Where does your career in Procurement and Supply Chain go from here?
At a recent breakfast seminar for senior Procurement and Supply Chain leaders, Full Potential Group™ Managing Partners, Carole Gaskell and John Blakey, chaired a discussion around the challenges and opportunities faced by Supply Chain and Procurement leaders in advancing their careers.
Supply Chain and Procurement Leader to CEO… it can happen
The discussion opened with John citing examples of Supply Chain and Procurement professionals who had successfully made the transition from Supply Chain leader to Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The most topical example was Tim Cook, the new CEO of Apple, who was previously Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the organisation. One of the reasons given for his promotion was that he had improved margins and streamlined Supply Chain. Other individuals who had successfully made the transition included John Bilbrey, CEO of Hershey (previously COO), Jean Phillipe Collin, CEO of Renault and Bruce Johnston, CEO of Sears. Both the latter individuals had Supply Chain backgrounds. A study by A. T. Kearney in 2005, highlighted similar career progressions, stating that, “All of the studies’ leaders encourage key employees to be involved in procurement as part of their career development; 64 percent of followers do the same.”1
Accenture research into the challenges and metrics of a Chief Purchasing Officer (CPO)2 found that almost half of the CPOs interviewed had been in their organisation for at least seven years and tended to possess a scientific degree and a business qualification. In terms of their profiles within their organisations, 64% of CPOs reported to the Board, but only 19% reported directly to the CEO. A third of respondents were dissatisfied with their current voice on the Board. From a career perspective, the research found that 80% of individuals surveyed wanted their next move to be sideways to the same role in a larger company rather than upwards. Although there was no talk about a glass ceiling at the breakfast seminar, there was a definite feeling that the opportunities to advance one’s career lay in expanding the profile of Supply Chain and Procurement within an organisation. This could then open the door to other career opportunities – the most commonly cited being COO (where it was felt there was a natural migration of Supply Chain to an operations-type role), Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO). The latter would be particularly relevant for those with previous financial backgrounds and experience.
The route from Supply Chain and Procurement leader to CEO was considered a less well-chartered territory than that of CFO to CEO, which typically has a more established career path. Moreover, while there was much research and advice about how individuals could attain a senior Supply Chain and Procurement role, there was little information about how to pursue the next steps after that.
“CEOs who aren’t engaged and knowledgeable in supply chain are likely to have under-performance, as it is hard to push an organisation for which you have little understanding.”
Supply Chain Digest™3
What had contributed to Supply Chain and Procurement success…?
A round table discussion commenced on the qualities and attributes that had enabled Supply Chain and Procurement leaders to get to where they were today. Five themes arose:
1) Talent management
The need to attract and retain the right talent was critical to success, particularly when responding to complex and changing business set-ups. One organisation described how their Supply Chain function had had to transition from a financial in-house function to an offshore set-up, which had required a completely different talent approach. ‘Softer’ skills were cited as being increasing central to success outside of traditional technical expertise – for example, the ability for professionals to have a customer relationship focus, understand complexity and deal with ambiguity. It was recognised that the shift from technical expertise to being more commercial, with a sophisticated ability to communicate, was more pronounced and necessary the higher an individual rose in an organisation. The earlier this type of talent could be brought into an organisation, the better.
2) Stakeholder engagement
For Supply Chain and Procurement to have any kind of success, particularly in increasingly diverse and disparate business environments, they needed to be able to engage stakeholders. Importantly, this included influencing stakeholders both up and down in an organisation.
3) Creating and communicating the bigger vision
The need to empower people through creating and communicating a clear vision was identified as another key factor – going beyond simply communicating that savings needed to be made year on year. In particular, it was essential for the Supply Chain and Procurement vision to be aligned to the wider organisational vision. Supply Chain and Procurement possibly have a unique role in their organisations as they are one of the few functions that enables people to look end-to-end across all aspects of their organisation. This had many benefits – a key one being that Supply Chain and Procurement leaders would often have a strategic view of an organisation that would be incredibly valuable at Board level. Moreover, the more the strategic view could be communicated, the greater the engagement of employees. Carole emphasised the value of having a strategic view and proactively influencing the strategic agenda if a Supply Chain and Procurement leader wanted to progress.
