Success Tips for Procurement Executives

The procurement role is having a bigger influence on the strategic plans of large businesses over time, guiding decisions that yield immense value. As a result, companies continue to entrust more of their fundamental challenges and opportunities to the procurement department. With an eye to the future, procurement executives are embracing their new roles and developing strategies to advance the field further.

One of the clear methods with which procurement leaders can enhance their critical work is through good succession planning. Here are three tips to identifying and grooming your successor.

1. Develop Criteria 

First, it is important to employ one or more useful metrics to find your successor. Longevity is a classic example. The successor needs to be at the right stage in his or her career. Any candidate should have accrued significant work experience, allowing that person to hone his or her decision-making skills. Additionally, while harder to assess beforehand, expected longevity within the new position is certainly important. The new person will likely take some time to adjust fully to the new position and understand the nuances of the business. If the successor is only there for a short time without a chance to prove loyalty, the value of your hard succession-planning work is in jeopardy.

While it is important for successors to share your vision for the company, it is also useful for the successors to have an independent streak. Creative thinking allows them to thrive in the new position and potentially present new approaches to continue to improve the procurement vision.

2. Bring Them Up to Speed

Once successors are identified, train them in the key technical languages for your company, specifically financial and legal. Understanding how to liaise with the CFO and legal team will allow successors to easily streamline the procurement process. Successors will know how and when to work with these entities, so they can better align their strategy with the corporate vision. Inter-departmental disagreements are likely to decrease as a result. But when disagreements do occur, successors will know how to address them professionally.

3. Keep Your Team Updated

Keeping your team informed throughout the transition may be equally as important as the transition itself. A strong team that is behind their new leader will positively impact the work of that new leader. If the hire is in house, an appropriate strategy is to have the successor become a team leader on several projects before the change is announced. Allow the rest of the staff to buy into the leadership and skills of this person. If the person is an external hire, make sure to sell him or her to your procurement team first.

There will likely be reservations or hard feelings toward the new hire, which is understandable. Talk about their feats outside of your business, and stress how the successor can apply these strengths to improve the department and improve team dynamics.

4. Ensuring a Successful Transition

With the procurement role becoming increasingly critical to overall business success, it is more important than ever that executives ensure successful transitions. Adopting these strategies will help procurement executives successfully identify and groom their successors.

Transformed procurement into a linchpin of an enterprise

Authored by: Usama Shahid  

Many top companies has transformed their procurement operations in profound ways to become a real strength of their company.

On the other hand many procurement departments are still struggling to adapt with strategic innovation strategies and to become strong pillar for their companies, Mainly because they remain trapped in the circle of old traditional procurement.

Working with leading organizations as procurement consultants, we have experienced that leading organizations are always ready to adapt with new strategies according to their industry challenge and achieve the future milestone that will make them leader in respective industry. This challenge adoption approach has makes these companies the best.

Convincing Supplier to Embrace eSourcing

eSourcing – or the process of tendering via the Internet is yet a concern in terms of managing supplier relationships. In the beginning of eSourcing, the concept was resisted by suppliers. They were aggravated by the thought that they shall get beaten-up over prices. Wise organizations communicated the advantages of esourcing to supplier. Here are some advantages which can help buyer to persuade suppliers to take part in esourcing bidding events:

1.     Improved transparency and delivering a clear framework can help companies understand supplier`s culture and how a company shall market their goods/services.

2.     Buying companies` mission, vision and values describes in RFP or eAuction benefits suppliers to understand company goals which helps to determine whether to do business with the buying organization.

3.     Communicating contract and product specifications, terms and delivery requirements take time for buyer to create a formal RFP and eAuction process which enables suppliers to prepare better for negotiation and contracting procedure.