November 26th, 2005

In business, one needs to make sure that the suppliers considered have different perspectives and are representative of one’s customers.

Types of Diversity Suppliers

In the US, there are generally four types of diversity suppliers which are:

Women-Owned Businesses
Minority-Owned Businesses
Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Businesses
Small Business

Preliminary Issues

When trying to locate a diversity firm, start by identifying the agencies from whom the certification may be accepted. Each state and each company requiring (more…)

Posted in About Coleen Davis, Corporate Citizenship, Sourcing | 1 Comment »

Strategic analysis of blogs?
Saturday, November 26th, 2005

In the corporate world, one would use software like Business Objects, Cognos, and Sea Gate to correlate factors like comments, posting topics, days of the week, time of the posting, and number of readers for blogs. Is this what Google Analytics does? Does anyone know of a software that does something along these lines?

A few years ago, there was a software product called ProCourse from New Course Education, Inc. My understanding is that the company went bankrupt - probably a case of being ahead of its time.

If there is a tool that can provide the type of functionality that I am describing, please let me know. The tool would help bloggers understand our readers better and that would help us do a better job of blogging on topics that have value to our readers.

Posted in Customers, Resources | No Comments »