One of Iasta’s consulting partners, Denali Group, recently wrote an eWhitepaper titled, “Procurement is from Pluto, Stakeholders are from Saturn” that highlights a question Denali Group team members keep hearing from procurement professionals. A question that Iasta often hears too…
How can procurement executives secure their seat at the ‘table’ and become a trusted partner?
Denali suggests this is the wrong question. They believe procurement should ask the following:
How can procurement better connect with stakeholders and understand their needs in order to deliver exceptional value?
Iasta believes the answer revolves around gaining sourcing credibility and becoming a best-in-class procurement organization. Our previous Webcast, “Building Blocks to Achieve Sourcing Credibility: Gain Fortune 500 Value with Mid-Market Resources,” was focused on helping teams raise the profile of procurement across the entire organization by creating a Center of Excellence supported with spend analysis and strategic sourcing. Download the Webcast audio and presentation slides here.
The Denali Group eWhitepaper agrees. “Similar to how an investment advisor or fund manager establishes trust with his or her clients, a procurement professional needs to establish trust with his or her stakeholders. Establishing trust is not always easy and several factors can make it difficult, particularly when you consider professional and departmental objectives as well as one’s own identity within the corporation.”
It’s important to realize that credibility isn’t gained overnight – it’s a process that requires procurement to help manage the gaps, drive collaboration, make data-driven decisions and mitigate risks by looking for the threats in real-time. Procurement should strive to lead internal customers to what is ultimately in the best interest of the organization. After all, procurement’s job is to sell situational influence, not positional leverage.
For more important about how to improve stakeholder relationships, download the complete eWhitepaper.
Good comments and info! Any tips to help procurement raise their profile and improve stakeholder relationships should be read by all in the profession. Hopefully we are seeing an end to the ‘procurement as a clerical role’ attitudes…
Thank you for your comment and feedback, Maureen. I absolutely agree with you. With the right strategy, technology, and processes in place that encourage cross-functional collaboration, procurement can truly show the organization that it’s a strategic partner as opposed to solely an operational partner.