My ideal client

Just to say, my ideal client is a procurement team I can get to know and spend a few days every month training, mentoring, and coaching individuals or small groups on ‘how’ they do what they do.
This will most likely include developing the team’s stakeholder engagement, communication, influencing, and creative thinking skills.
Other topics covered might also include mindset, confidence, values and beliefs, and other topics that increase individuals’ self awareness, which are the building blocks to having an affective and adaptable approach to ‘how’ things get done.
I’ve been a passionate procurement professional for over 30 years, and for 20 of those years I’ve been a NLP and soft skills coach and trainer, and geek on new and innovative tools for personal development and transformation.
If you’re interested in me supporting your procurement team to fully embrace their potential, do get in touch.
With capacity to only provide this to a small number of organisations it’s not something everyone will be able to get access to.

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.

Why do I have to adapt my style?

When discussing adapting our communication styles to suit internal or external stakeholder I'm often met with:

• "We should I change to suit them" 
• "It's not authentic"
• "Why can't they adapt to suit my style"
• "It's manipulative"

My response is the same each time.

• "You don't - if what you're doing is working"

I agree, if the communication and relationship you currently have with the other person is as you'd like it to be then why on earth would you change. 

The issue arises when the relationship isn't as we'd like it to be - whether due to conflicting objectives, misunderstanding, conflict, power, pure pigheadedness (on their behalf obviously!) or some other reason.

To us it might feel that just like this picture we can't get the door to effective communication open.

We may even sense that the person is pushing on their side of the door not wanting to let us in.

Often however there is a way to open the door, and the solution is found by understanding this image: 

ie you're often just talking a different language.

The premise behind flexing or adapting your communication style is that until you're both talking the same language, how can you be sure that you fully understand where they're coming from and vice versa. 

Just put yourself into their shoes for a moment - what reasons do you have for resisting what others are asking of you? Perhaps it's:

• Being told what to do rather than being asked
• Reacting to the behaviour (words, tone, behaviour) of the other person
• Not agreeing with what you think you're being asked to do
• Not having the time or resources
• Not understanding what is being asked of you
• You don't like the person, or think they don't like you
• Knowing they don't believe in you 
• Not trusting the other person
• Not liking, or even distrusting, their objectives
• Having other priorities/objectives
• Not thinking you need to listen to the other person 
• Having no respect for the other person
• Not thinking it's your responsibility 
• Not even registering they've asked you to do something (wasn't that email just for info only?) 
• You're stressed
• Not reading their email (it's still 200th on the list of unread emails)
• You've got your head down before you go off on holiday later today/tomorrow/next week
• You're preparing for an important meeting
• You've just had some bad news
• You're distracted - e.g due to tiredness, hunger, thirst, time of day, hours worked, location
• And so on

What other reasons might there be?

Many of the above could be addressed by the other person if they:

• Asked your opinion
• Stopped telling you what to do
• Amended their tone, words or behaviour 
• Listened to you
• Were nicer, or less nice, or more assertive, or less wishy washy or ..
• Understood your objectives 
• Explained their position better (in a way that makes more sense to you anyway)
• Explained the benefits (particularly those you're interested in)
• Were less selfish
• Were less controlling  
• Demonstrated they could be trusted
• Demonstrated they knew what they were doing
• Showed they respected you
• Appreciated you
• Inspired instead or bored you
• Made their request later 
• Were patient
• Picked up on your current state of mind/body and left you alone for now
• Apologised for past misdemeanours 
• and so on

Which means the same is true if the shoe is on the other foot.

When dealing with stakeholders it's important therefore that we understand their resistance may be something we can do something about and even turn around.

A blog on the enablers for category management and supplier management cover many of the different ways we can adapt our style to improve understanding with our stakeholders.

What do you need to do to improve your relationship with an internal stakeholder?

Alison Smith
The Purchasing coach  
Inspiring change inside and out

How do you deal with a tricky stakeholder?

We were discussing Thomas-Kilmann model of conflict on last week's supplier management workshop. It suggests that there's 5 different reactions to conflict based on your level of assertiveness and level of cooperativeness:

• Avoiding
• Accommodating
• Competing
• Compromising
• Collaborating 

In my post yesterday I shared some of the insights from the discussion we had during the session about the scale of assertiveness from passivity to aggression.

