A 12-step program for outsourcing laced with a dash of humor

The current issue of The Outsource Report offers this advice.

Given the popularity of 12-step programs for treating everything from airplane flight aversion to bad hair days, we [The Outsource Report] think it’s only fair that we have an outsourcing 12-step program. Substituting “supplier” for “higher power” and making some minor adjustments, the results go like this:

1. We admitted we were powerless over outsourcing and that our FM lives have become unmanageable.
2. We came to believe that a supplier greater than ourselves could restore our sanity.
3. We made a decision to turn our FM operations over to the care of a supplier.
4. We made a searching and fearless inventory of our facility assets and CIFM data needs.
5. We admitted to our supplier, to our CFO and to another FM the exact nature of our outsourcing sins.
6. We were entirely ready to have our almighty supplier remove all these defects of reluctance to outsource.
7. We humbly asked our supplier to remove all our shortcomings.
8. We made a list of all subcontractors we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. We made direct amends to subcontractors wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. We continue to take asset inventory and when we’re inaccurate, promptly admit it.
11. We sought through hope and trust to improve our conscious contact with our supplier as we understood them, praying for knowledge of their superior wisdom, and their power to carry it out.
12. We have had an outsourcing awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other FMs, and practice these principles in all our affairs with outsourcers.

When you get to Step 7 you know you are on the road to creating a true strategic alliance with your supplier. You only hope that your supplier will forgive you. So, go-ahead, post the 12 steps right by the front door and acknowledge that you are on the road to recovery. Make amends to your supplier. And if you see another poor soul in need, by all means give them a copy of the 12 steps and take them to your next supplier partnership meeting. Let’s all benefit from this new-found cure to our outsourcing woes!

To learn more about outsourcing, visit The Outsource Report.

Based on a report from The Outsource Report