How to have a thriving and flourishing team in turbulent times

A small number of greenfly don't do much damage, it's once they take hold that sap is drained from the plants and they eventually succumb and then wither and die.

It's the same with negativity and blame - it may start off in small numbers but if not treated can take hold and drain all the creativity, enthusiasm and proaction out of organisations. What are you doing to spot treat occurrences of negativity and blame to stop it becoming how things are done around here? I started using gardening as a metaphor for our lives in the mid 90s and love revisiting it each year for Chelsea Flower Show. The show might have gone virtual but we can still learn much from this bountiful metaphor. If you'd like to dig a little deeper, turn over a new leaf or have a few seeds sown why not join us on Tuesday 19th May for a webinar looking at insight we can take when the beast from the east has just swept through our gardens and applying it to our working lives at the moment. I promise there will be plenty of opportunity for germination and digging over of ideas.

You'll also find more about the Landscaping Your Life process over in my LYL blog too. You can also sign up for my Landscaping Your Life ezine and newsletter here.

Making Mountains out of Molehills

Today is the day when my baby :-) Can't see the wood for the trees: Landscaping Your Life to get back on track is available to download and, if you're lucky enough to be in the US, available to buy a hard copy too! (Unfortunately we'll have to wait till 20th Sept here in the UK to get our hands on one).

The book explores the sayings we use when we're stuck such as: 

• Stuck in a rut
• Can’t see the wood for the trees
• Up the creek without a paddle
• Like a fish out of water
• Out on a limb
• In at the deep end
• Treading water
• Going round in circles
• Missed the tide

It uses the Landscaping Your Life process that I've been using with clients for over 20 years, and if you resonate with any of the saying's above you might want to pop over to my Landscaping Your Life page and find out more about it - YouTube too.

A more logical explanation about the solutions proposed in the book focuses on two other sayings:

Firstly, we need to take our head out of the sand about about inability to solve the situation.

That is, there will be a solution we just need to stay calm and find it. 

We also need to recognise that we might just be:

It's not a phrase we often use about ourselves, and yet that's what we're doing when we're describing a situation as stuck. That is, we're stating we don't know what to do, and we are most definitely stuck and unable to move. 

The truth of the matter is it's likely that there will be part of us that does know what to do. We just need to turn up its voice a little so we can hear it. 

The mountains are the sayings we use - ie we've taken a situation and are depicting it as mountain like rut, tree, creek, limb and so on!

Which is where the molehills come in, because they're the solution:

1. Motivation
2. Outcome
3. Life as it is now (what we’re leaving behind?)
4. Emotional intelligence
5. Head out of the sand
6. Interference removed
7. Longitude and Latitude
8. Start

That is, the solution to any problems we're facing lies in one of the above MOLEHILLS, or more precisely:

1. To be inspired and motivated
2. To know what you’re headed towards (B)
3. To know where you are now (A)
4. To understand yourself and manage your state
5. To take personal responsibility for your life
6. To understand and remove what’s holding you back
7. To develop the route for getting from A to B
8. To take the first step

Over the six years I've written here I've covered many of these subjects, and over coming weeks will return to these again to explore how we can use them to get unstuck and back on track.

In the mean time if you're stuck in a rut, and have struggled for some time to find the motivation, you might just want to go and find a rut in the landscape, step into it and out again and notice what you notice. You might be surprised!

Alison Smith

The Purchasing Coach

Landscaping Your Life - inspiring change inside and out

Garden full of suppliers

For over 20 years I've used gardening as a metaphor for supplier management. It was the foundation for Landscaping Your Life, a tool I developed and use in my coaching, where nature more broadly is used as a metaphor for life.

Why gardening?

Because many of our internal stakeholders, especially those in the UK, know more about gardening than they do about supplier management.

They know that lawns need mowing.

Lawns also need weeding,

along with many a flower bed (or is it just mine?),

and the odd wall.

The power of the metaphor is realising suppliers also need mowing and weeding - just like that long tail of suppliers that needs to be reduced.

Plants also need pruning, whether it's to ensure they flower again this year,

flower again next year,

or to ensure they're fit for the purpose they're in the garden for anyway (ie like this rhubarb that once it's bolted it is too late to save it for this year's crumbles and pies!)

That's the purpose of supplier contract, risk and performance management reviews. Checking that suppliers continue to meet the needs of the business, and haven't expanded their remit into areas they're not supposed to be in, or clearly have no expertise on.

Sometimes plants/trees need chopping down as they're no longer providing fruit, and have died.

Like those Suppliers whose contract expired years ago, or that keeps getting extended, when no one is really sure what they do, nor value they deliver.

There are plants that are just coming into flower,

plants that continue to flower over a wide period of time,

plants that are just about to flower,

plants that open and close with the sun,

plants that will flower much later, 

and plants that never flower - and are there for their decorative leaves.

Always room for a picture of a cat me thinks, who accompanied me around the garden whilst taking my pics.

Remembering that each supplier has been chosen to meet different business needs. 

