Making Transformation More Manageable - a few tips on stakeholder engagement

Transformation has always been a buzzword in Procurement, from implementing new P2P systems through to restructuring teams, category management and ‘wheel and spoke’ approaches – it seems like it’s a never-ending change process!

But how do you make it stick?

As with any transformational change programme, the key is YOU don’t – you have to convince OTHERS to take this change on board and live with it moving forwards.

I’ve seen so many positive changes go horribly wrong due to lack of engagement, understanding and knowledge. A classic ‘us and them’ approach is taken rather than one of a learning journey. There are so many companies out there who advertise themselves as able to ‘parachute in’ and ‘fix’ procurement issues, but so few of them take the time to really understand the client and rely on Procurement advising them, when they themselves might not even understand what stakeholders what either.

So how do we fix this? As an experienced expert in Public Sector procurement I’m often faced with one word when people think of change – FEAR – so I’ve used that to detail a few steps to take to help make your transition more manageable!

F – Feelings – taking time to really listen to the feelings of your stakeholders and understanding what their driven by and their concerns gives them the change to have a say before any changes are made. They will feel like they have had their chance to voice any concerns, and indeed might know about potential issues you haven’t foreseen!

E – Empathy – really take time in these meetings to understand your stakeholders, having listened to their feelings you can empathise with where they are coming from and reach a better understanding of their opinions and issues (real or perceived!)

A – Agreement – once you really understand your stakeholders, you can come to a better agreement of how things would work for them. Sure there will also ways a few people who are harder to convince than others, but generally through understand their issues and fears you can explain how the changes will actually HELP rather than HINDER them.

R – Resolution – hopefully at the end of this process you will have an agreed resolution, and indeed more ideas for how to implement the change that you started with!

Remember, these steps should be taken BEFORE the agreement for any change is made, at the end of this your stakeholders should feel like they’ve been listened to, understood and on-board with the potential changes in approach.

Hopefully these small pointers will help, as you can imagine it’s a very complicated subject which I’m sure we could debate for hours! At the end of the day though, it all boils down to managing your stakeholders, their fears, wants and expectations, and ensuring that’s reflected in your transformation.

If you want to get in touch to discuss any requirements you might have in your organisation for procurement or commercial change programmes please give me a shout on [email protected] or through LinkedIn.