Procurement Magazine November 2021 | Page 21

for which management will be looking for answers . How can procurement position itself as an enabler and not just a process to follow .
Added to this , instead of just aligning to the business budget cycle as per traditional procurement , we should be represented at leadership meetings to know what ’ s going on , to be able to adapt , we must be done with waiting for the patient to come to us , we need to go to the patient , because often by the time the business comes to you it ’ s too late to add value or influence the outcome .
Q . WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO MEASURE SUCCESS BASED ON WHAT YOU HAVE IMPLEMENTED AND NOT THE SOURCING EVENT ?

» I have often seen highly experienced procurement professionals fail in the eyes of the business , sometimes due to overconfidence in what they are doing but more often than not , because the business simply does not believe in what they say they have delivered . How many times have I seen buyers quantify their success on the

outcome of a tender or renegotiation , only for the business to reject such claims . It is critical that the buyer measures success not on the outcome of the Procurement process , but on the output of what was implemented and what actually changed in the eyes of the business . . Q . INQUISITIVE , PERSISTENT AND NAVIGATE BARRIERS , WHY ARE THESE THREE TRAITS VITAL FOR ANY PROCUREMENT LEADER ?

» “ These are not the droids you are looking for ,” a famous Star Wars quote which resonated during my travels to meet stakeholders across the globe . I was often dumbfounded at how lossmaking Business units wanted to portray how efficiently and trouble free their supply chains were operating and that Procurement ’ s help to improve things was simply not needed and there was nothing for us ‘ Storm troopers ’ to see . Tactful digging beneath the surface often revealed a very different story . In a complex corporation there are vested interests , you must be inquisitive , persistent and able to

procurementmag . com 21