Have you ever established a relationship with a supplier, only to realize, later, that you'd made the wrong choice?

For example, you may have found a supplier that offered a good price, but later realized that its quality standards were low, or that its communication was unacceptably poor.

Mismatches between your needs and a supplier's offerings can add costs, cause delays, and even damage your organization's reputation – for example, if the equipment or resources supplied are substandard.

The "10 Cs of Supplier Evaluation" help you avoid problems like these. This checklist helps you to set out your organization's needs, understand how suppliers can meet them, and identify the right supplier for you.

Tip:
You can adapt the 10 Cs checklist to outline your organization's needs in a tendering process. Use each of the elements to state the standards that you want your bidders to meet.

Overview Ray Carter, director of DPSS Consultants, first outlined his Seven Cs of Supplier Evaluation in a 1995 article in "Purchasing and Supply Management." He later added three new Cs to the model.

The 10 Cs are:

1. Competency.
2. Capacity.
3. Commitment.
4. Control.
5. Cash.
6. Cost.
7. Consistency.
8. Culture.
9. Clean.
10. Communication.

Used as a checklist, the 10 Cs model can help you evaluate potential suppliers in several ways.

First, you can use it to analyze different aspects of a supplier's business: examining all 10 elements of the checklist will give you a broad understanding of the supplier's effectiveness and ability to deliver.

The checklist can also help you negotiate a lower price with a supplier.

For example, you're unlikely to find one that excels in all 10 areas; however, one might be strong in some areas and weak in others. You can use this insight to bargain for a lower price, especially if you perceive that the supplier's weaknesses pose a risk for your firm, and if you need to take action to minimize this risk.

Tip:
If you have only a few suppliers to vet, you might quickly eliminate all of them, if you want them to excel in all 10 Cs.

To avoid this, use a tool such as Grid Analysis to choose the supplier who best satisfies the conditions that are important to you. However, also double-check the areas where the supplier is weak – some of these may make a relationship impossible.

Using the 10 Cs Let's look at how you can apply the 10 Cs to find the supplier that will best fit your organization's needs and values.

Tip 1:
When asking questions of either the supplier or its customers, be ready to ask probing questions – ones that will reveal the level of detail that you need to make an informed decision.

Tip 2:
For business-critical resources, for situations where you will be spending a lot of money, or where you want a long-term relationship with a supplier, it's worth putting a lot of effort into supplier evaluation.

1. Competency First, look at how competent this supplier is. Make a thorough assessment of the supplier's capabilities measured against your needs, but then also look at what other customers think. How happy are they with the supplier? Have they encountered any problems? And why have former customers changed supplier?

Look for customers whose needs and values are similar to yours, to ensure that the information you gather is relevant to your organization.

2. Capacity The supplier needs to have enough capacity to handle your firm's requirements. So, how quickly will it be able to respond to these, and to other market and supply fluctuations?

Look at all of the supplier's resources, too. Does it have the resources to meet your needs, particularly when commitments to other clients are considered? (These resources include staff, equipment, storage, and available materials.)

3. Commitment Your supplier needs to provide evidence that it's committed to high quality standards. Where appropriate, look for quality initiatives within the organization, such as ISO 9001 and Six Sigma.

The supplier also needs to show that it is committed to you, as a customer, for the duration of the time that you expect to work together. (This is particularly important if you're planning a long-term relationship with the supplier.)

You'll need evidence of its ongoing commitment to delivering to your requirements, whatever the needs of its other customers.

4. Control Query how much control this supplier has over its policies, processes, procedures, and supply chain.

How will it ensure that it delivers consistently and reliably, particularly if it relies on scarce resources, and particularly if these are controlled by another organization?

5. Cash Your supplier should be in good financial health. Cash-positive firms are in a much better position to weather the ups and downs of an uncertain economy.

So, does this supplier have plenty of cash at hand, or is it overextended financially? And what information can the supplier offer to demonstrate its ongoing financial strength?

6. Cost Look at the cost of the product that this supplier provides. How does this compare with the other firms that you're considering?

Most people consider cost to be a key factor when choosing a supplier. However, cost is in the middle of the 10 Cs list for a reason: other factors, such as a commitment to quality and financial health, can potentially affect your business much more than cost alone, particularly if you will be relying on the supplier on an ongoing basis.