Each supplier also with their own needs, some needing time in the greenhouse before planting out (especially here in Scotland),

others more frequent watering,

feeding, or support.

The challenge in business is, that many managers treat suppliers like the tree planted in the corner of the garden, left unmanaged and forgotten with roots that are now undermining the very foundations of the house. Oblivious to how their own behaviour supported the undesirable outcome.

What attention do your suppliers need, and when will you give it to them? 

More analogies between gardening and supplier management can be found on this Purchasing Coach Pinterest board. There's also a number of video blogs on the subject over on a Purchasing Coach playlist.

Watch out on the Purchasing Coach Twitter, Facebook and Instagram this week for insights arising from Chelsea flower show #RHSChelsea that can be applied to supplier management.

Alison Smith

The Purchasing Coach

Sowing seeds for effective supplier management.

Purchasing Coach: Advent Window 21: The Beach

Happy Solstice
(it amazes me that even between London and Edinburgh
there's 43 minutes difference in daylight today)

25 unconventional coaching and facilitation tools to surprise and delight

Today I headed for the beach here in Burntisland in Scotland - it often features in my posts and vlogs.

I didn't really know how the beach would feature, just that the rising sun was providing a wonderful backdrop to the Edinburgh skyline across the Firth of Forth, and I felt sure something would come to mind.

As I searched for how the beach could act as insight for a situation, I saw some young children picking shells, and wondered what insight the shells could provide.

As I pondered on this, and looked to my right, I realised the image below might reflect a little of how 2017 had felt:

I then set about rearranging the shells to offer a solution.

As I collected some shells, and a little like the drawing behind window 17, my intention of what to do with the shells changed. Making a star had come to mind, and yet this is what I ended up making:

Or perhaps this:

and I did like this image taken from closer to the ground:

A reminder for me to be more focused in the situation I was thinking about perhaps?

Although on reflection, and because I made the arrow pointing at where I was sitting, I wonder if it supports insights from previous posts in this series, to remember how I fit into the bigger picture. Saying yes to everything by default may be the reason the shells in the original image are scattered all about. Being conscious in my Yes & Nos may provide more direction, more focus and more oomph for 2018.

The theme emerging as I write this series isn't a surprise. It's perhaps one downfall of me being the only one providing insight into the posts. It's my subconscious we're tapping into its inner wisdom to obtain insight from. No surprise therefore, that the message/wisdom would have a similar theme. It's my inner wisdom shouting at me to pay attention.

If you don't have a beach or any shells to hand, then this approach would work with Lego bricks, pipe cleaners, stones, leaves, and even flowers. You may even make a sandcastle or even do something with foot or hand prints. Drawing would also tap into our subconscious in the same way.

The aim is to turn your more logical left brain down a little. Which will allow your right, more creative, side to get in on the action. To allow your subconscious to provide guidance to the situation in question.

There's no judgement, no musts, no oughts, nor shoulds, no right, nor wrong, no perfection, Just observing and allowing the solution to emerge. Once you have a metaphorical solution, the aim is to then translate that into action in the real life situation.

Alison Smith
Unlocking procurement potential - using conventional and unconventional tools
Procurement and Business Speaker, Coach, Trainer, & Facilitator
alison@alisonsmith.eu +44 (0)7770 538159

Earlier in the year I applied some of the unconventional tools shared in this series of advent posts to common procurement challenges - more here.

Purchasing Coach: Advent Window 8: Metaphor

25 unconventional coaching and facilitation tools to surprise and delight

Behind window 8 of the Purchasing Coach advent calendar we're going to explore what we can learn from cooking, and apply it to a situation we'd like more clarity on.

I love using metaphors in my coaching and facilitation work. They're just sooo effective, quick and work around barriers we've put up to seeing solutions or making necessary changes.

Metaphors crop up frequently on my blog, whether it's using gardening as a metaphor for procurement, landscapes when we're stuck (over on my Landscaping Your Life blog), or a mix of metaphors to improve management of emails! If you're unsure of why I love them therefore you may want to read this post.

To make more of this exploration you may want to think about a current situation where additional insight might be helpful. Then put that situation to the back of your mind. We'll come back to it later.

Let's now consider cooking, and more importantly what you need for success when cooking, and what contributes to failure and how to avoid it.

In preparation I watched a number of Christmas cookery shows, and here's what I discovered, and in no particular order (if you were doing this as a brainstorm it's certainly how the the ideas would emerge):