4) Knowledge of the industry context and the macro environment
The need to have a broader context of the industry and understanding of the macro environment was cited as another key to success. The requirement to anticipate trends – and communicate the potential response to these to stay ahead of the game – rather than being reactive was critical to showing the value-add of Supply Chain and Procurement. The functions could go further if they thought beyond the technical boundaries.
5) Change management
Lastly, change management was highlighted as a critical factor, particularly in responding to a constantly evolving business climate. Equally, change management expertise was needed to engage organisations in the value that Supply Chain and Procurement could bring, aligning it to where the organisation currently was, where it wanted to get to and the steps needed to be taken to enable this. This was particularly pertinent for one leader who had entered a UK-based organisation where no Procurement was in place – his challenge was then to build up the function from scratch and link it to the varied parts of the business, which equally pulled on the other factors already highlighted.
These success factors were all recognised to be leadership skills, particularly non-technical leadership skills, which would support career moves both within an organisation and beyond.
Challenges and opportunities for maximising the value of Supply Chain and Procurement…
Supply Chain and Procurement leaders can often be undervalued in a business and there is a need to be more commercial and demonstrate a stronger understanding of the wider business objectives. On the Board, Supply Chain and Procurement leaders needed to develop their leadership and influencing skills to gain visibility and credibility, engage the ‘hearts and minds’ of the business and ‘sell’ the very real contribution their function makes to business performance. Individuals also needed to develop and maximise their personal profiles and the value of undergoing further business training such as an MBA was underlined.
Self-belief is key…
Carole summarised that Supply Chain and Procurement leaders have skills and capabilities wider than most roles due to the end-to-end organisational view they are engaged in – this was a huge asset. While it was recognised that all the leaders present had amassed considerable business and leadership skills in their careers, the ‘leadership edge’ lay in developing their self-belief to take the next big career leap – questions such as ‘do I believe that I am ready for a COO role?’ would need to be truthfully answered in order to progress. The next bold step after that lay in communicating their self-belief with conviction and passion. Overall, demonstrating the business case, showing strategic impact and communicating one’s self belief with clarity and conviction would all make it easier to make the next career move – whether internally to a seat at the Board table, or externally as one leader described as a “wild card” within a new organisation.
The need to influence…
Carole highlighted the need for Supply Chain and Procurement leaders to be successful influencers in order to progress. She shared a coaching story where she had sought feedback on the COO she was coaching from the CEO. The CEO shared that the COO’s performance was exemplary and his strategic understanding and stakeholder management was strong – however it was on a more personal level in terms of influencing and impact skills that the individual was not performing. For any Supply Chain and Procurement leader to rise to the boardroom and maximise their impact in the business, influencing was agreed to be key. Supply Chain and Procurement leaders, however, are not always adept at this:
“The truth is that our profession have done only half the job in marketing procurement’s value proposition to the people who matter: Board level management.”
CPO Agenda4
At a business level, influencing can involve making cost savings and getting cash back into the business. This is an instant and visible win that helps to ensure credibility and validates the value of Supply Chain and Procurement. John challenged leaders to think about influencing at a personal level and what that would look like. The discussion highlighted:
• Engaging the business with the wider vision of Supply Chain or Procurement and the potential of the future results
• Standing up for what one believes, with passion, conviction and persistence – one leader did not get any respect until he went “head to head” with all of his leadership team. The tipping point in this relationship was both the savings that his function had made but also his self-respect, which helped to make Supply Chain be viewed at a peer level. This took time though – a period of 6-12 months, demonstrating successive wins to build credibility.