During our conversation we also explored what strategies procurement has to influence tricky senior stakeholders that we're in conflict with. How do we know which of the above strategies would be most appropriate? 

That is rather than fall back on our own preferences we may need to adapt our style in order to effectively influence the other person. 

The first steps are: 

1. Knowing what outcome we want (desired outcome)
2. Knowing where we are in relation to that outcome (current situation)
3. Exploring the beliefs we have about achieving the outcome and/or the other person (e,g helpful, unhelpful, self fulfilling, supportive, harmful, resisting and so on), and amending these beliefs as appropriate (ie in order to get a different outcome)
4. Understanding the change you're asking of the stakeholders, and considering effective change management 
5. Identifying a plan to get from 1 to 2 
6. Taking action towards 2 
7. Adapting the plan and our behaviours based on feedback from actions taken 
8. Being prepared to change the desired outcome we're aiming for (which may fit into the strategy of compromising)
9. Perseverance

To develop the plan also requires that we understand more about the stakeholder ie:

• Their values (ie what motivates and inspires them)
• Their beliefs
• Their objectives and interests - short and long term
• Their influence within the organisation
• Their interest in procurement, the category, supplier or project 
• Their support for procurement, the category, supplier or project 
• Their allegiances with other stakeholders 
• Those they listen to - other stakeholders and from within procurement 
• Who they will accept advice from 
• Their preferred communication styles, learning styles, preferred conflict style, operating metaphors and the like 
• Understanding their perspective by standing in their shoes 
• (And as I've just heard on Star Trek Deep Space Nine tonight (it's Star Trek's 50th anniversary this year) remembering the Ferengi's 98th rule of acquisition 'everyone has their price', or something they value enough to change their current viewpoint).

It's also useful to understand the above for ourselves too, and also, if the conflict has been going on for some time and we've perhaps tried the strategies above, understanding:

• What of our behaviours might be pushing the other persons buttons? 
• In what way lack of rapport is contributing to the outcome 
• Is it really our responsibility to change their viewpoint?
• What of our buttons are being pressed in the conflict ? Ie why are we persevering? 
• The impact on our well-being of holding on to the outcome (ie knowing when enough is enough and we've tried everything we can) 
• Understanding our options if they don't agree - I do, however think there's a 6th to be added to the five listed above, and that's to walk away. Which I see as different to 'avoiding' because it's only done after you've been very active in trying to resolve the conflict.

Additional suggestions most welcome in comments below.

This discussion is likely to continue this week at a number of stakeholder engagement clinics I'm facilitating. I'll add any other strategies identified in those sessions to this post later in the week.

Alison Smith

Inspiring Change - inside and out 

Are you getting the business requirements right?

Is it just me, or does this seem to happen often with teapots? 

Isn't the sole function of a teapot to brew a cup of tea, and then deliver that tea to the cup, without losing any of the water? 

There's lots to be learnt for procurement from this example, and also applied to any purchase an organisation is making - however big or small, and whether buying goods or services. 

After all this new submarine for the Spanish navy was reported to be so heavy it would "sink like a stone".

And Virgin trains's female staff were reported as having to buy non frilly bras, due to the flimsy and see-through nature of the material of their uniform blouse. 

None of these examples are really about getting the right specification either - as I suspect they all complied with the specification. 

The problem seems to be that the purpose for which the items were being put was forgotten, ignored or not tested. That is, the buying process I suspect became more about the cost of obtaining the specified item, rather than whether it would work in practice day to day! 

It's a problem organisations find themselves in often, and it's something that the enlightened buyer will take steps to avoid. 

Steps such as:

• Having a cross functional team engaged throughout the sourcing process
• Ensuring the business requirements encompass all aspects of the goods or services not just the specification - eg fitness for purpose, assurance of supply, support required, financial requirements of the supplier, whole life costs, ethics, sustainability, innovation for the future.
• Identifying key performance indicators for these business requirements - to compare sources of supply, and to measure the successful supplier by
• Agreeing criteria for selection that encompass all the business requirements - ie not making the decision just about cost
• Speaking to other buyers of the same goods and services - for references, benchmarking, and to learn from their mistakes and successes 
• Speaking to customers/end users, and asking what's important to them
• Checking the credentials of potential suppliers
• Auditing the manufacturing process and/or testing the goods before going into manufacture
• Ensuing adequate training is available for end users (perhaps the angle of pouring of the teapot stops the leakage?) 
• And so on

That is enlightened procurement doesn't just buy the goods or services at the lowest price to meet the stated specification. Enlightened procurement is about obtaining maximum value, and fitness for purpose, over the length of the life of the goods or services.