• The aim seems to be to deliver edible food - additional criteria can include caring for others, proving comfort or delight, making it tasty, or memorable, making it visually appealing, healthy and/or stretching ourselves etc
• There's some great descriptions given to recipes, ingredients and the end product - special, ultimate, seriously good, vibrant, awesome, classic, hero's. (Which reminded me of the tool behind window 3 earlier in the week). This article about the seductive names used in food and the impact they have on consumption is very interesting and, pardon the pun, certainly food for thought.
• Preparation comes in many veins - cut, peeled, blended, mixed, diced, carved, rolled, combined, tossed and so on. 
• And what about the numerous ways something can be cooked - baked, steamed, roasted, broiled, grilled, boiled, fried, BBQ'd, and even sous vide!!
• I was surprised at all the different tastes and textures - hot, cold, sweet, salty, spicy, sour, soft, crunchy and so on 
• And what about all the colours
• Recipes seem to be essential, and where to start on any culinary adventure, even if some invention is then a prerequisite for these shows. 
• Even if we want to experiment later understanding the underlying rules about the perfect mix of dry ingredients to fluids and the impact the fat will have is essential.
• The level of skill, attention to detail, time, quality of ingredients differs between every day consumption to those used for festivals and high days like Christmas and Thanksgiving? 
• Patience, attention to detail and confidence all very helpful attitudes to have access to.  
• Reinvention is a frequent activity, with many chefs at the moment sharing their recipes to get us all loving brussel sprouts (roasted is my new method of preference here - do try it).

As you reflect on my own insights, and any that came to mind for you, how can you apply these to the situation or challenge you were wanting insight on? What changes to your thinking, acting or way of being might be necessary to facilitate a shift?

As I reflected on these insights I couldn't help but wonder what Procurement could take from this exploration - if successful procurement required the same characteristics to successful cookery what difference might that make.

• We have to understand what our stakeholder find tasty - otherwise it might feel a bit more like Oliver's gruel, where the fat cats providing the food won't touch it! 

• I'm very taken with the idea of reinvention - to take something previously hated and make it a new favourite. It's certainly not achieved by continuing to do the same thing, and just call it something different. New and additional ingredients are needed to reignite the interest.
• What difference would it make if if were a little more liberal in our use of adjectives - awesome suppliers, stakeholders who are heroes, vibrant objectives - anything to add a little colour into our thinking, and the thinking of those we're wishing to influence.
• One size does not fit all - in so many different ways.
• It's essential to know how things work and to walk before you can fly.
• A known and agree process is essential.
• We have to decide whether we aiming for something more like Nigela's home cooking or Heston's theatre and magic. Both work, but I'm unsure how good Nigela would be if she was handed some liquid nitrogen and told to get on with it.

• Are we here for general every day consumption, or only here for the festivals when we can really show our talent, or wanting to push the barriers of creativity and innovation in Procurement like Heston?
• and so on

I'd love to hear what you discovered as you read this post.

Here's to all our procurement souffles rising perfectly.   

Alison Smith
Unlocking procurement potential - using conventional and unconventional tools
Procurement and Business Speaker, Coach, Trainer, & Facilitator
alison@alisonsmith.eu +44 (0)7770 538159

Earlier in the year I applied some of the unconventional tools shared in this series of advent posts to common procurement challenges - more here.

Is there barbed wire between you and your stakeholders?

Is it procurement that's behind the high walls surrounded by barbed wire in this picture, or your stakeholders defending themselves?

Procurement doesn't take place in a vacuum. Instead procurement is undertaken in a complex environment with multiple parties, often with conflicting objectives, and various beliefs about who is responsible for what.

Effective stakeholder engagement, cooperation and communication is therefore essential for any procurement activity to be successful.

It's a topic I return to often here (see links at the bottom of this post to other posts I've written on the subject), and certainly something we explore in coaching and training sessions.

Human relationships are not always easy. Especially when we often start with the premise that we're right, and it's the other person who needs to be persuaded of the error in their thinking.

The challenge is then about us putting our beliefs down long enough to understand the impact our behaviours are having on the situation, and then as a result of that insight making changes to our own communication.

Earlier in the year, during a creativity session on a category management workshop, I asked one team to draw the problem they were having with a stakeholder. (Another group were asked to explore the situation using pipe cleaners, another used problem reversal.)

The above picture was the outcome of that request.

The group described their stakeholder sitting behind high walls, which were also surrounded by barbed wire. 

I then asked them to draw what the end result they wanted looked liked, and they drew this:

As they drew the two images they were discussing the reasons behind the situation, and options to positively change the relationship.

This post "it's like talking to a brick wall" takes the use of metaphor a little further than we went during the workshop.

One thread of discussion included the group wondering who had built the walls, and a solution emerged once they took responsibility for the current situation. It would seem they'd felt isolated from their stakeholder, and unable to talk the same language to get them to listen. I may have even asked if it was really the stakeholders behind the high walls or procurement. 

As they explored dismantling the walls other solutions appeared, and a confidence emerged that the current situation wasn't set in stone. They discovered they did have much they could do to alter the situation.

If you've tried to resolve a situation using more conventional means you may want to try more unconventional tools, after all where has convention ever got us?

Always happy to help you and your team unlock your potential using conventional and unconventional tools and ways of thinking alison@alisonsmith.eu

Alison Smith
The Purchasing Coach
Unlocking procurement potential

Other popular posts written on stakeholder engagement include:

• 10 things to remember when communicating.
• We assume other people think just like us, and therefore give them what we would want in this situation. 
• The world that you see is not the whole truth.
• Is your language stopping you from finding a solution.
• Standing in their shoes to get an alternate perspective - a tool I use with most coaching clients because it's the quickest way I know to get a different perspective on a situation.
• Are Procurement set back by arrogance? a question a procurement team asked themselves during a strategy day I facilitated.

