2023 GLOBAL SRM RESEARCH REPORT
PEOPLE
74
75
Opportunities to stand out in procurement in the last few years have been abundant, and so have the opportunities to be exposed to new and unprecedented challenges. This has both proved the worth of procurement in protecting the organisation and revealed some shortcomings in the skill set available. If procurement is to enhance its profile in the organisation, then people must demonstrate dedication and resilience and be supported and trained. We find that there is often investment in training without a defined description of the role or an analysis of the skills and competencies required. Where this work has taken place, rarely have individuals or teams had their skills assessed; therefore, training isn’t effectively targeted. This emphasises the importance of carefully defining the role based on the organisation’s vision and supplier management objectives. The skill and competencies required to deliver the role must be defined, and the current team must be assessed against that skill set. Only then can training solution be identified and targeted on individual needs. In the future, people development needs to be treated as a structured and systematic process that provides a clear pathway for supplier management practitioners to achieve the level of capability required to support the business in its objectives. It is unrealistic for companies to underinvest in people and still expect good results. The optimum organisational and resourcing model for supplier management remains open to much debate. However, it’s clear that organisations continue to work under significant resource and budget constraints, and while there will be ideal models, most organisations will need to compromise. Key opportunities for improvement: • Put more emphasis on creating a more process-driven and structured approach to people development and increase investment in training. • Use the experience of the recent past to build a strong business case for better resourcing supplier management with more dedicated roles.
People
• Revisit role descriptions to ensure they reflect what the business expects supplier management to deliver. • Critically review the skills and competencies required for effective supplier management using the supplier data here to develop the requisite training solutions. “It is unrealistic for companies to under-invest in people and still expect good results.”
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