Are you a Procurement person in the business, or a business person in Procurement?
For a few organizations, procurement is considered a ‘blocker’ preventing growth and success, and regarded as disconnected from business goals.
Procurement have a level of risk management responsibility, but this should not be applied with total disregard of the needs of the business. Our ability to build a collaborative relationship with the business requires procurement to act as business managers. We are all on the same team and have a common goal to ensure the business succeeds.
Procurement transformation is more than finding the right technology platform, it is changing the mindset and establishing a service centric approach with an attitude to succeed. Too often technology is applied to support a risk adverse, user unfriendly procurement transaction experience. This is a fundamental failure of procurement to understand its true value proposition and leverage the technology in the right way.
This does not mean we should be meek and afraid to challenge the business; our agenda should be to challenge and transform, thereby unlocking 10 x business contribution. Transform requires Procurement to understand the business challenges and pioneer a new approach. Set the vision. Technology enables humans. Become the business enabler! Lead change.
We are Bold, Optimistic, Human-Centric, Pioneering, Responsible.
We are Dreamers Who Do.
Our life is shaped by our relationships, and having recently started a new adventure, I want to thank all those that have enabled me and supported my latest journey.
Last week I met up with a couple of my ex-colleagues and was reminded how the power of team was truly awesome.
“Great things in business are never done by one person; they’re done by a team of people”
Steve Jobs
The ability to create and form high performing teams is an indication of great leadership, and whilst we all recognize individual performance and contribution, prioritizing individual performance limits success as a whole.
The opportunity to become a valued team player is personally fulfilling, however organizations have difficulty in quantifying business synergy (the total is more than sum of the parts) success. Giving this measure challenge, individuals tend to be geared towards independent goals. A common organizational pitfall is the way individuals are allocated objectives. Team or project initiatives are set the same functional ‘silo’ business as usual measures – none reflecting the value add of the ‘improvement’ that will materialize across the business as a whole. For example, imagine if a procurement goal was to reduce the volume of accounts payable invoicing issues.
Good leaders understand the need to think holistically, break down the barriers and use the bigger picture to inspire and motivate. Individuals can become frustrated if there is a lack of vision and strategic direction with respect to an overall business outcome – we all need to glimpse the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ and have our role explained as part of that success journey.
Technology enablement requires cross functional collaboration and it goes without saying that one of the most important ‘success’ ingredients is to align the best talent and have them operate as ‘one team‘. Internal communication and dysfunction remain the biggest hurdle in organizational transformation, and leaders must ‘commit’ to ensure that these initiatives are resourced appropriately, supported wholly, and visibly recognized as being critical to the overall vision.
This is more than sending individuals on team building development courses. To address the challenge in bringing back those lessons into the workplace, great leaders set the agenda to frame team success.
This week’s inspiration is taken from Nigella Lawson’s BBC ‘cook, eat and repeat’ recipes, and having now survived the doldrums of the first month, attention is now truly focused on the opportunities ahead.
With the new year comes new resolutions, new budget and a sense of positive energy, digital tech firms are searching for better ways to inspire procurement professionals can leverage technology and avoid failure. One way to remove the fear is to ensure that someone else has tried it before, and discovered what works and what does not.
Unfortunately what makes sense and tastes terrific differs per individual. This distortion means that there is a reluctance to document the recipe. Why? Cook books have a range of recipes, not all may appeal, but they are here to help. Try one, if that does not succeed, try another, Once you have discovered a recipe that works, share the recipe with others. Success is repetitive.
Where to Start
Where do you find that elusive cook book? Find an experienced cook who has developed their own independent cook book, or at least able to access a library; that is well-versed across range of recipes, and capable of assessing what is likely to be attuned to the organization’s taste. Find and establish the recipe that works – it needs a mix and balance to perfect the outcome.
In simple terms, technology implementations follow the same ‘cook, eat and repeat‘ philosophy. Importantly……
Follow the instructions
Use the prescribed ingredients (apple pie without the apple is not apple pie)
Utilize the best ingredients you can afford (leadership, talent, team)
Understand the cooking time (if someone wants a well-done steak but cooks it for 30 seconds, it will not be well-done)
Assess success by arranging tasting sessions (“feedback is the breakfast for champions”)
Sell the fact that you have found a tasty recipe. Others will be keen to have a try!
You might find this cooking analogy too simplistic, however given the successful introduction and adoption of digital technology remains a major challenge, what will you do to explain the process?
Ready, Steady, Cook! The best time to find your success recipe is to start now. Contact Us.
For those Brits in the UK and aboard, we cannot help getting hooked into this reality TV classic. Throwing a whole load of celebrities into the jungle, restricting creature comforts and keeping them hungry is not only an entertaining formula, but surprisingly, a great insight into talent management and team dynamics.
On reflection, there are seemingly a set of lessons arising from life in jungle that can be learnt and applied in your organization:
1. Setting a common goal
Winning stars that are linked directly to the amount of food the camp receives creates a unifying goal that motivates all individuals in the same way.
2. Teammembership
Individuals earn stars for the camp. Each individual knows how important their contribution is to maintain camp accord. They have accountability combined with a sense of duty to do their upmost for the team. As the individual wins, the team wins, and over time, the camp understands sustained success and longevity is dependent on overall team performance. Individuals identify themselves as a team member.
3. Sticking to your swimlane
Whilst bush tucker trials are allocated randomly by public vote, individuals naturally adopt and manage roles and tasks inside the camp that they perform well and are comfortable with. Leveraging members strengths and staying within a swimlane, actually maintains stability within the camp and earns recognition from other team members. Discord arises from individuals moving into other member swimlanes, or being tasked to move outside their own comfort zone. Similarly in business, where individuals fail to respect functions and process, and step on toes that others consider their responsibility; this invariably leads to friction.
Lessons
For those advocates for off-site or on-site team bonding courses – I would agree these are fun, but often when the team gets back to the day job, the core alignment elements are missing.
Team dynamics are delicate and good leaders understand the need to allocate and delegate in an inclusive way. Understanding swimlanes, defining common goals and building teams that perform together is a winning recipe.
Motivating and moving forward in business is of course more complex; and maintaining accord is challenging. As in the camp, regular discussion, feedback and praise is needed to ensure that team members feel valued. Conversely, offering creature comforts that are not valued or creating barriers to isolate team members is proven to be a poor strategy.
Keep your team talent and avoid the alternative “Get Me Out of Here” discussion!!
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.
AYSCO CONSULTING 