7. Consistency How will this supplier ensure that it consistently provides high quality goods or services?

No one can be perfect all of the time. However, the supplier should have processes or procedures in place to ensure consistency. Ask this supplier about its approach, and get a demonstration and a test product, if possible.

8. Culture The best business relationships are based on closely matching workplace values. This is why looking at the supplier's business culture is important. For example, what if your organization's most important value is quality, and your main supplier cares more about meeting deadlines? This mismatch could mean that it's willing to cut corners in a way that could prove to be unacceptable to you.

Use the Cultural Web as a guide to organizational culture.

9. Clean This refers to this supplier's commitment to sustainability, and its adherence to environmental laws and best practices. What is it doing to lighten its environmental footprint? Ask to see evidence of any green accolades or credentials that it's earned.

Also, does this supplier treat its people – and the people around it – well; and does it have a reputation for doing business ethically?

10. Communication Query how the supplier plans to keep in touch with you. Will its proposed communication approaches align with your preferred methods? And who will be your contact person at this firm?

It's also important to find out how the supplier will handle communications in the event of a crisis. How quickly will it notify you if there's a supply disruption? How will that communication take place? And will you be able to reach senior people, if you need to?

Tip:
Ensure that all of the information generated by your research – especially queries aimed directly at the supplier – is in writing. This will mean that information is "on the record," and that you can locate it easily in case of a problem.

Key Points Ray Carter first developed his Seven Cs of Supplier Evaluation in 1995. He later added three more Cs.

The 10 Cs are:

1. Competency.
2. Capacity.
3. Commitment.
4. Control.
5. Cash.
6. Cost.
7. Consistency.
8. Culture.
9. Clean.
10. Communication.

You can use this model to evaluate the competency and viability of potential suppliers. This, in turn, can help you choose the firm that best meets your needs, and that aligns with your organization's values.

Now, having said all that, put it in the context of psychology and how it can apply to you personally.  Look at the ten C's and question what and how you are doing things or not doing things for yourself.  How are you denying yourself the possibilities for change and for positive action?  Ask your what are you competent in ?  What is your capacity ? Where do you wish to go with your skills ?  How much of a commitment are you making toward change and in helping yourself ?  Who is controling who; is fear controlling you ? Money is always a factor in life; are you spending wisely ?  Food prices, insurance, monthly rent or mortgage, other bills you receive is costly; are you balancing your budget ?  Are you consistent in what you do or do you waste frivolously and shy away from growth possibilities ?  Are you culturally accepting or are you divesting yourself of potential networking and further personal growth ?  We need to keep ourselves hygenic and groomed no matter how we feel because by looking better you will see yourself with a better personal view.  So are you taking care of yourself mentally and physically ?  And lastly, communication via positive self-talk or by positive interaction with colleagues, friends, neighbours, will only enhance your well-being and outlook.  Are you communicating in a manner which lends itself to a friendly atmosphere ?  As you can see the ten C's may be applied to business and to personal psychology; what you do with it is up to you.

Sources:
http://www.nevi.nl/sites/default/files/kennisdocument/LEV-PORT-art-013-bl.pdf
http://docs.oasis-open.org/ubl/prd1-UBL-2.1/UBL-2.1.html
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/10-cs.htm#np
https://depts.washington.edu/oei/resources/toolsTemplates/grid_analysis.pdf
http://www.sixsigmaonline.org/index.html
http://corevalues.com/work-environment/key-workplace-values/
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2006.tb00318.x/

When was the last time your doctor asked how many close friends you have? If you participate in social activities? If you experience periods of loneliness and feelings of isolation?  Everybody will tell you "Don’t drink too much", "Quit smoking", "Be physically active". Although many people may not follow these rules, they are well aware of how crucial they are to health.  However, how many doctors tell you that if you are alone, you need to have social activities, build friendships, and explore human interaction.

It's long been known that elderly people are more prone to depression and other mental-health problems if they live on their own. New research suggests the same pattern may also be found in younger, working-age adults.