When did you last buy a dribbly teapot, actually or metaphorically, and what actions will you take to avoid that in the future?

Alison Smith

The Purchasing Coach

Inspiring change inside and out 

What's my service provision for 2016?

Happy New Year, and I hope you have a truly wonderful 2016 ahead,

If 2014 was the year to work full time for one client, developing and implementing category strategies in one location, then 2015 was its opposite.

In 2015 I worked in numerous European and American cities for a number of different corporate clients (some via other procurement consultancies, and others direct) delivering a range of coaching, consultancy, training and facilitation services mainly to procurement departments.

The main areas covered included:-

• Personal Responsibility and Development 
• Stakeholder Engagement 
• Communication 
• Creativity 
• Negotiation 
• Team Working
• Category Management   
• Supplier Management 
• and in 2016 I've been asked to develop 'get to know the buyer' sessions to help suppliers understand what makes procurement professionals tick! 

(Follow the hypertext links to blogs I've written on these subjects)

In addition to procurement the common theme of the work was often problem identification and seeing situations from different perspectives. My expertise in this area means people and projects more easily get back on track able to deliver results, and therefore meet, or even exceed, their objectives. I've written a blog on why I say I inspire change inside and out that may also help .

This ability to help people who are stuck to get back on track has expanded and in November I launched the new Landscaping Your life (LYL) website. LYL is a process I've developed that uses nature to inspire change to: see the wood for the trees, get out of a rut, take your head out of the sand and see the molehills for what they are! The effectiveness of this process is because of the power of metaphors that bypass the barriers and resistance to change. 

Do get in touch if you're interested in me providing any of the above services either directly, or as an associate.

I look forward to hearing from you very soon

Kindest Regards

Alison Smith

The Purchasing Coach

Inspiring Change Inside and Out

+44 (0)7770 538159

alison@alisonsmith.eu  

Miscommunication

You know that feeling when you think something should be easier than it is, and you're getting increasingly frustrated at what the other person is saying because it's still not making sense?

A bit like when you're trying to do one of the above puzzles, and you're just moving the tiles around in some random order, and getting nowhere.

I had 2 of those sorts of conversations this morning - one on the phone to the bank, and the other whilst tweeting back and forth with Tesco regarding my club card vouchers (mundane I know but a useful example as you'll find out)!

The common cause of this frustration was misunderstanding - on both sides. That is on both occasions both parties felt what they were saying was easy to understand, and therefore getting frustrated at the lack of understanding by the other person.

With Tesco it involved me having to go back to the beginning and confirm that when I used this URL, and pressed that button, this appeared and not what they were telling me. Of course when they had the missing piece of the jigsaw they then realised the cause of the misunderstanding, and could tell me what URL to use instead.

With the bank I'm not sure she ever understood why I wasn't following what she was saying. To her, with her knowledge and understanding what she was saying was common sense. I'm not sure therefore she understood why I was still having a problem. In this instance the missing pieces of information for me were:

1. My personal user account is linked to my business account - I can therefore use my personal account user name and password to access my business account! (who knew?)
2. My debit card can be used to authenticate my account on the card reader - ie I don't need a authentication card as I have used in the past - (how simple). 
3. The card reader provided for my old business account can be used for my new business account - perhaps a little more obvious once points 1 & 2 have been clarified.

Postscript upon trying this out: no that doesn't work, and my lack of understanding was because there was no logic, and no way on Earth the advice given was going to work, and yes an authentication card is required - which they will now send me!!! Not sure what language we were both talking but it certainly wasn't the same one!! I should trust my intuition more because I knew it wasn't right and kept checking, but that obviously simply got us into the realms of more miscommunication. 

I remember a colleague getting very frustrated with me that I wasn't agreeing with her about something. The more I didn't understand and agree with her the more frustrated she got. In the end I said to her:

"For you to be this angry and vocal about the situation I know you're right. However I don't yet know why you're right. That is there is a missing piece of knowledge or logic that you know that I don't - yet. Help me find the missing piece of information before we come to blows."

