Procurement - Back to Basics
Richard Pope
1 Comment
For those of you with a memory for UK politics, ‘back to basics’ was a somewhat poisoned chalice for John Major’s leadership campaign in the 1990’s, but it’s a theme I thought would be appropriate for the notion of talent. Yes, procurement’s most perennial issue.
Attracting the right people has been a challenge for traditional buyers, and it has taken the considered approach to go back to definitions to make the function more appealing.
Surpassing the transactional purchasing role, procurement is now more aligned with strategy and has a clear vision up the corporate ladder. Of course aimed to better identify the scope of the job, it’s also a good lesson in covert branding, acting as a net to capture the right people.
But it’s not just getting the people I want to address. It’s also the retention, and that draws me to a key basic; training.
I have no doubt the ‘talent’ is out there. Possibly sitting in your very office. But, are people getting the right investment? Do those at the top really recognize the need for training? And, where do you really go to get it?
ELP Magazine recently published an article on The Skills Gap, the upshot of which refers to the point, ‘poor procurement costs money’. Anyone thinking training costs are high would be wise to look at the costs associated of people not doing the job properly.
As another reference, I would point you to Tim Minahan’s post at Supply Excellence that outlines some of the findings from Aberdeen’s recent CPO research, in short "Today’s top supply risk is recruiting and keeping top talent". It’s a recurring theme.
Of my own observations it is interesting having spoken to many CPOs that there is not one recognized training centre, programme or body. And it begs the question why the main institutes, for example the BME in Germany, or CIPS in the UK, haven’t formed a united European programme that can be adopted by everyone………..just a thought.
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Reader Comments (1)
You're quite right, this is a recurring issue for procurement, and just because it's familar shouldn't make it any less important. You mention that lack of one recognized training centre, programme, or body. Here in North America we, of course, have ISM, and while it does great work in developing procurement skills I've gone down a different path to recruit and retain talented procurement staff.
I try to create a procurement department that is seen as a source of talent for other departments rather than a destination for talent in the company. I do this in order to make the procurement department a sought after place to work, as it begins to be viewed as a career springboard rather than a career destination.
I find that great candidates approach the procurement department when they see they are going to be visible and productive to other departments, and will have promotion opportunities across the company open to them. You need to be open (or rather actively aspire) to having your best people poached away from you. I love it when an internal candidate comes to the procurement department and expresses intersest in working - and many times it's because their boss used to work in procurement.