In a study of nearly 3,500 men and women ages 30 to 65, researchers in Finland found that people who lived alone were more likely that their peers to receive a prescription for antidepressant drugs. One-quarter of people living alone filled an antidepressant prescription during the seven-year study, compared to just 16 percent of those who lived with spouses, family, or roommates.

"Living alone may be considered a mental-health risk factor," says lead author Laura Pulkki-Råback, Ph.D., a lecturer at the University of Helsinki's Institute of Behavioral Sciences. The study was published today in the journal BMC Public Health.

Surveys of the study participants suggest that solo living may weaken social networks and produce "feelings of alienation from society" that could steer people toward depression, Pulkki-Råback says. "People living alone were more cynical in their attitudes," she explains. "Being cynical and living alone may predispose to hopelessness and negative feelings, ultimately leading to depression."

John Newcomer, M.D., a professor of psychiatry at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, says depression and feelings of isolation usually go hand in hand, and it's not always clear which comes first.

"Being depressed certainly can cause you to not only feel, but [also] become, more isolated," he says. "You feel hopeless that you're ever going to be able to have relationships, but even at another level, you ... just don't feel like getting up and going out. You're undermotivated to do the various steps that are necessary to achieve social engagement."

Loneliness and isolation can affect your quality of life -- and maybe one's quantity of life, too. According to a pair of studies published today in the Archives of Internal Medicine, living alone -- or even just feeling lonely -- may increase a person's risk of premature death.

One study followed nearly 45,000 people ages 45 and up who had heart disease or a high risk of developing the condition. Those who lived alone, the study found, were more likely to die from heart attacks, strokes, or other heart complications over a four-year period than people living with family or friends, or in some other communal arrangement.

The risk was highest in middle-aged people, just 14% of whom lived alone. Solo living increased the risk of heart problems and early death by 24% among people ages 45 to 65, and by only 12% among people ages 66 to 80. And there was no association at all in people age 80 and older, a group in which living alone is common.

Why is living alone potentially harmful? Especially among the middle-aged, a demographic in which living with a spouse or partner is the norm, living alone may be a sign of social or psychological problems, such as relationship trouble, a weak support system, job stress, or depression-- all of which have been linked to heart disease.  Living alone "could be a little red flag" that a patient may be at a higher risk of bad outcomes.

Although it may not be a routine part of a check-up, the quality of our social connections can have a major impact on our health. People who experience long periods of loneliness have been found to develop serious health problems, including cardiovascular disease, dementia and decreased mobility, at much higher rates than people who don’t feel isolated. A major review of research into the effects of social disconnectedness on health, published in the journal PLOS Medicine in 2010, declared loneliness is just as dangerous to health as smoking and takes an even greater toll than obesity or physical inactivity.

There are growing concerns about the effects of loneliness on health as more Canadians live alone, potentially making some vulnerable to social isolation. For the first time, singleton households outnumber those consisting of couples with children, according to census figures released last year. Loneliness is often dismissed as a minor social issue that only affects a segment of the elderly population. But as it turns out, it’s a far larger issue.

“I think we’ve underestimated the importance of the social milieu just as fish underestimate the importance of water,” said John Cacioppo, director of the Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience at the University of Chicago.

How can a human emotion have such a powerful hold over physical health?

Researchers don’t yet have a complete understanding of the relationship, but they say prolonged feelings of loneliness or isolation can cause hormonal, genetic and other changes that may contribute to the risk of developing health problems. Scientists have also discovered that social isolation actually changes the way our brains function. For example, a recent experiment involving Romanian orphans showed that children raised in an institutional environment that was notorious for neglect had significantly less grey and white brain matter and far less electrical signalling than those raised in foster care.

“We’re a social species and if you don’t have others around you [that] you can trust …your brain effectively knows it’s on the social perimeter,” said Cacioppo. “All social species, when they’re on the perimeter, they’re at risk.”

Cacioppo, whose groundbreaking research discovered, among other things, that lonely people are more likely to develop vascular resistance, a prime risk factor for high blood pressure, said the health effects are extremely complex and likely developed as an evolutionary response. When we’re cut off from social networks, we suffer more frequent sleep disturbances and have higher stress levels as the brain goes into a high alert, protective mode, he says.

