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How to be the most We all dream of being the Most Valuable Player Pull the needs, don’t push the services
valuable player: (MVP) for our team in the big moments…
Build your personal In 2015, we added “being a trusted business advisor” to the listing
scorecard To be the MVP of our team: Oh, how we dream of this reality. of priorities in our annual and global procurement key issues study.
An aspiration many of us have had and hold onto throughout our Lo and behold, procurement leaders around the world selected it
Chris Sawchuk lives and our careers. as their number one priority as individuals and functions.
Principal & Global Procurement Advisory This term, typically reserved for the sporting world, is now being In 2016, we asked these leaders their opinion of what it takes to
Practice Leader, The Hackett Group applied to all types of teams, including business teams. I’m achieve this status. First and foremost, they highlighted the need to
going to show you how to be the MVP to your stakeholder; the deliver on the basics – cost, delivery and quality. This made a lot of
“Trusted business advisors need to business, function or partner that you should be focusing on to sense to us as it was foundational.
create more of a ‘pull’ model for their enable and ensure their success.
services and less of a ‘push’ model.” They also highlighted the need to be agile and not being a “hammer
In the world of procurement, this has not always been easy. looking for a nail”. Trusted business advisors need to create more
Love this article? We have been characterised too often as gatekeepers and of a “pull” model for their services and less of a “push” model.
Share with your contacts via Procurious! administrators by these same stakeholders, and not as the value
business partners (or MVPs) we aspire to be. Just do it – be the MVP
What needs to change to make procurement professionals the If it will make the stakeholder successful (and is a logical extension
valued business partners or MVPs we aspire to be? to your standard services), just do it.
Be the “trusted advisor” There are quite a few real-life examples, but one that illustrates this
best is a global process manufacturer that had extended its well-
In 2014, The Hackett Group highlighted five characteristics of established six-sigma capabilities to its internal stakeholders. Their
world-class procurement organisations. After studying these aim was to improve the efficiency of their processes uncovered in
organisations, we found that they were unique in that they were various category management activities.
able to establish a more trusted and advisor-like relationship with
the stakeholders they supported. Though six-sigma is not a standard procurement service, this
organisation was able to establish itself as a centre of process
We termed this as being a “trusted business advisor”. Shortly improvement capability for the enterprise. They not only extended
after we released our research, organisations were asking their procurement service portfolio, but also strengthened their
how they could become a trusted business advisor and where stakeholder relationships.
could they get trained. We realised that there could never be a
guarantee of success because it’s your stakeholder who bestows Being a trusted business advisor is not an end goal, but an enabler.
this designation upon you. Once you are in a trusted advisory relationship, you now have the
permission – as well as the expectation – that you will provide value
to enable the success of your stakeholder.
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