How often when we're disagreeing with someone do we assume it's a real disagreement rather than spend a little time to confirm we're talking the same language, and to find the common ground.

Alison Smith
The Purchasing Coach
Inspiring change inside and out

Having a chocolate moment

Oil rigs appear every few years and stay in line of sight from my house for a few months whilst maintenance is undertaken on them, and so I celebrate when they depart leaving me once again with a clear view of Edinburgh across the Firth of Forth.

I was talking to my personal trainer today and said "oh goody we may be saying goodbye to this oil rig" and then went on to describe how the boat is able to seemingly submerge it's middle so the oil rig can be floated onto it and taken back out to sea. 

He looked at me very strangely and said "the boat seems a little small to me."

I looked out of the window and laughed and said "Oh we're having a chocolate moment!"

Again he looked at me strangely.

On most of my workshops I use the word "chocolate" as an example of how we each have different interpretations for words. In the exercise I ask people to write down the first 8 words they think about when thinking of chocolate, and then ask them to compare them with the first 8 words others on the workshop have written down. Generally even the most common word will only be written down by 50% of those there, and some have very few words in common with others and everyone has words that are not common with anyone else. 

Of course when you think of other more relevant words such as purchasing, procurement, consultant, or trainer it certainly helps explain how misunderstandings arise. 

Once we've done the exercise in a workshop any misunderstandings from then onwards are attributed as "we're having a chocolate moment."

Look at the picture again and notice how many boats there are near the oil rig. 

When I said "boat" my personal trainer had seen the small one on the right hand side away from the oil rig.  When I said "boat" I was meaning the boat on the right hand side but adjacent to and partly obscured by the oil rig. 

Such a great example of how easy it is to be at cross purposes when we make assumptions that we're talking about the same thing.

Next time two opinions seem to be at odds with each other it may be that you're also having a chocolate moment. You may therefore just need to clarify what you're both talking about. You may just be surprised at where the difference in opinion is coming from.

Subsequently I've written other blogs exploring definition of supplier management, supplier relationship management, out of contract and one from recent NHS experience on personal care. 

Alison 

Inspiring change inside and out (more here on why that's important)

and I realise last time the oil rig left I took a picture of just what I've been talking about...

The "boat" with sunken middle

This last picture shows the legs that have been retracted above the oil rig's accommodation into the sky, rather than below it into the sea bed, if you see what I mean. At least you can see Edinburgh and the castle on the skyline in this picture unlike in today's!

Procurement Relationships - Standing in their shoes

PS: A more recent post written on this process can be found here - it provides more of an explanation of what to expect from using the process. that said, if you're wanting to use the process yourself the script below is very helpful.

All week we've been exploring different ways of obtaining insight into procurement's relationships with its internal stakeholders. We've looked at raising their awareness about what procurement is, and also applied tools such as Frameworks for Change, The Creative Whack Pack or Oblique Strategies to obtain further insight.

Another really useful NLP technique is 'standing in their shoes' also known as 'perceptual positions' or the 'meta mirror'. As the name suggests it involves hypothetically standing in the other person's shoes and, based on the insight gained from doing that, providing yourself with advice on what you might want to do differently to improve the current situation. Working on the premise if what you're doing is working you don't need to do anything differently but if it's not then any suggestions are more than welcome.

The process is as follows: 

Find some space - enough for you to stand in each of the four positions as shown below.

Identify a relationship with someone you would like some insight on.

If someone can read the following to you even better - otherwise read it a few times so you're comfortable with the process and then have a go for yourself.

1.  Pick a spot (1st position) and decide where to imagine the other person, with whom you wish to improve your relationship, is standing/or sitting (2nd position).

 
2.  Stand in this 1st position ‘looking’ at the other person (yes in your imagination - but please trust me, go with it and just wait and see what enfolds). 


Fully associate yourself into the situation ie role play an imaginary conversation with them and notice what you are experiencing. What are you thinking?  How are you communicating? What words and tone are you using? How are you feeling emotionally? Do you feel the emotion anywhere in your body - ie do you notice anything in your shoulders, hands, stomach, face, chest etc?  

