Crucial Soft Skills for Procurement Success

As we keep saying, procurement is changing, and practitioners need to change along with it. As procurement’s influence grows, and the talent gap widens, so do our challenges. Ensuring your team has the right skillsets to face these challenges, adopt new processes, implement new systems, and gain competitive advantage, all while cutting costs, and improving KPIs, is no small feat.

But it may just take a different viewpoint. As crucial as solid technical skills are, soft skills are also essential to procurement. As a recruiter, there are specific soft skills I believe are must-haves for procurement professionals, and are correlated with success.  

While you're screening for the soft skills we list below, remember to also keep your eye on personality traits that lend themselves well to procurement, such as 'natural' trading skills, attention to detail, logic, a willingness to collaborate, and the boldness to share perhaps radical ideas. Candidates should also be highly attuned to how their actions and mannerisms can impact others, and be able to adjust accordingly. 

Value Add Skills to Screen For

Approachable/Personable and Charismatic

Broader than people skills, interpersonal skills are about cultivating relationships, knowing when to be diplomatic, and how to develop a rapport. It's about showing empathy, respect, and tolerance, as well as building influence and persuasion. It's knowing how to reflect a collaborative demeanor to extract the most out of collaborations. It's everything SRM's are built on, and what stakeholder relationships and negotiations thrive on.

Tip: Interpersonal skills include; Empathy, patience, responsibility, dependability, teamwork, motivation, flexibility, leadership, ability to be approachable/personable, and should be reflected in their results as well as their values. 

Adaptability, Flexibility, and Resilience

When the landscape is changing as quickly as it is, competitive advantage is gained through adaptability and flexibility. The skill that affords you the ability to change direction by changing processes, to see where improvements are possible and understand how to work better, faster. How to achieve goals regardless of changing circumstances and ever-moving targets. These are the skills that ensure you not only hit your KPI's but that you gain on the competition. Resilience to keep trying in the face of adversity is another quality of a good leader.  

Tip: Adaptability and flexibility are best screened for through the use of scenario-based questions such as "Tell us about one of your biggest challenges, what specifically you found challenging and how you overcame those challenges."

Communication Skills

Whether it be with stakeholders, direct reports, or suppliers, procurement spends their days having some very crucial conversations. Communication skills are about having the ability to hear what people are saying, both verbally and nonverbally. Candidates must communicate effectively through body language, as well as vocally and in written form, and be willing to share and communicate their ideas with their teams. From purchase order management to supplier agreements, negotiations to presentations, communication skills are required at every level of procurement. 

Tip: Communication is a vital skill for leaders, but most notably, leaders in procurement who are very often part of, or leading, some high stakes conversations. Ask your candidates if they've taken any courses or read any books on communication such as "Crucial Conversations Tools for Talking When Stakes are High" (and if you haven't read it, you should!) 

Problem Solving Skills

Procurement is where problems are solved, and solutions are found. Problem-solving is fundamental to what we do, and doing it well is not only integral to success but necessary for avoiding catastrophic failures. Whether a truck didn't show, or a hurricane is wreaking havoc on your supply chain, having the ability to formulate logical, reason-based solutions and foresee potentially harmful effects and take proactive action is worth its weight in gold.

Tip: Although problem-solving may be highlighted on a resume, it's essential to ask strategic scenario-based questions to understand their abilities. Many will skip over the decision-making process, jumping right from the issue to the solution. Slow them down, and make sure to have them walk you through their thought process. 

Leadership Skills

Companies are looking for leaders who can direct, motivate, resolve conflict, nurture relationships across the organizational chain, and drive initiatives through to completion. None of this is possible without the right leadership skills. 

Tip: Leadership has a significant impact on corporate culture and direction. Your candidate and their leadership style must be in line with your corporation's values, culture, and mission.  

Soft skills are as valuable to procurement as basic math. Perhaps, even more. In fact, according to LinkedIn, 57 percent of leaders say soft skills are more important than hard skills. And although they are very often innate, they can be developed as well as honed.

But what often goes underrated are 'street smarts,' the self-confident and charismatic personality that wins over even the grumpiest of hearts. The person who sees opportunity a mile away and maps a road to get there. The resiliency and adaptiveness that comes with having dealt with more than your share of difficult situations. The common sense that is actually more rare than it is common. These are the ever valuable traits you won't see on a resume, and you may not even notice at first glance, too charmed to see past their approachableness. ; )