Metaphors for email management

If you thought that every email was a red light and stopped you in your tracks would you manage them any differently?

In yesterday's post I shared insights from the temporary traffic lights across from my house and applied them to managing my emails better. In the post I provided a number of different potential solutions to improving our email management.

One suggestion to shift our relationship with emails was using metaphor. After all, we consciously know the theory, many of us just don't always put it into practice. Which means the solution is more about managing the subconscious where responsibility for motivation, focus, willpower, developing routines or even resistance lie. Metaphor is such a great means of talking the language of our subconscious and communicating with it in a way that theory and logic just can't manage! (More about the power of metaphor here.)

Assuming you're like me, and may from time to time allow emails to take over your working day, and if the red light analogy didn't help shift your relationship with your emails, let's have some fun, get a little absurd if we can (as that's a very effective way to shift our thinking), and explore some additional analogies.

To make the most of the analogies you may want to first consider your answer to the following questions:

• How many times a day do you check your emails?
• How many times a day do you stop what you're doing to check/read an email?
• What's the longest time you focus on something without distraction?
• How long could you go and not check your emails before you get a little jumpy/twitchy?
• What excuse reason do you give for not checking your emails less frequently?
• When you return from a holiday, and after the initial email reading marathon, do you have a different relationship to checking emails?   
• Do you find it harder to concentrate and focus on tasks than you used to?

I'm sure many of you may have healthy relationships to your emails, but if as a result of your answers to these questions you realise they're ruling your life you may want to continue reading.

What insight might the following have on how to manage your emails:  

• Judge telling you what to do: my use of 'ruling your life' above made me realise we can often hand over power to our emails just like we do for the laws of the land. The question to be answered is, should emails have that much power? We certainly wouldn't allow a judge to tell us what to eat and when to eat it and yet it can seem like we allow emails to do so! 
• Playing football: the image comes to mind of a footballer with the ball headed for the goal, and then allowing the spectators to distract them and even having a conversation with them, and never actually getting anywhere near the goal, and certainly never being able to score!
• Playing music: I went to a live recording of BBC Radio 2's Michael Ball show at the Edinburgh festival on Sunday, and Tokyo Myers played live :-). This video is a 3 minute version of a much longer version we heard. If we imagine him stopping 3 or 4 times, it's perhaps easier to understand what we're doing when we're allowing emails to distract us away from focusing on the task in hand.

• Reading a book: I like to read a book before I go to bed, even if it is only a paragraph before my eyes close and I fall asleep. The problem with such a short reading time is I have to reread the paragraph the next time I return to the book. Isn't this what we have to do every time we allow an email to distract us from what we're doing, remind ourselves where we got to and then spend some time getting back into the flow?  
• Watching a movie: My favourite movie is Contact and I suspect I could watch that and zone in and out constantly and still understand where I am and what's going on. That's only, however, because I've watched the movie/film soooooooo many times. If we're watching a film for the first time there's going to be a maximum number of distractions we can manage before it reduces our understanding and enjoyment of the film. The key is knowing what that optimal number of distractions is, or determining at what frequency they can be accommodated in. 
• Shopping: In the HBR article the Cost of Continuously checking emails they use writing shopping lists as a reminder that we write the lists so we don't keep popping to the shops every time we run out of something. We go to the shops at regular intervals when its convenient to do so, and pick up everything we've added to the list at that time. Recognising, of course, that there may be emergencies where we absolutely must rush out and buy ice cream or chocolate NOW. 
• Eating: Just because it's there doesn't mean we should eat it - nor be eating constantly! Many of us can admit to being addicted to eating certain foods and yet fail to acknowledge the same behaviour with respect to checking emails. Which means sometimes the only answer is will power. 
• Setting sail: the best time to set sail is above a particular height of hide which means there's only certain times twice a day when you can set off, and as they're c12 hours apart one of them may be at more unsociable hours. Trying to set sail outside those times may mean you run aground, need more help, or find it impossible to do what you want to do.  
• Working with the tide - as per my vlog on the subject

Do please share any further suggestions in comments below - anything that helps us observe our relationship with emails from a different perspective, and might just provide a gap for us to make a different decision between the email arriving and us taking action to read it.

Alison Smith

Unlocking potential using unconventional tools 

Shifting from theory into practice

I had to move my car this morning, as they were digging up the road and needed to put some temporary traffic lights outside the house where I would normally park the car.

A while later as I looked out of the office window and watched the lights change from red to green and back I was struck with the analogy between them and the issue I'd been wrestling with over recent weeks.

How to manage emails effectively.

When I'm out of the office, and as I still don't have emails on my phone only my ipad, I find responding to emails at set times of day much easier to manage ie through necessity it's likely to be at the start or end of the day and done all together.

When working in the office I do find the little icon that appears a distraction, and much like an annoying itch something that needs scratching - resulting in emails being checked hourly, if not much more frequently!

