In Charles Dickens’ classic “A Christmas Carol” it took visits from the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future to get Ebenezer Scrooge to change his ways. This is the time of year where we all go through a little of that as individuals and as businesses. Productivity tends to wane in these last weeks of December (at least productivity as defined by output per worker or labor hour). But there are also qualitative aspects of productivity such as creativity, teamwork and innovation. While those may be harder to measure, they can certainly impact a company. So as our minds wander let’s turn our attention to those and think about what was and what has yet to be. Can’t you just about hear the chains rattling?
Click Here to Read Full Article >>
I have always positioned myself as a "customer advocate". I have a natural predisposition to see things through the eyes of the client. In doing this I often take a very simplistic approach to business issues: just take care of the customer and everything will work out. Sure there are exceptions, but I genuinely believe that in most cases this approach works. Back in my early days as a quota carrying sales rep (at a company that will remain nameless) where the object was to sell, sell, sell and never let facts gets in the way of closing a deal, my 'customer centric' approach was frowned upon. Nonetheless, I always hit my numbers so I knew I was on to something. It wasn't until later in my career when I was introduced to Emerson's Essay on Compensation that I really started to understand why this approach worked. It seems, if you believe Emerson's theory, that good ultimately does beget good...do the right thing and it will pay off. So yes, the Golden Rule of "treat others as you would wish to be treated" applies in business just as in life.
Click Here to Read Full Article >>
The term "best practices" is in danger of becoming like so many other popular phrases of the last 20 years. Think about contingency planning, paradigm shifts, thinking outside the box, scalability, the paperless office, etc. I could go on an on becasue I do strive to be buzzword compliant. The thing all these have in common are that they are great concepts and everybody talked about them, but did they actually get implemented and if they did are they still in place?
Click Here to Read Full Article >>
Back in 2005 a famous (or infamous depending on your view) article appeared in "Fast Company" magazine called Why We Hate HR and, understandably, it caused quite an uproar. The premise was that HR professionals were neither leaders nor strategic. Don't shoot me, I didn't write it. Now, five years later, one of the co-founders of Fast Company has written a blog article for the Harvard Business Review called Why We (Shouldn't) Hate HR. So what has changed?
Click Here to Read Full Article >>
In my previous post I attempted to remove the negative connotation associated with the term "Outsourcing". I am still on that soapbox because it bothers me that something so common, based on the way most of us live our lives, has come to be viewed as such a bad thing. OK, sure there are extreme examples where I would agree that certain types of outsourcing don't seem right. But, by and large, outsourcing is a perfectly normal way to conduct business. I suppose redefining the word may be more than I can accomplish so I'll just try to break down some of the myths associated with outsourcing so that it may be viewed in a more rational light.
Here is one of my favorites: "If you outsource that, you will lose control over it..."
Click Here to Read Full Article >>
If you just mention the word 'outsource' in a conversation, chances are someone will look at you as if you just called their baby ugly. It conjures up images of factories in the US closing down and sweatshops in third world countires. In the business context people equate 'outsourcing' something with 'losing control' over it. I even avoid using the term because I don't want people thinking we are something that we aren't. OK, yes, there are certainly bad examples of outsourcing, but it is not a bad word or even a bad concept. In fact, most of us outsource things all the time and don't think twice about it.
Click Here to Read Full Article >>
Why are we here? No, this isn't some philosophical question of existence. I mean - why are we here here talking about temporary labor or staffing?
If you you have work that needs to be done there is certainly no shortage of staffing companies around; just look online (Or in a phone book. Yes, many people still use those). You can buy hours and hours of labor from any number of sources and, by and large, they will do a good job of providing a body. Before I go any farther, please understand that I believe there will always be a need for that type of basic buyer-supplier service, it is just that sometimes you need more...
Click Here to Read Full Article >>
I am writing today to review the new book by Kate Vitasek, Mike Ledyard and Karl Manrodt. The book is titled Vested Outsouring. This book explores the process leading companies go through to establish a relationship with their service partners that vests each party in the other's success. Kate is no stranger to this topic. I have known her for over 15 years while employed with one of the companies mentioned in her book, Stream International. Commissioned by the University of Tennessee to explore this topic, Kate and her team provide the 10 things that can go wrong with outsourcing and then offer the prescription to get it right. It is an excellent book for anyone who uses outsourced, or insourced, service providers and looking to improve their results.
Click Here to Read Full Article >>
The new website is up and running after much hard work by a lot of people, and we have created this great new brand image to help us tell our story. We have developed case studies, like the ones listed below and, and will be featuring them prominantly on the site. So what else is there to do?
Distribution Services Case Study
Insource helps client cut defects by 73% in just over two months.
Order Picking Services Case Study
Insource engineers a 48% accuracy improvement and a 57% productivity improvement.
Click Here to Read Full Article >>
Page 1 of 1 pages
