If you do one thing well, do relationships...

If there's one thing that my career has taught me, it's that relationships underpin everything. The ability to build, develop and nurture them is critical to success and without them, you're nothing.

This might, initially, appear to be an overly simplified statement - however, give it some thought... relationships impact success in your current role, success in future roles, promotion hopes, career aspirations, job satisfaction (fundamentally your entire working life).

Everything you do, ask for, wish for or want involves a relationship.

Customers, colleagues, peers, shareholders, stakeholders, industry leaders, suppliers - all relationships and all critical.

As a sourcing professional, it's easy to concentrate on external relationships (suppliers / vendors) - when evaluating the market, running RFx's, price and contract negotiations, minimising costs, building a robust supply chain, audits, compliance... the list goes on!

However, what about internal relationships (stakeholders)?

Building relationships with internal stakeholders is vital to understand needs and expectations and to align with their goals and strategies - without recognising and clearly understanding this, stakeholders can't be supported and challenged to reach their business targets and great relationships with suppliers can't be used effectively or efficiently.

By having excellent and effective relationships with stakeholders you will:

• Increase credibility and be seen as a trusted adviser.
• Secure early engagement from stakeholders on projects.
• Develop strategies with 'buy-in' from all.
• Avoid conflicts and misunderstandings.
• Leverage insights and expertise from stakeholders to support innovation and growth.
• Ensure good governance and compliance with sourcing processes.

What are the challenges?

Culture plays a key role here... however some challenges around building effective stakeholder relationships could be:

• Resistance or doubt from not seeing the value of sourcing, or a different view of priorities and preferences.
• Changing stakeholder needs or expectations, as well as changing market conditions or business environments.
• Balancing the needs and demands of multiple stakeholders, and the management of any conflicts.
• Complex or diverse stakeholder groups, each with their own expectations, requirements, and interests.

Take the initiative!

It really is never too late to start building strong and effective stakeholder relationships...

• Before focusing on savings or outcomes, start building a relationship by finding a common interest (everyone has at least one - it's there, you just need to find it) and use it.
• Recognise that personalities are individual and require different communication styles. Consider preferences and motivations and always tailor your approach accordingly.
• Always be genuinely interest and listen to their perspectives and feedback.
• Don't be an enforcer - be an enabler! Show how sourcing can collaborate to achieve goals and solve problems.
• Be empathetic and put yourself in your stakeholders' shoes. Try to understand their concerns, frustrations and aspirations.
• Spend time understanding the objectives, strategies, challenges and opportunities of your stakeholders' functions and how they relate to the overall business goals.
• Add value by sharing knowledge, insights and recommendations on best practices, market trends and supplier capabilities etc.
• Be aligned - find common ground and a shared vision with stakeholders, always looking to agree on expected outcomes, deliverables, roles, responsibilities and timelines.