What do you do if your Vendor Management team lacks confidence in their decision-making abilities?

My first step would be to further investigate why people feel the lack of confidence in their decision making. I might be driven by poor results or it could be a lack of celebration for the success. Obviously, in order to investigate further, it would be key to speak with the team and collect evidence

If the Vendor Management team lacks confidence in their decision-making abilities, it's crucial to address this issue promptly. Provide additional training and resources to enhance their knowledge and skills in vendor evaluation and selection processes. Encourage open communication and collaboration within the team to share experiences and best practices. Implement a structured decision-making framework or utilize decision support tools to guide their assessments. Regularly review and provide constructive feedback on their decisions to build their confidence over time. Additionally, consider involving senior management for guidance and support as needed.

To address the persistent issues, I will encourage open dialogue within the team to understand the root causes of their lack of confidence, whether it be a lack of information, skills, or clarity in objectives. I will then establish clear guidelines and decision-making frameworks to provide structure and confidence in their approach, followed by targeted training and development opportunities to improve their understanding of vendor management processes. Regular feedback and support sessions will also be implemented to monitor progress and address any ongoing concerns. Most importantly, thriving a culture of empowerment and continuous improvement within the team is crucial.

Budding Vendor Managers become better with experience. Every nuance that they pick up over time is purely additive. It's essential to give them the initial space and liberty to make their own mistakes and learn from them. Agreed that there could be some potential commercial implications as a result, but your systems and processes should be such that these are bought to light as part of the review. Any lapse should be attributed to the process and not the individual. This way, the vendor managers would be confident in their approach and hence go on to lead success negotiations rather than being worried about repercussions. Senior VMs can in fact get the new VMs to shadow them on key negotiations, so that they can pick up key unspoken traits.

Go grab a mirror, hold it in front of you. Make sure you have good lighting and can see clearly. Now, you're ready. Take a long hard gaze. Seriously, if your team members are lacking confidence, you need to do some soul searching to find out why. And ask them! If there's trust, they'll share with you what's going on. Once you get to the root cause, FIX IT! 1) Do they have the skills needed? There's loads of great certification programs you can get them plugged into to upskill them. 2) Are they empowered to make decisions? 3) Do they feel safe taking calculated risks? 4) Would assigning a mentor\ buddy help them? 5) Are there roadblocks you can remove? As leaders, we should be creating a culture for our peeps to thrive.