
The Perito Moreno Glacier, Argentina. Even though many glaciers have picked up their pace of late, a glacial pace is still too slow for most business applications. Photo by Bruno Camargo.
Poor communication — or no communication — is perhaps the most frustrating challenge confronting those who must work with unresponsive suppliers. We send email and get no response. We telephone, only to reach voicemail or be screened by someone who takes a message. Again, no reponse. We try calling at odd hours, hoping to catch our target unaware and unscreened, and when we do connect, we hear "I can't get that right now, but I'll get back to you." Right.
Only the supplier can control the supplier's behavior. What we control is our own behavior. Before applying other (possibly more coercive) methods of securing cooperation, ensure that your own house is in order. Here are some suggestions for encouraging cooperative behavior.
- Limit the number of people empowered to contact the supplier
- A single point of contact is usually enough, but if more are needed, keep the number small, and designate a principal contact. If you do have multiple contacts, don't contradict each other, do keep each other informed, and don't repeat messages to the supplier unnecessarily. To avoid turnover in the principal contact role, choose people who are unlikely to retire, or be terminated, or be reassigned. Favor people with experience in the role, and who are credible and possess a professional demeanor.
- Be available and responsive
- Difficulty in reaching people in your organization can elicit similar unavailability among people in the supplier organization. Be certain that the supplier can reach anyone when needed, by phone, voicemail, email, or text. Return all contact attempts promptly. Single-number unified mobile and desk-based telephone systems are essential.
- Use the telephone
- Telephone conversations are more effective than email messages, because they're more conducive to mutual understanding. Sadly, unresponsive suppliers are likely unavailable by telephone, but try anyway. Time zone differences can make telephone contact difficult, but if a live telephone conversation can resolve the problem, waking at 2 AM to make a phone call will be worthwhile.
- Keep email messages short and focused
- Because email Telephone conversations are more
effective than email messages,
because they're more conducive
to mutual understandingtraffic can become annoying, minimize it. Stick to one topic per message. Use a subject line that corresponds to the topic — don't recycle subject lines. Send messages only to the people who need to read them. - Limit the number and length of meetings
- If supplier representatives are expected to attend face-to-face or virtual meetings, limit the length and frequency of the meetings. Conduct meetings with ruthless efficiency.
- Notice early indications of unresponsiveness
- If you suspect that the supplier might become unresponsive, conduct a few tests and log the results. Use this data to alert others on your team to the issue and ask them to report similar performance issues. If a problematic pattern emerges, decide what to do as a team, or solicit advice and assistance from elsewhere in your organization.
Next time we'll explore the special case of government suppliers — agencies, regulators, and others upon whom we depend for critical services. First in this series Next in this series Top
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Related articles
More articles on Conflict Management:
What Insubordinate Nonsubordinates Want: II
- When you're responsible for an organizational function, and someone not reporting to you won't recognize
your authority, or doesn't comply with policies you rightfully established, you have a hard time carrying
out your responsibilities. Why does this happen?
Handling Heat: I
- Heated exchanges in meetings are expensive to both the organizational mission and to the careers of
the meeting's participants. Preventing them — or dealing with them when they happen — is
everyone's job. But what can you do when they persist?
Agenda Despots: I
- Many of us abhor meetings. Words like boring, silly, and waste come to mind. But for some meeting chairs,
meetings aren't boring at all, because they fear losing control of the agenda. To maintain control,
they use the techniques of the Agenda Despots.
Capability Inversions and Workplace Abuse
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unit's leader might be misinterpreted as bullying.
Toxic Disrupters: Tactics
- Some people tend to disrupt meetings. Their motives vary, but they use techniques drawn from a limited
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See also Conflict Management and Project Management for more related articles.
Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout
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- To take the risks that learning and practicing new ways require, we all need a sense that trial-and-error approaches are safe. Organizations seeking to improve processes would do well to begin by assessing their level of psychological safety. Available here and by RSS on December 13.
And on December 20: Contrary Indicators of Psychological Safety: II
- When we begin using new tools or processes, we make mistakes. Practice is the cure, but practice can be scary if the grace period for early mistakes is too short. For teams adopting new methods, psychological safety is a fundamental component of success. Available here and by RSS on December 20.
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