Britain is emerging as a leader in addressing social isolation on a population-wide level. Its government announced in November plans to map the incidence of loneliness across the country in order to develop strategies for what Health Minister Jeremy Hunt described as an urgent issue.

Of course, the relationship between loneliness and ill health is more complex than the number of people who sleep under one roof. Being alone doesn’t lead to health problems. But when people feel disconnected and cut off from the world, it’s a different story. Although living alone may put some individuals at greater risk of experiencing those feelings, research shows that people who live with others can also feel isolated.

“Living alone doesn’t mean people are lonely,” said Carsten Wrosch, professor in the department of psychology in the Centre for Research in Human Development at Concordia University in Montreal.

A study published last year in the JAMA Internal Medicine journal found people over 60 who felt lonely were more likely to experience functional decline and death than those who weren’t, regardless of whether they lived alone.

“Simply solving the issue by placing people living with others is not going to single-handedly remove the adverse health effects,” said Emily Bucholz, a Yale University PhD candidate who co-authored a commentary on social isolation and health.

One of the biggest challenges in developing comprehensive strategies that help socially isolated people develop meaningful connections is the fact that few people want to talk about it.

“People would far rather have some awful diagnosis than just admit they were lonely,” said Jacqueline Olds, clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School who co-authored The Lonely American: Drifting Apart in the Twenty-First Century. “Almost anything would be preferable to saying, ‘I’m just as lonely as can be.’”

If governments put a greater focus on the potentially devastating consequences of social isolation, it would be a major step to helping those in need, she said. In the meantime, there are groups working to reach those who would otherwise fall through the cracks.

The Langley Senior Resources Society has established several programs to encourage seniors to create and maintain social networks. Volunteer drivers are on hand to take seniors shopping or to do home visits with those who aren’t comfortable venturing out. They also have a “telephone buddy” system that connects trained senior volunteers with socially isolated elderly individuals.

The B.C. centre also recently ran a series of workshops on “Letting Go of Loneliness.” The workshops focused on helping elderly individuals accept that while they may never replace the lifelong friends and partners who have died, they can still create new relationships. The response to the programs has been overwhelmingly positive, says Janice McTaggart, director of outreach and volunteer services.

“When you have other things to think about and other things to talk about, you don’t dwell on your issues quite as much,” she said. “Lots of people that come to the centre here tell us we saved their lives.”


Sources :
http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/18/health/mental-health/loneliness-isolation-health/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/18/health/mental-health/loneliness-isolation-health/index.html
http://psychology.about.com/od/psychotherapy/a/loneliness.htm
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/from-hormones-to-brain-function-why-living-alone-may-be-bad-for-your-health/article7251467/

This edited article is reprinted courtesy of Rotman Magazine, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.

Seth Godin, the best-selling author and ‘Ultimate Entrepreneur for the Information Age’ describes the importance of making yourself indispensable.

You recently said that “There are no longer any great jobs where someone tells you precisely what to do.” What are the implications for today’s workers?

The fact is that today, any type of work that can be done ‘by the book’ can easily be moved to someone who will do it for cheaper. And companies have to do this, because the competition is doing the same thing – there is this ‘race to the bottom’ going on. What this means to the modern worker is one of two things: either you need to accept the fact that you are part of the race to the bottom – which isn’t good, because you just might win; or you need to do work that cannot be written down in a manual. If the work you do is work that only you can do, that creates scarcity, which is the goal in the modern workplace. What needs to be done at the business school level – and at the elementary and high school levels – is to spend way more time helping people develop unique skills and not worry so much about making them be compliant and able to do a bunch of things on a checklist.

Basically, you believe that we must become indispensible in order to thrive going forward. How does a person become what you call a ‘linchpin’?

The short definition of a linchpin is, ‘someone who would be missed if they were gone.’ The nature of the industrial system was to have an organizational chart, and if someone didn’t show up for work, you didn’t shut down the factory – you just put someone else in their spot. A linchpin is someone who doesn’t have a spot like that; these are people that we depend on, and if they go missing, it’s a big problem. Job seekers have to decide, are they looking for an opportunity where they get to make an imprint and be counted on? Or, are they looking for a job that could be filled by many different people, where they could be replaced in a day? Basically, you can either fit in or stand out – not both; today’s workers are either defending the status quo or challenging it.