I know the theory of managing and responding to emails and time management more broadly - it was even a topic for one of the coaching clinics last year I facilitated and where I summarised the key findings in a Pinterest board.

I don't, however, always follow the theory - or walk the talk!

When coaching others the biggest challenge to be addressed for many issues is shifting theory into practice. More often than not we do know what to do - we're just not doing it - whether that's managing emails, eating more healthily, exercising, making decisions, speaking up, taking timely action and so on.

The challenge in many coaching sessions is finding the difference that makes the difference for the client. Finding what would move them from theory into action, and in this case dealing with emails differently. For some people it might be about finding the motivation to take action, for others changing the trigger for taking action, and others it might be about changing their strategy all together.

In others words, when wanting to improve email handling, it might include any one or all of the following:

• Turning the icon that tells you that you've unopened emails off, or closing emails - which might work if, like me, you have a visual trigger for action. 
• Turning the sound that heralds the arrival of a new emails off - which might work if you have an auditory trigger for action. 
• Setting a timer to enable you to focus for a set time on a given task with no distractions allowed - which might work if you have a strategy that means you're good at following rules you set yourself, or if you're motivated by reward and can see reading emails as a reward for focusing on another task for an amount of time.
• Finding the motivation by tapping into the thought of what it would be like to finally get other things on your to-do list done (some people may need to tick a box to get the sense of achievement or success).
• Thinking about the people you're letting down by not getting your other actions completed (although this may be the same value that is motivating your over responsiveness to emails).
• Monitoring how often you respond to emails in a day - which might work if you're motivated by efficiency, or away from the horror for how often you let them distract your day.
• Comparing how much time you spend responding to emails if you do them frequently vs in chunks x times a day - which might work if you're struggling with your workload and know you need to free up time every day.
• Writing a list of all the things you don't seem to be doing because you're responding to emails - which might work if you really would prefer to be doing the other activities.
• Adding 'respond to emails' to your to-do list or diary might help you prioritise them alongside your other actions, rather than them just being a filler that expands and takes over your working day.
• Rooting emails into different folders to assist with their prioritisation (e.g many people redirect emails they're cc'd onto into another folder - the rules set up could be expanded to include redirection based on name, project, key words etc). 
• Asking someone who manages their time and emails well what strategy they adopt.

Sometimes the more obvious strategies might not work, and a more unconventional perspective might be just what is needed. In which case, options might include: 

• Considering the language you're using for emails that arrive - instead of calling them 'emails' what about calling them 'distractions' - might that reduce the frequency that you view them? or perhaps calling them 'actions' would help you manage them more effectively. There's no right or wrong, just a strategy that helps you manage your emails and your work load more effectively.   
• Doing a collage to act as a visual reminder about the impact of emails, and using it as a screensaver or popping it by your desk (I'll do a blog on this later in the week and link to it when it's written).
• In a coaching session if we're going around in circles I may get the Frameworks for Change Coaching Process cards out to help provide a different perspective to the situation. (Certainly for me reconnecting to my inner wisdom and vision (big picture) for the future has helped me find more time to allocate to non email activity, and therefore forced me to handle emails differently).

• Using pipe cleaners to help demonstrate the pros of changing your behaviour, and cons of continuing with your current strategy.

• Finding a metaphor that helps the theory land - which is where the traffic lights come in. If I imagine the email is the red light I realise that every x minutes, just like the traffic, I'm being stopped in mid-flow - no choice when I stop just at the whim of something external to me. Once the green light shows I have to navigate the roadworks / obstruction before I get back on track and up to my normal speed. If this metaphor doesn't work for you, what other metaphor might help you relate to your emails more resourcefully? Here's some further suggestions.

• Writing a blog, article, or poem about dealing with emails might help shift the pattern as you are forced to consider, explore and provide solutions to your current unresourceful, unhelpful and unproductive behaviour :-)
• or even doing a vlog

• and so on - what strategy do you adopt for managing emails? 

Alison Smith
Unlocking your potential using unconventional tools

Why all maps are wrong

Understanding the following concept 17 years ago resulted in my stakeholders saying I was easier to deal with - and me thinking they were!

The world map is a great analogy that demonstrates what we're doing all the time when we're developing our own world view & beliefs.

The video explores different projections of the Earth and mirrors what we're doing every day of our lives - making our own projection of what we see, hear, feel and understand, and storing that map believing it to be the truest projection available.

It's no wonder misunderstandings occur when we realise we're all using different projections.

17 years ago understanding that how I saw the world was only my projection/perception of it meant the words and tone I used changed, and as a result made my communication easier to hear. No longer where people told that my world view was right. Instead a world view was offered for them to make sense of from their own world view. Common ground was then found, and relationships much more harmonious as a result.

Alison Smith
The Purchasing Coach
Unlocking procurement potential often using unconventional tools

Communication is one of the postcards included in the Purchasing Coach Soft Skills Toolkit that brings together a series of postcards from your soft skills - it's entitled Dear Procurement, with love from your soft skills. More here.

