It’s hard to be a CPO

September 5th, 2006 at 07:40am David Bush - Iasta

The summer issue of the European Leaders in Procurement ran an article titled “The Search for Skilled Operators” that not only highlighted how the current shortage of well-qualified and experienced professionals has sparked a war for talent as organizations fight for the best people (see my recent post The Next Generation of Consultants) but that CPOs need to not only know their jobs well, but also be able to gain support, inspire others, persuade people to become their champion, engage people’s imagination, create relationships, and sell ideas and master a host of soft skill competencies that include influencing, judgment, political awareness, business acumen, communication, leadership, cultural understanding, and relationship building.

The rationale behind this extensive list of requirements included some of the following points:

• without the ability to influence, the CPO will not create the dynamic needed to make procurement truly strategic
• without effective communications, the CPO will not be able to ensure people understand what procurement does and how it creates value and strategic advantage
• the pace of change in today’s marketplace often does not permit a CPO to make a mistake and learn from the experience, so innate good judgment is paramount
• CPOs need to provide an inspirational vision for procurement and its place within the organization and cannot achieve this without leadership skills
• organizations are staffed by people who operate in social systems with their own “political ambience” that needs to be understood and navigated
• people are naturally resistant to change and the CPO will only be able to effectively overcome this resistance if she can form relationships that are credible and visible across the length and breadth of the organisation

In addition, the article points out that a CPO needs to understand how the organization they are working in operates and thus also needs a knowledge of markets and marketing, products and product development, customers, sales, selling, and buying. In short, it’s hard to be a CPO.

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Entry Filed under: General