3. Move to the spot where you imagined the other person to be standing (2nd position) and, in
whatever way is best for you, associate into them ie imagine looking back at yourself in position 1.

As this other person looking back at you fully associate into the situation and notice what you are experiencing. What are you thinking? How are you communicating? What words and tone are you using? How are you feeling emotionally? Do you feel the emotion anywhere in your body - ie do you notice anything in your shoulders, hands, stomach, face, chest etc? How are you feeling about the other person - what is your reaction to their words, tone, actions etc.

4.  Step into a neutral/disassociated position (3rd position) from where you can observe both the 1st and 2nd positions. 

What do you observe? What insights do you gain about the relationship? What advice would you give you in that 1st position?

5.  Step into a even more disassociated 4th position - just like being a fly on the wall. One where you
can make a quick assessment of the feelings associated with the 1st and 2nd positions and noticing the advice given by the 3rd position.

Do you have any further advice to give you in that first position?

6.  Using the insights and advice given in the earlier steps now associate fully again into the 1st position. How is the situation different?

7.  Briefly associate again into the 2nd position and observe the new you in the 1st position. Notice what’s different?

8. Return to 1st position.

Yes it might feel odd, and it's not something you do everyday. However if you've tried different things
to resolve a problem, and failed to open the door to effective communication with someone, then this
process can undoubtedly provide more insight to what's going on. And what changes you might be
able to make to improve matters - even if it is just you feeling better. 

I've done this myself, and with others, 100's of times and insight happens at different times. 

Sometimes in position 1 the 1st time, sometimes not until you're standing as the other person the 2nd 
time. It never fails to amaze me how, when and where the insight appears.

If you've not tried this yet please do try it and see for yourself what insights it can provide to get a relationship you're struggling with from where it is into a better place.

If you wanted to take this to the next level you could ask someone else to represent you and go through all the positions. Provide a brief overview of the situation and then observe what you observe, and let them feedback at the end any additional insights they may have obtained. This version is aligned with something called family constellations.

Over the weekend the blog will share more on a couple of tools I use in my personal coaching sessions. I would love for you to join me as we further explore improving our relationships with others - whether business or personal.

Alison Smith
Inspiring Change inside and out - when what you're doing isn't working

I realise on reading it this morning that an example might be useful - so here's one to give you a sense
of the possible:-

2. (as myself) I feel angry and hurt and all the bodily sensations that go with that and a desire for the other person to pay for what they did!
3. (as the other person) I wish I could say something that would help but I can't undo what I've done (yes I know it's not what they're really thinking but we only have our ability to stand in their shoes to provide additional information - so it's better than nothing and better than feeling like we are currently) 
4. (as the observer) let it go Alison
5. (as the fly on the wall) yep let it go (in this instance nothing new from 4 - but sometimes it will be the point at which the ah-ha comes)
6. (as me again following advice) I feel better but have lingering doubt that I've let them off the hook
7. (as the other person again) I still did what I did and still feel bad about how I did it - I'm just glad Alison has let it go
8. (as me again) I feel better and know they still have to live with what they did. Me being angry about it didn't change that and realising it has made a significant difference in my life.

A great real life example of how the biggest ah-ha didn't come for me until step 7. Sometimes the
insight will be as soon as when you step into 2, or even step into 3 and are at the receiving end of
you!

Procurement Relationships - Oblique Strategies

I love this challenge from the oblique strategies cards.

I started this series of blogs suggesting procurement needed to be accepted as a skill that should be left to the professionals to do.

Is this card asking me to consider the opposite?

 

I do think so and I could so easily have pulled another card for the purposes of the blog. The key though is that exploration of the card, whether I like it or not, will provide some insight.

 

So what could this card mean in this context? 

 

Procurement allowing internal stakeholders to get more involved perhaps? 

 

Last week I identified a number of fears procurement have that mean they pull back from engaging with their internal customers. This card might be inviting us to let them go and get stuck in and collaborate with those very stakeholders.

 

More tomorrow on another tool I use with clients - perceptual positions!

 

Alison Smith

Inspiring Change Inside and Out - when what you're doing isn't working

Procurement Relationships - Creative Whack Pack

Yesterday I shared one process (FCP) I use with clients to explore a challenge. Today I'm continuing that theme and am using the Creative Whack Pack.