Using the “Integrated Brain” approach and expanding career opportunities
Carole shared the integrated brain approach and its value for Supply Chain and Procurement leaders when wanting to align all their technical and leadership skills, belief and passion and communicate this to raise their profile and expand their career opportunities. This involved the use of a ‘multi-brain’ perspective and accessing intelligence on three levels: the thinking brain, the heart brain and the infinite brain; a simple tool which enables individuals to integrate thoughts, feelings and intuition for improved results. Impactful leaders actively utilise all three brains, blending their approach and simultaneously integrating what is needed in the moment for the situation at hand.
Integrating the multi-Brain for maximum leadership impact
A strong leader will move across the three brains and use all three levels holistically as appropriate to the situation. One of the keys for any individual in the process of realising catalytic leadership is to hone the thinking brain and know and understand themselves. Effective leaders need the ability to ask themselves strong questions and to be very clear and confident on precisely what their strengths are and the value of their contribution to the organisation. On a heart brain level, personal values and needs come to play, involving attitudes and beliefs which are fundamental to who they are. In addressing personal challenges, leaders need to notice the areas they keep resisting, where they feel uncomfortable and what fears they need to face. It is by drawing confidence from their strengths that individuals develop the self-belief to assertively tackle these challenges.
Connecting with the infinite brain by clarifying vision and purpose and sustaining intention whilst also being willing to go with the flow, allows leaders to access quantum intelligence and wisdom beyond themselves. Carole summarised that Supply Chain and Procurement leaders were likely to be actively using the infinite brain already through working with a global picture of their organisations and helping the Board see what was possible. The challenge lay in honing their thinking brain and expanding the heart and infinite brains further to add more value.
John closed the breakfast seminar with a final quip:
"A business leader was on an external leadership development course with participants from many international companies. Part of the programme involved piloting a hot air balloon to an agreed destination. Unfortunately this leader had got lost so he reduced altitude and spotted one of his colleagues on the course who was walking back to the starting base. He descended a bit more and shouted, "Excuse me, can you help me? I don't know where I am and I promised to get to the finishing base before dark." The colleague replied "You are in a hot air balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground. You are between 40 and 41 degrees north latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west longitude." "You must be a supply chain manager in your day job,“ said the balloonist. "I am," replied the man, "how did you know?" "Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I am still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help." At this, the balloonist responded, “I guess you must be a CEO.“ "I am," replied the balloonist, "but how did you know?" “Well,” said the supply chain manager, “you don’t know where you are or where you are going. You have risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise which you have no idea how to keep, and you expect people beneath you to solve your problems. To cap it all, you are in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but now, somehow, it’s all my fault!”
Closing statement
We hope that these observations and perceptions from our breakfast seminar have been thought-provoking and we look forward to hearing your comments or answering your questions. Ultimately our challenge to all Supply Chain and Procurement leaders is to seize the opportunity available to you to showcase your technical and leadership expertise, demonstrate your business credibility and communicate your value with passion, clarity and conviction to rise to your next career level – whatever that might be!
John Blakey, Carole Gaskell – Managing Partners, Full Potential Group
Appendix
1. ‘Challenges and Metrics Behind the Role of Chief Procurement Officer’ – Accenture, 25th September 2009
http://www.accenture.com/us-en/Pages/insight-cpo-painting-portrait-chief-procurement-officer.aspx
2. ‘Creating Value Through Strategic Supply Management’ – A. T. Kearney, 2005
http://www.atkearney.com/index.php/Publications/creating-value-through-strategic-supply-management.html
3. ‘Supply Chain, the CEO, and Opportunity’ – Dan Gilmore, Supply Chain Digest™, 30th November 2007
http://www.scdigest.com/assets/FirstThoughts/07-11-30.php
4. ‘Taking the Gloves Off’ – Neil Deverill, CPO Agenda, 2008
http://www.cpoagenda.com/previous-articles/summer-08/features/taking-the-gloves-off/
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