Procurement Weekly - #1

Hi - and welcome to Procurement Weekly! In this Newsletter I give Procurement Professionals and Leaders five things every week which are quick to read and useful - content which is thought-provoking, helpful but most importantly: actionable.

If there's any content you'd like to see included, do drop me a message.

This week:

1. The Great Resignation and Procurement

Much has been spoken about the topic, and most outlets aren't really even sure if it's a resignation, retirement, reprioritising or just clickbait. However, what has been clear so far this year is there are a lot of open roles advertised, lots of moving about, and still some of the same work-life balance issues we have seen over the last couple of years. It's very much a candidate's market.

How can leaders ensure that their teams are attractive for recruiting and retaining the very best talent in the industry - especially when competition is fierce?

We advocate a focus on making your team more efficient, getting a clear view of your pipeline (and mapping your resource to it to identify your needs ahead of time), motivating your team by having a clear, challenging and inspiring strategy and finally, considering resource augmentation to remove tactical work.

You can read more here

2. Top 9 Soft Skills for Procurement

Procurement skills such as negotiating, contracting and financial acumen are the focus of many team's development programmes. There is often less of a focus on 'soft skills' and when I recently asked which skills we needed more of in Procurement, many answers pointed to soft skills.

I talked through the top 9 (Networking, Communication, Influencing, Strategic Thinking, Teamwork, Problem Solving, Taking Responsibility, Creativity and Resolving Conflict). In the comments we also heard about Relationship Building, Digital Mindset, Inquisitive, Empathy, Self Awareness, Agile working and Critical Thinking.

Working out which skills are most important for your team (and will be needed to deliver your strategy), mapping gaps and getting a training programme in place will help to bring a well-rounded approach which will set you up for success.

Soft skills can make the difference in the complex market we now operate in.

3. How to Deal with Price Increases in an Inflationary Market

A great article from McKinsey - detailing approaches which are vital for Procurement to tackle the inflationary market that we are currently seeing.

Inflation is something that many buyers haven't had to deal with for a long time, and it is forecast to be around for at least the next 2 years and potentially longer. It has the potential to get worse from the current position and therefore the strategic approach proposed by McKinsey will help to get a longer term position in place to report into your exec and get inflation under control.

4. Digital transformation is about people, not technology

Many teams are looking towards improving their digital systems this year and some are even looking at 'digital transformation' to solve challenges they face. One of the big issues we find with these programmes is often they will forget the people element.

We need to make sure that people are central to any plans through using systems with great user interfaces, planning your transformation with effective change management, communication and super-user programmes. Talk to others who have been through the process and get their feedback and learnings.

This article goes deeper into what is required when formulating a new digital transformation initiative, ensuring that people are front-and-centre of your plans.

5. Working with Competitors on Sustainability

The most common objective for Procurement Leaders in 2022 was to support (or lead) their organisation's ESG strategy. Many forward thinking teams have programmes already in place and it is now a case of tweaking their approach to match any new objectives announced out the back of the COP26 summit. For others, there is still some work to do, especially in relation to scope 3 emissions by suppliers.

One thing that is spoken less about is how we can work with our competitors to fast-track reducing our impact on the planet. Some firms are ahead of others - but ultimately, the benefit of these programmes is for the planet, not for market share.

By working together - across departments, with suppliers, with competitors and other stakeholders, we can accelerate efforts and innovate for the greater good. A mindset shift is required.

Thanks for reading!

Hope you found this useful - do drop me a message with anything you'd like to see more of or any feedback that you have.

Thanks,

Rich.