To be effective, a person who holds a position in procurement must envision him or her as a leader of people.
Leaders lead people, not systems and process.
The term “rapport” describes a close and sympathetic relationship and it is the type of relationship that procurement people must learn to cultivate with those around them, both with external and internal clients.
Rapport builds identification. It creates a personal bond between the procurement department and other members of the organization as well as the vendor community.
The commitment and sense of unity that arise as a result may be sufficient to allow the organization to persevere where others fail. Thus, building a rapport with members of the organization is a critical aspect of the human relations skills that a purchasing person must develop. It is part of the salesmanship of leadership in procurement.
The best way to develop a rapport is by developing common ground with their clients and showing the proper understanding of the organization and the people that comprise it.
Purchasing also gains the benefit of the information that those others have to impart, so that it may be factored into the final decision. When other people speak, they are seeking to pass information along. It is always important for purchasing to obtain any information that is available.
In procurement, while respect is essential, few organizations operate in a climate of fear. People must believe that they are free to speak up when they believe that they have identified a problem.
Procurement managers that are approachable and reasonable will have greater rapport with those staff and vendors who they work with.
Communication must make clear as to the importance of the role that each member of the organization is intended to play. Work must be focused.
It is the responsibility of purchasing to avoid allowing the resources of the organization to be squandered on irrelevant side efforts.
The greater the number of goals, the more confusion.
In procurement, as well as senior management, certain qualities are likely to earn the trust of those around us. Among most important is to display good character, that is a sense of duty, and a proper perspective on ethical or moral questions.
times of crisis, like we are in now with the pandemic, it is the character of a person that inspires others to work harder to get through this difficult period in our history.
What is essential during COVID is that everyone understands that those decisions are being made from a sincere conviction as to what is necessary for the betterment of the organization as a whole.
Finally, the need for rapport does not end at the organization’s door. Procurement must also work with people outside of the organization. Organizations do not interact with each other, but the people who comprise them do. As with many other aspects of procurement, succession planning and development requires proper training and a true commitment of resources, such as using a mentoring program.
Often the argument against such an approach may be that it is an overly costly luxury. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Organizations that fail to provide for procurement succession take a great risk.
Stated another way, the failure to provide properly for the development and growth of the procurement department within an organization gives rise to a deferred crisis for the future.
When an organization fails to provide an opportunity for advancement to its promising junior and middle managers, it is likely to discover that it quickly becomes stripped of talent, as talented individuals leave the organization out of frustration.
Their departure will place an increased burden on those who occupy positions of senior management and that added burden may cause some of those individuals to leave as well.
Stephen Bauld is a government procurement expert and can be reached at swbauld@purchasingci.com. Some of his columns may contain excerpts from The Municipal Procurement Handbook published by Butterworths.
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