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What do you think the key skills and attributes are for somebody in your role? I think it’s really about passion, determination and drive. Knowing that what you’re doing makes a differ- ence, because that gives you persistence to keep moving and to keep trying things in different ways. What you also need is an environment that promotes and reinforces the right behaviours. You need the ability to be able to bring people together that understand the value of collaboration. Listen to people and understand stakeholder and supplier needs. It’s important that you don’t just drive your own agenda. When you have put in place the necessary structures and process, you then need to spend time and listen to the people involved. Once there is a common under- standing of what’s going on - they will support you. Remember you are dealing with a broad spectrum of people at many different levels, both in your organisa- tion and among your suppliers. Most of the time you will be working without the authority to make demands, which means you need to be a great com- municator, develop your influencing skills and build rapport. I have found that paying real attention to detail and always communicating is critical. You need the support of the people around you to succeed in this role. What advice would you give to somebody taking on the role of leading an SRM programme? Never underestimate the impact you can have by working with what you have right now. Start small and move it forward; even putting in place basic pro- cesses makes a difference. Don’t wait for somebody to wave a magic wand and get you all the budget and resources you need. Look and see what resources and capacity you have, and what can you do right now. I am very happy and honoured to have been given this responsibility and opportunity. You’ve got to figure out your own path and make sure you understand collab- oration. You’ve got to make sure you surveyed your suppliers and that your stakeholders understand what makes a difference. You’ve got to be flexible and supportive. I always tell my team ‘shame on us if we don’t do the very best that we can do’. It’s our job to make this procurement department so proud of us that they’re willing to support us. And we need their support to make this process a success.
What is it about the Kellogg’s SRM programme that makes you proud? Our executives are deeply concerned about the values and strategic objectives of Kellogg Company. What makes me proud, is to be able to say to them that we are being viewed by our suppliers as strategic. Invest- ing in these suppliers, who we regard as valuable assets to our business, has an absolute ROI for us and seeks to achieve a win:win outcome for both us and our suppliers. Holding a supplier day and all the work this entails makes a difference to the relation- ships. If I had to choose one thing it would be the improved communication. This takes the form of both information on performance and meetings where the strategies are shared. All of our feedback from our suppliers tells us this makes a real difference to our supplier relationships. What aspects of the programme are you currently looking to develop refine and improve? First, I want to get more KPIs and more solid data – although I would say solid data is just as subjective as survey data because you have to understand where it is coming from and what it’s telling you. Second, we are looking at how we scale up globally for both direct and indirect procurement. We want to become more standardised across the globe and all of our categories. We are looking at how we can add value and really engage with suppliers on innovation. It’s a never ending journey. We are deter- mined to get better every year and ultimately have suppliers say ‘this is the best year yet’. It may be that you are almost unique in being at the centre of the Kellogg’s SRM programme since its inception. What is your perspective on the role of the centre? I think this role is about providing structure behind the process. It’s not about an individual; it has to be the philosophy of the company. To back up that phi- losophy the company has committed the resource required to make this role a success. This includes the administrative support required to enable effec- tive performance management and fund the supplier days, etc. The planning and organising of the annual supplier days is a lot of work, but it’s vital to put the structures in place so that strategies are aligned and the vice presidents can take it to the next level. If you don’t have opportunities to have those kinds of forums and discussions, you can never get to the point where the conversation is about ‘OK what’s the next step?’.
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