Procurement is a very structured part of any organization and has no room for mavericks.
The inherent difficulties in dealing with relationships in procurement are highlighted in attempting to manage the mavericks within your organization.
The most difficult people to manage are spontaneous, non-linear thinkers, who are liable to fire off in random directions in the pursuit of some new idea. The truly spontaneous have a role in most organizations of any size or duration.
For understanding of any subject to improve, it is necessary to find new ways of approaching old problems, a method of approach sometimes described as thinking out of the box. It is for this reason that every organization has a need for mavericks who challenge the rules and defy conventions.
An effective management skill is learning how to channel the energy of such individuals into innovation and production. Too often, talented and creative individuals are suppressed or lost because no one within an organization can work out how to handle them.
After working in the field of procurement for decades, with all departments both in the private and public sector, mavericks make it a challenge to harness good intentions.
The main problem with the maverick mentality is the fact that their very spontaneity makes them difficult to read and control. There is a limit to the amount of creative energy and independent initiative that any organization can handle.
Moreover, if all a person does is keep coming up with new ideas — even great ones — nothing will get done. It is necessary to translate ideas into action. Therefore, since mavericks are rarely well disciplined, in order for their efforts to have productive value it is necessary either to cause them to carry through to a conclusion, or alternatively to ensure that someone else does so on their behalf.
There is no doubt that mavericks do not fit easily into the structure of the procurement department in relation to public sector organizations. Unless properly managed, they can be disruptive to colleagues.
Changing organizational procurement rules, policy and procedures to accommodate can lead to resentment on the part of others. Business requires order and predictability in behaviour, mavericks undermine those critical aspects of organizational life.
It is therefore not surprising that organizations from government to the private sector tend to be nervous of innovation because it implies change can be difficult to manage.
Against this, one must balance the fact that mavericks are almost always the main catalyst for technological and other key breakthroughs.
It is from this group that entrepreneurs of tomorrow will emerge. Also, they are often the most dynamic and resilient members of an organization, the members who are most likely to handle a crisis well and who are best suited to respond to change.
It is said that the way to develop the best that is in a person is by appreciation and encouragement.
At any rate, most people respond favourably where they are encouraged to do their best, and where their contribution is recognized.
Even though procurement needs to deal with mavericks within the organization as well as outside of the organization by way of unique vendors, it makes it difficult to follow a strict set of rules based methodologies mixed with conceptual ideas.
The objective of a good purchasing manager is to assess all the facts available at that time, mixed with the urgency of the situation, to come up with the appropriate solution for every circumstance that could arise each day.
During the pandemic, that is now entering its second phase, it is even more difficult for procurement to react to all the unexpected events that change daily.
When I am giving seminars or speaking to young purchasing professionals, I always can guarantee them of this one fact: “You will never be bored doing this job.”
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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