I was asked the other day to articulate the secret recipe to become a successful procurement individual. A great question!

My on-the-spot response was that procurement offered a service and by placing the customer (our stakeholders) at the center, engaging to understand needs, and collaborating with the customer to develop solutions, procurement would deliver value add that the customer actually values.

Together with this positional change, and to ensure procurement understands the business, procurement needs to act as a ‘business manager’ to appreciate the cost, quality and time factor interlock. Too often functions operate in silos and lack appreciation of what happens upstream and downstream.

A win in one function which leads to a failure in another part of the organization is not a success for the business. The challenge is finding a way forward that respects each contribution and gives individuals the opportunity to play their part within the time constraints. Moving from a reactive to proactive way of working pulls effort forward and essentially delivers more time for collaboration, but needs a level of business maturity.

Unfortunately many organizational success measures are not consistent; they can conflict and sometimes force a short sighted and short term approach within the respective function. Establishing common goals will enable individuals to work together as a team, and focus on a shared objective. The sum of the whole is greater than the parts!

My favored recipe:

• Customer centric mindset
• Business acumen and value creation skills
• Team work
• Focus

Successful procurement individuals that enact and advocate these attributes will deliver 10x impact compared to their counter parts.

Have a better and or improved recipe ? Alternatives welcome. Please share and comment.