No one is a 100% brick wall

post now moved to my new website

Alison Smith
The Purchasing Coach
Unlocking personal, procurement and organisational potential using unconventional tools 

Hypertext links take you to posts on the subject highlighted.

Ten out of ten on unconventionalness

7th post in the series applying unconventional tools to procurement challenges - with scores from 1-10 on the weirdness unconventional scale. You'll find more advice on how to get the most from these explorations here. The premise is to use the tools to obtain a different perspective on a situation - one that you're currently unsure what direction to take in. 

Be warned I'd suggest this exploration is a 10/10 so approach with an open mind, and be prepared to be confused a little before clarity emerges. I've certainly not found it an easy topic to explore on my own. 

So let me begin, and let's see what emerges ....

As we returned to the hotel after the walking meeting breakout in Warsaw during a category management workshop I said that walking could be used in other ways to find the solution to problems we encountered.

I've written previously about walks taken to resolve personal life challenges (‘not wanting to burn bridges’ and a more general ‘what next’). Today I want to share a walk to identify alternative strategies for the provision of ‘spare parts’.

This metaphorical walk would generally take place as part of the creative options generation session, ie after an indepth analysis of data has taken place. More here on the need to do this thoroughly, in a post written for a procurement consultancy I'm an associate for.  

As we walked back to the hotel, having discussed earlier in the session about the process to develop more conventional strategies for buying spares, and upon seeing the multitude of cars – parked and being driven -  I said “let's assume the cars are the spare parts”. Due to time constraints the exploration that day didn't come up with a conclusion – so this blog is my response.

Once we've selected the landscape we’re going to use as a metaphor for a challenge we're wanting more insight on, the aim is to then discuss the metaphor without reference to the problem. 

In this instance to discuss how to manage cars in the city without wondering initially what that means in reality for a procurement strategy for spare parts. In fact it's crucial that the real life situation is put to one side whilst the metaphor we've decided to use is fully understood.

From my perspective the aim for cars driven on the Warsaw roads would be to:

• Efficiently get where they're going
• Reduce holdups and delays
• Minimise cost of travel
• Obtain access to fuel/energy
• Find adequate parking when needed
• And to do so safely and sustainably

This could be achieve by:

Efficiently get where they're going

• Use of well maintained cars
• Satnav set to efficiency setting
• Accurate and timely signposts
• Appropriate use of roundabouts and traffic lights
• Traffic lights with correct timings to manage traffic flow at different time of day and week

Reducing holdups and delays

• As above
• Speedy response to breakdowns on the roads
• Prohibit parking in some sections of the city
• Encouraging use of others transportation - possibly even offering park and ride

Minimising the cost of travel

• Use of efficient cars
• Effective policy for replacement of cars – assuming fuel efficiency increases as a car ages

Obtaining access to fuel/energy

• Appropriately positioned petrol startups
• Conveniently positioned charging stands for electric cars

Don't judge the suggestions just yet – the beauty and simplicity of metaphor is keeping the judgements about what is or isn't applicable or practical to one side. Remember this is a situation we're struggling to find a solution for. I'd suggest stuck because of the assumptions, musts, oughts, shoulds, resistance, fear and / or barriers to change we’re throwing in front of us. That is our current thought processes are what are keeping us stuck and unable to find a solution.

Metaphor allows us to put those doubts and barriers to one side and explore a totally different situation with the belief that once completed some of the solutions found in the one situation can be used on the currently stuck situation.

Yes it feels weird – it is weird – or should I say unconventional but since when has weird or unconventional automatically meantineffective? The first time we do anything new it feels weird, until it's the most natural thing for us to do. Most inventions and innovations are weird at first.

Let's continue ....

Finding adequate parking when needed

• Do we charge for it
• It is street parking or via multi story car park
• What about out of city centre park and ride to reduce traffic in the city

Safely and sustainably

• Set appropriate speed limits
• Provide adequate road signage
• Ensure satnav information re one way streets etc are up to date
• Ensure drivers have a valid driving licence
• Provide city driving lessons 
• Provide fuel efficient driving training
• Provide road safety police or cameras

Queries then arise about whether it's important to:

• Reduce the number of manufacturers of the cars used
• Reduce or restrict the colours of cars driven – or are your cars already just the red ones on the streets? with other colours of cars representing other buying organisations? 
• Mandate the route taken by drivers
• Prohibit certain vehicles from certain locations
• Charge for access by vehicles negatively impacting the environment 

And to consider whether the following are important:

• The building/offices and shops people are visiting
• The other vehicles on the road
• The pedestrians
• The condition of the road
• The control centre looking after the traffic lights etc 

If we apply the objective we normally have for spares to the cars then what does that mean to the above thoughts? It seems to be more about how they move about rather than what they are - is that right? Could that be right? What might it be suggesting we do differently?  