This week's theme is how to get more internal stakeholder engagement with procurement.

The Creative Whack Pack invites us to consider how loosening up might be the solution.

In the accompanying book it says about this card:

"Some people are so closely married to their ideas that they have put them on a pedestal."

If this is a true statement for you can you see how that might mean internal stakeholders resist your advances.

What would loosening up look like in the current situation? And how might that improve your relationship(s)?

Alison Smith

Inspiring change inside and out - when what you're doing isn't working

Procurement Relationships - Frameworks for Change

Procurement is a profession, and the blogs this week are exploring the different means of engaging internal stakeholders so they understand what we're really all about, and also help them realise that muddling through without us will mean they're getting suboptimal outcomes for the organisation.

Yesterday's blog looked at direct communication to those internal stakeholders of the benefits and processes procurement professionals take for granted.

The problem is if it was that simple internal stakeholders wouldn't still be going off and doing it themselves. So what are we missing? 

The answer of course will differ in each organisation but what I'm going to do over the next few blog is demonstrate some of the coaching tools I use in coaching and facilitation of procurement teams to see what they might offer.

Today's tool is the Frameworks for Change Coaching Process. 

The tool basically use cards to ask questions and invites us to see situations from a different perspective as a result of discussing and debating the words on the cards.

Here's the cards I pulled: 

• Insight: you speak when inspired and say nothing when you're not
• Potential setback: you are setback by arrogance in the present situation
• Insight: what are you willing to do for someone else this week
• Mentors: grace & simplicity 

Before reading further please consider how you might personally interpret the cards as a solution to improving internal stakeholder engagement?

Obviously discussion within a team is better than simply getting my observations but as writing blogs are a solo activity here goes: 

Insight: you speak when inspired and say nothing when you're not

Perhaps a reminder that listening and then speaking when inspired, based on what's been heard, is a great means of getting improved engagement. Listening means we find out more about the current pain points for the other person which in turn allows us to understand how we might help them reduce their pain. 

Potential setback: you are setback by arrogance in the present situation

How might the words and actions of the procurement team be seen by others as arrogant. Please note a setback isn't about spending lots of time proving its not a true statement. It's a card inviting us to act as if it is true and noticing what you notice. If your current actions could be described by others as arrogant how might they be stopping you improve your relationship with them? 

Insight: what are you willing to do for someone else this week

Arrogance can certainly be seen by others as very selfish - this insight is suggesting the antidote to arrogance is being seen to be doing things for others. What might that include? What benefits might that generate? 

Mentors: grace & simplicity 

Mentor cards invite you to think of someone who is a role model to you for the behaviour(s) stated. In this example asking you what a role model for grace and simplicity would do. Perhaps suggesting therefore that its about making small steps forward rather than trying to do it all at once.

As you've read my interpretation you may have noticed other meanings behind the cards. The key is being able to look at a situation and see alternative solutions of how to solve the problem. Once there's a few different solutions then it's simply a case of trying them out and seeing which is most effective in moving the relationship from where it is to where you'd like it to be.

Tomorrow I'll share more on Roger Von Oech's Creative Whack Pack, and later in the week I'll cover Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt's Oblique Strategies, as tools that inspire change - when what you're doing isn't working.

Alison Smith

Inspiring change inside and out - what what you're doing isn't working

Frameworks for change coaching process copyright Innerlinks www.innerlinks.com

Procurement Awareness - Training

Last week I suggested Procurement weren't very good at engaging internal stakeholders. I went on to suggest in the following blog when we're not communicating enough with these stakeholders they don't understand what procurement is all about and so try to do it themselves without us.

One means of increasing internal stakeholder awareness of what procurement is all about is to share what best practice is with them. Having done this many times in the past it's certainly the most direct way of internal stakeholders understanding there's more to it than they first thought and to leave it to the professionals.

The problem is how do we convey there's more to procurement than many think: 

Suggestions include:

• Sharing the horror stories of procurement gone wrong ie when muddling through didn't work - examples here in my Pinterest board (please let me know others).
• Sharing the benefits of when procurement has succeeded.
• Sharing the process we follow and bringing it alive - as per AT Kearney's above.
• Using a metaphor for procurement - gardening is such a great example - as most people realise a garden needs to be mowed, weeded and pruned even if they don't realise suppliers do.