In what ways are modern workers ‘artists’ and their jobs ‘platforms’?

‘Art’ is about a lot more than painting. Art is the act of a human being doing something that has never been done before. It’s what happens when a human being connects with somebody else and makes an impact. Sure, sometimes that involves a painting or a sculpture or a theatrical play, but it can also be the way a doctor deals with a three-year-old who’s not feeling well. In Louis Hyde’s brilliant book The Gift, he says that a key aspect of art is that it always has a ‘gift’ component to it. Looking at a Pablo Picasso painting or listening to a Paul McCartney song doesn’t cost anything; it’s free – a gift from the artist to the person who receives it. Likewise, the notion that we can use digital networks to connect people, to contribute an idea or do something that benefits a tribe or society – those are all gifts. Once you get in the habit of giving these gifts and bringing emotional labour to the table, you are much more likely to create art; and once you start making art, you may discover that you’ve become a linchpin –that you’re scarce and highly valued.

You have said that in today’s environment, ‘depth of knowledge’ on its own can get people into big trouble, and that schools should teach only two things: how to solve interesting problems and how to lead. Please explain.

I just wrote a book about that called, Stop Stealing Dreams [available free online at stopstealingdreams.com] where I argue that innovative organizations such as Wikipedia and the Kahn Academy have eliminated the need for us to memorize stuff, because we now all have access to any information in just three keystrokes. As a result, you will never again hire someone merely because they have access to data, because we all have access to data. You are going to hire people because they can solve a problem that hasn’t been solved before, because the problems that have been solved before are easy to look up. That’s why the skills of connecting people, standing up for what you believe in and making a difference are now significantly more important than your ability to solve a quadratic equation. It’s not that depth of knowledge is of no value: when it is combined with good judgment, diagnostic skills or nuanced insight, it is still worth a lot.

You have criticized traditional hiring practices, particularly the focus on résumés. What should replace the résumé, in your view?

If you really think about it, a résumé is merely a chronicle of a lifetime of compliance. It says, “Here are examples of companies you have probably heard of where I was hired to do exactly as I was told.” This is still a good way to get a job where you are going to be told what to do; but the alternative is to have a body of work – a trail that you’ve left behind of things you have accomplished and problems you have solved. There are lots of ways to describe that now; you can do it online or you can do it on a piece of paper. My point is, the important part isn’t the piece of paper; it’s being able to point to a trail, being able to say, ‘I’m the guy who wrote this part of Linux,’ or, ‘I’m the woman who got this person elected.’ Once you have a ‘list’ of the impact you have made on the world, getting a job will be easy, because these are the kind of people employers seek out. By the time an ad is listed in the newspaper or on Craigslist , the employer has already announced that they are just looking for a cog for their machine.

You have said that access to capital and appropriate connections are not as essential as they once were, and that the biggest shift in today’s economy is self determination . Are people up for this challenge?

Not everyone, that’s for sure. A lot of what I’m talking about is easily countered by people who will say, ‘That is all fine and good, but who is going to pick up my garbage? And who is going to assemble my iPad?’ To that I say, of course someone needs to do these things, but it doesn’t have to be you. What we’re dealing with right now is the following: anyone who wants to start a business today can build a cash-flow positive business for one fiftieth of what it cost 10 years ago, because the cost of reaching a worldwide market has dropped to zero, and the cost of finding people to produce what you make has gone down to a trivial number. The connection economy has transformed all that, so that once you have a business that makes a little bit of money, raising more money for it is easy. What is hard is making money in a business that has no future.

As for connections, I personally haven’t set foot in the Century Club, the Harvard Club or any of the other clubs in New York City in a decade. Why would I? The fact is, if you speak up online and your ideas have currency, people are going to show up and want to connect with you. What we need more of are people with the guts and the emotional labour to do this – not people who were lucky enough to get into a particular elementary school so they could get into Harvard later on and get the ‘right job.’ The greatest shortage in today’s society is an instinct to produce.

Seth Godin is the best-selling author of 15 books that have been translated into 38 languages. His latest is We Are All Weird (The Domino Project, 2011). He holds an MBA from Stanford, and was called “the Ultimate Entrepreneur for the Information Age” by BusinessWeek .

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