I wonder too whether I was too quick to decide the cars were the spare parts? After all the aim of the cars is to get the people where they want to go? Which would bring in other considerations such as:

• Car sharing
• Using the subway
• Using other means of transport – bus, helicopter, bike, and so on
• Reducing the need for people to come into the centre of the city – which could mean exploring the different ‘why’ for people travelling
• Exploring the different options for accessing a car - buy or lease or simply rent it daily when needed

Once all the possible ideas about moving cars and passengers around a city centre have been explored then it's time to consider what insight we may be able to offer to the situation we're wanting more clarity on. Having access to the conclusions arising from the research & analysis, and strategic analysis phases will certainly help in being able to do this better. So too having a breadth of category stakeholders involved.

Suggestions might be:

• Don't worry about the cars just concentrate on the traffic lights – ie what would the control centre for the cities traffic lights be like in the spare parts situation – a centralised delivery or payment process for buying spares
• Or perhaps the control centre is where the store-men need to be located to ensure they're involved in the movement of the cars 
• Set up park and rides in the suburbs and bring everyone into the city centre by bus – which might involve centralised distribution for spares
• Ensure everyone has accurate satnav – ie do the stores managers know who the potential suppliers are 
• Ensure everyone complies with safe driving standards - ie it doesn't matter who they buy from just as long as certain criteria are met

What I find interesting is this exploration would suggest reducing the make or colours of car are impossible to do. So it's very much about managing the flow of cars better, and getting inefficient cars and unsafe drivers off the road. Does this mean we shouldn't spend time trying to reduce the number of spare parts suppliers? 

Working in a group with this would allow for richer ideas, analogies and solutions. It's not so much about the new options definitely arising from the exploration of the metaphor, as much as following up on any ideas / tangents that emerge as a result of spending time looking at the metaphor.

I'd love to hear from those involved in buying spares to see if this has shed any additional light on the subject.

Other posts using metaphor which were a little easier to understand have used gardening as a metaphor for procurement, and applying thoughts about weather, busses and dancers to procurement talent.  

I'll get back to a 3/10 later this or next week as I continue with the series applying unconventional tools to procurement challenges.

Alison Smith

The Purchasing Coach

Unlocking personal, procurement and organisational potential using unconventional tools

Hypertext links take you to posts written on the subject highlighted.

How to have a flourishing procurement garden

Metaphor is such a powerful tool for facilitating change - it can get overlooked as too fluffy or even too unconventional.

I believe you ignore metaphor as a business change management tool at your peril.

Ignore it at your peril that is if, where you or your team currently are is not where you'd like them to be.

Change is hard, and resistance to change all too common, and yet change management is often overlooked when exploring either how to bridge the gap from where you are to where you want to be or, how to resolve the challenges being faced to get there. (Follow the hypertext link for more on Implementing change using Kotter's 8 step process for leading change).

I don't want to repeat the whole of an earlier post on metaphor, but if you'll forgive me repeating the main reason why metaphor is so good at facilitating change, it's because it bypasses the following beliefs:

• We've always done it like this
• If it ain't broke don't fix it
• We tried that before, and it didn't work then
• But what will I do then
• I like doing it this way 
• It won't work
• We're not going there 
• I don't want to talk about it
• I'm bored about talking about it
• No

Or other variants in the same vein that mean we defend our position, and reinforce our current point of view. All beliefs that make it hard to be able to stand back, get some perspective and find a solution.

When using a metaphor we are asked to put the current real life situation to one side, along with those unhelpful beliefs, and consider what a solution within the metaphor looks like. As we explore the art of the possible within the metaphorical situation we leave our resistance and preconceived ideas to one side. 

Metaphors also carry a large amount of information within them - I like to say if a picture paints a thousand words then a metaphor paints a thousand pictures. Which means it's laden with potential to be unlocked and applied to the real life situation we're comparing it to.

For 20 years I've successfully used gardening as a metaphor for supplier management with non-procurement managers. It has worked because those managers know more about gardening than they do procurement. There's much to learn, especially when they realise we do mow, prune, weed, feed, mulch, water and put plants in the greenhouse, and yet often fail to do the same for suppliers.

No surprise therefore that non-procurement managers become more accommodating of procurement's involvement once they've explored a garden full of suppliers in a session.

As part of the series where I'm using unconventional tools to provide a different perspective to procurement challenges I wondered what gardening might have to add to the resolution of these challenges.
     
First a more general exploration of our procurement garden full of suppliers with a few vlogs from the archives:

The challenge many of us face is we may have a procurement garden like this:

Or suppliers who are just like these dandelions: 

Or this rhubarb

The answer may lie in companion planting

or ensuring adequate KPIs are implemented?

or providing sufficient support to suppliers? 

Examples that I hope have provided you with an understanding of the power of metaphor.

You may find reading the guiding principles will also help provide guidance on beliefs or actions that will help you in getting something from the above or following explorations. In essence using these tools just provides a different perspective from which to view the current situation - which may or may not provide additional insight.

I wondered how might gardening apply to some of the challenges people raised in the LinkedIn discussion I posted. 

We'll only know if I try.... Although first I think we need to put the idea of suppliers being plants to one side and explore gardening afresh. 