Do let me know other ways you've successfully increased your internal stakeholders awareness of the procurement profession.

Throughout this week we will be exploring different means of improving relationships with internal stakeholders using a variety of tools - Frameworks for Change Coaching Process, Creative Whack Pack, Oblique Strategies, Standing in their shoes and in personal coaching sessions collage cards and the Transformation Game.

Alison Smith

Inspiring change inside and out - when what you're doing isn't working.

The coaching and facilitation I offer is specifically aimed at identifying what it holding you or your team back from achieving your objectives and part of this will often include improving stakeholder relationships.

More here on the type of coaching I offer, and more specifically when someone else might be the more ideal coach for you. Call me +44 (0)7770 538159 or email alison@purchasingcoach.co.uk
 

Who owns payment terms?

Dearest Finance 

Please stop acting as if payment terms are yours to be changed at a drop of the hat to help you meet your objectives. 

 

Please enter into a debate with procurement about the short, medium and long term repercussions of any changes, and to also understand the contractual obligations. 

 

Thanks 

 

Kindest Regards 
 

Procurement xx

 

Payment term extension seems to be about taking short term pleasure for extended, repetitive and sustained pain! The problem is the pleasure is seen in the accounts (managed by Finance) and the pain lies with the rest of the organisation who have to manage the repercussions of extended payment terms. 

Yet again another organisation is lambasted in the media for extending its payment terms. Which resulted in many procurement professionals tweeting their disgust - me included and had me also tweeting this:

Finance could be accused of manipulating its performance (and that of the organisation) by moving payment terms out by 30 days thus reducing the need for cash flow by 1/12th of a year - once. There after, once the first benefit has been achieved, the situation remains the same as it was! (Unless I'm missing something?). 

The problem is for Procurement it's not a single pain. Suppliers impacted by such decisions can and do let their feelings be felt, and rightly so.

When negotiating with a buyer suppliers understand the payment terms in place. These are taken into consideration when pricing is offered and during negotiations. Some suppliers even choose to offer concessions for improved payment terms. It's part of the negotiation and procurement very carefully assess the pleasure/pain (cost benefit) of accepting such offers. Once agreed, these payment terms are then included in the contract. 

The problem is a statement that payment terms are being extended unilaterally invalidates everything procurement has done. Procurement doesn't just negotiate price in isolation to everything else on offer - volumes, delivery, quality, service, total cost of ownership and other business requirements are weighed up and assessed as part of a whole package. These are included on the contract that gets agreed and signed on behalf of the whole organisation.

It's not Finance's place to renege on a contract - nor assume that procurement can obtain the suppliers agreement to such terms. Bullies generally get their comeuppance and whilst many suppliers might be afraid to say No directly they will find other ways of retaliating.

Alison Smith

Inspiring change inside and out - when what you're doing isn't working

Although perhaps this relationship with Finance is simply an extension of the lack of stakeholder engagement seen in many procurement departments and discussed earlier in the week.
 

Professional Effectiveness

Effectiveness has many contributory factors - process, skill, commitment, motivation to name a few.

Process is an area I think we take for granted and often ignore. Its perhaps too easy to muddle through until we find there's a more effective way of doing what ever we're doing.

This statement equally applies to business as it does pleasure. Whether purchasing or cooking, training or exercising, public speaking or driving there's a most effective way of doing it, and there's many sub optimal ways of doing it. 

The challenge is knowing the difference between effectiveness and suboptimal ways? 

Of the list above I'd suggest there's only one where a large majority of people understand that they don't know enough to muddle through and take lessons - driving. For all the other skills listed many muddle through believing that's enough whether they're purchasing, cooking, training, exercising or public speaking. 

Of course muddling though is ok unless you're getting paid to do it and then effectiveness at the skill is what being a professional is all about. Every one of the professions above has a multitude of processes and best ways of doing things that attending training or having a coach can help you develop.

Cooking is one profession that has done so much to ensure everyone understands there's more to it than we first thought - Masterchef, The Great British Bake Off and the multitude of other cooking shows have seen to that.

Procurement still suffers from the opposite. Everyone personally buys for themselves and therefore many assume when paid to do it by their organising that muddling through is ok. I don't mean the members of the procurement department, who have generally undertaken some form of training, I mean all the others who get involved in purchasing - others in an organisation who think procurement:

• Is just about getting three quotes
• Makes decisions based on only lowest price
• Involves shouting at and bullying suppliers
• Can easily and retrospectively renege on a contract especially on payment terms (directed at finance and leadership teams)
• Isn't a profession and anyone can do it

It's the one challenge procurement as a profession has failed to address. How to ensure those making procurement decisions are sufficiently trained or supported by those who have been.

I wrote earlier this week about many in procurement not undertaking sufficient stakeholder engagement. At the time the focus was on getting internal stakeholders input into sourcing and supplier strategies. Which stops procurement going off and doing their own thing. There's another challenge however and that's how to stop internal stakeholders going off and doing their own thing too. 

The blogs next week will therefore look at the different solutions available to improving stakeholder engagement in procurement as a profession.

Alison Smith

Inspiring change when what you're doing isn't working

Collaboration is a dirty word

I don't know if you've noticed - I blog a lot about communication and influencing.

There's one key assumption I'm making when blogging however, and that is that some of this communication and influencing is aimed at procurement's internal stakeholders. I just question sometimes the validity of that assumption.

You see it never fails to surprise me how many procurement professionals still don't spend that much time with internal stakeholders and yet seem to be very quick to complain when those very stakeholders don't use the contracts they've put in place, or don't support the category, sourcing or supplier strategy they've developed.

Let's just try a quick questionnaire:

• Do you like being told what to do Y/N
• Do you like your expertise being ignored Y/N
• Do you understand every aspect of the job your internal customers do Y/N
• Do you understand the value they deliver to the organisation Y/N
• Do you understand their strategic objectives Y/N
• Do you understand the current stresses they're under Y/N

Assuming the majority of answers were No then why would procurement's internal customers like to be ignored, or not understand what procurement does nor the benefits that can be delivered.

If partnership and collaboration are dirty words with suppliers it seems they're just as dirty between procurement and they're internal customers.

Let's just explore the excuses reason's given for not spending more time with stakeholders:

• "We don't have time" really means the criteria by which procurement is being measured puts a higher value on speed and volume of contracts/strategies signed than the effectiveness of those contracts/strategies. Alternatively they're just putting a higher value on procurement's objectives than their customers'!
• "They'll want to change our strategy"really means procurement are worried that they've not incorporated all their customers business requirements ie it's not really fit for purpose (see real meaning above).
• "They'll just say no unless we do it the way they want to" really means procurement think it better to impose a change on their customers than try to influence them - or dare I say it for them to be sponsors for the work we do.
• "They're just going to resist anyway" really means procurement has not considered the vast array of change management tools for managing resistance to change.
• "There's too many of them" really means procurement has not mapped their stakeholders nor identified an effective communication plan for managing them.
• "I know more about procurement than they do" really means procurement don't value the expertise their customers do have.
• "They just think procurement is all about lowest cost" really means procurement have not trained their customers on the basics of best practice procurement nor sold the benefits of cost (not just price) reduction, revenue increase or risk mitigation. * 
• "They'll just take the credit for my work" really means procurement doesn't trust others within the business, and/or is more concerned about taking the credit themselves than the outcome. 
• "We have stakeholder manager's who are responsible for the relationship with them" really means category or supplier manangers are being slopey shouldered and not taking personal responsibility for the customers of their category/supplier.

Do let me know if I've missed any other excuses reasons why procurement are not talking to their internal stakeholders?

Suffice to say it is my firm belief that effective internal stakeholder engagement ensures that business requirements are met and value maximised. I just don't understand why so many procurement teams spend so much time trying to justify why they're not doing it.

Sorry if I'm preaching to the converted - plenty here on how to improve your influencing skills ;-) although I appreciate I've not been walking my talk as outlined in my enlightened procurement blog.

Alison Smith
Inspiring change inside and out - when what you're doing isn't working

* Which raises another excuse "but if we tell them what procurement is all about they'll just do it themselves" which really means we don't think there's that much too procurement and it can be taught in a half or whole day session. From personal experience a half day session will always ensure increased stakeholder support for procurement - because they suddenly realise there's more to it than they thought.

Partnership card shown above from the Frameworks for Change Coaching Process I use in facilitation and coaching ©Innerlinks - www.innerlinks.com