• Behavioural procurement: All plants are unique. A successful gardener needs to understand the different needs of the different plants, and to then provide the right conditions for growth for each of them. The same is certainly true when dealing with people, and yet easier to remember when dealing with plants than dealing with people. Perhaps because as a fellow plant we assume other plants. think and behave the same as we do. (Another post in the series takes an alternate viewpoint to consider how we can release the bad cop image.)
• Talent: Plants also meet different gardening needs - for example you wouldn't expect a rose bush to do the same job as an oak tree. We do however sometimes expect this of our teams. Which is okay if all you want is ground cover, or to simply fill up the garden. If you want variety, year round colour, highs and lows, interest, features, fragrance or simply grass that will cope with the kids playing football on it then you need to careful select your plants/people. One size fits all will never work. (Another post in the series takes a different perspective to look at how to resolve the issue of talent.)      
• Talent: Plants grow if we give them the right conditions for growth - we need to understand what these conditions are, and which of those conditions we can realistically provide. Living in Scotland I certainly know many plants I could grow in Yorkshire would just not survive here. It's the same with people - each person is motivated by and requires different things. We can't just provide a sheep dip like approach, and hope to keep everyone happy. 
• Expanding the vision of what's possible: If we're doing this in the context of a garden then I think of Kew gardens, Chelsea Flower Show, or someone going on expeditions into the Peruvian mountains to bring back cultivars to experiment with in the greenhouse - where success and failure are close companions. For me 'expanding the vision' doesn't get done within the garden but outside it - and if successful is only then applied to a small part of the garden first to see what happens. If as a result of a successful trial we bring in new plants, the old plants being replaced are composted or moved to another garden. Interesting to consider this applied to our teams - where expansion of the vision can't come when they're doing their day job. Only by having time outside the garden can they hope to develop the skills, to test, trail and be able to get things wrong so that their vision of what is possible is expanded. If we've changed the vision we may also need different plants. (Another post in the series has taken an alternative view on how to get procurement to expand their thinking about what's possible.)

The aim, as with any of the unconventional tools, would be not to critique nor judge the ideas just yet. To continue with the metaphor and expand the options and perspectives. To keep going, be open, have fun, and just use the metaphor and dig into those thousand pictures to unlock what may be hidden - to find and nurture that kernel of an idea that might just make a difference. There will be plenty of time to critique later, and that's when you can discard the unhelpful.

• Shape the strategic agenda: Let's assume the garden is part of a wider stately house and garden that's open to the public. The aim of those responsible for running the garden then becomes ensuring that the paying public want to visit the garden as much as the house. They'd achieve this by having year round interest, interesting and rare plants, well maintained gardens, a great set of web pages showing the results of their efforts, special events (for red nose day, bank holidays, Chelsea flower show, quizzes for children and so on). As a result of these efforts there would be no possibility of being omitted from the strategic review for the stately house, because the garden would be a key part of the leadership team. Isn't that true for procurement? If we focus on the reliance on the organisation of the suppliers we engage then we should be a key part of the strategic agenda. Perhaps that's where we've got it wrong in the past - focusing on the price of the plants rather than their positive impact once planted! I suspect there could be much much more behind this exploration if a few people were to get into a room to expand it further. It's one drawback of trying to share the efficacy of the tools here - it's just me typing, and therefore just me inputing ideas too! Events and internal marketing come to mind too. Although there is a whole other exploration we could have about whether procurement are the general gardeners or the landscape gardeners - although I suspect landscape gardeners don't worry about whether they're part of the strategic agenda or not? (A post from the archives on No seat at the table may also provide an alternate and unconventional perspective.)
• Maximising value rather than minimising costs: I think the above exploration provides some insight to this. We're focusing on the cost of the plants, as are some of our stakeholders. Where the focus should be is on the performance of the plants once they're planted and in situ. Use of metaphor might be a useful means of conveying to stakeholders where the focus is currently, and where it should be. (Although a more conventional means might be to show them the horror stories of procurement gone wrong.) 
• Getting early engagement of stakeholders: I think these last 3 points are aligned when viewed from the stately home/garden metaphor point of view. Early engagement is a given if plant selection, location, and the general theme of the garden and it's events are seen as central to stakeholders doing their job well. We just have to find a means of doing this within our own organisations. (Another post in the series has taken an alternative view to why experts are ignored.)

How did you get on? What did you notice?

Did any of these suggestions help you understand what you might be missing? Or perhaps reading these ideas had you going off on a tangent that provided some additional insight? There's no right or wrong just thought processes that take us on a journey that may uncover something we've been missing, and that may just be the difference that makes the difference. 

One of these days I may think of a way of getting pipe cleaners into this series :-). They're certainly a very powerful coaching tool that removes the blocks for individuals in their 1:1 and 1:3 coaching sessions - if the evidence of recent weeks are anything to go by.

Alison Smith
The Purchasing Coach
Unlocking personal, procurement & organisational potential using unconventional tools  

Hypertext links shown in the post take you to blogs on the subject highlighted.

I'd be very happy to further discuss your 1:1 coaching, 1:3 coaching, training, facilitation needs to support your team unlocking their personal, procurement and organisational potential. alison@alisonsmith.eu +44 (0)7770 538159