The skills you need as a Procurement Pro

The Skills you need to work in Procurement

Procurement is a valuable function in any business if it removes the shackles of traditional procurement. That is a sole focus on cost above all else. However, Procurement enables companies to reduce costs, increase their margins, and streamline operations. Beyond this, Procurement will connect the dots within complex supply chains and market conditions.

These are the skills you’ll need to become a Legendary Procurement Pro.

Negotiation

Negotiation is an essential skill that can help you in your career and throughout your life. You will have to negotiate many times as a procurement professional, whether it is negotiating with suppliers or negotiating with internal stakeholders.

A good negotiator needs to be able to understand the other party’s interests and think about how they can align these interests with theirs.

They also need to be able to identify their own interests, so they know what they are willing to give up or sacrifice for them both (or more than two parties) to get what they want out of the negotiation process.

Negotiating requires good listening skills so that you can hear the other party’s concerns and motivate them toward finding common ground between both sides' goals instead of just focusing on their own demands.

A lot of people talk about a Win/Win scenario in Procurement negotiations.

They highlight that a Win/Loss position causes distrust and disdain in the long term. I agree - and I do not think a Win/Loss mentality is particularly useful when enacting Supplier Relationship Management programmes or building Supplier Relationships.

Communication

Communication is one of the most important skills that a procurement professional needs to have.

The ability to communicate effectively with both suppliers and internal stakeholders is crucial to making the magic happen.

As a procurement professional, you will be required to work closely with suppliers to ensure that they deliver on time and at an optimal cost. To achieve this goal, you will need to clearly define your expectations as well as provide regular updates concerning changes or modifications that may occur during your contract.

You will also need effective communication skills if there are any issues with either party involved in this transaction so that they can be resolved before it becomes too late (or expensive).

Beyond this, the ability to communicate concisely and clearly is what leaders expect and what future leaders should look to hone in on.

Attention to detail

If you want to work i n procurement, it's important fo you to have an atttention to detail. Seriously, did you not notice that massive typo. And the missing letters.

That means being able to spot mistakes in the details of a product or project and correcting them before they cost your company money or cause delays.

It also means paying attention during meetings and understanding exactly what each person is saying so that you can follow up with relevant questions or contributions. This is an underutilised skill that you need in negotiations too.

Innovation and creativity

Innovation and creativity are essential skills for procurement professionals.

This means that you must be able to identify new and better ways of doing things, as well as solve complex problems or issues within your organization.

To be innovative in procurement, you need to have a high level of creativity.

That’s easier said than done.

But you can enhance your creativity.

I’ve always ensured I’m creative outside of my Procurement career. Whether it be through creating Procurement content, like this very article. Or painting, drawing and making things purely out of a creative vision. I then look to bring this into my work.

However, some of you will struggle with this. That’s ok. But try it out and see if you can push your creativity to the max.

Leadership skills

Leaders are often thought to be the ones in charge of a project or a team. There are three important leadership skills that can help you become an effective leader regardless of your position within the hierarchy:

• Motivating and inspiring others

• Encouraging change and innovation

• Building trust in your team members

I personally put a lot of emphasis on building trust in my team members. If all I could do, was ensure my Procurement team felt trusted, then I’d be an exceptionally happy leader.

Stakeholder management

Stakeholder management is the most important skill you need to work in procurement. Without it, you'll have a hard time getting anything done.

As a rule of thumb, every time you touch something that's going to be used by someone else (either internally or externally), there's a good chance that this person will be considered one of your stakeholders.

So who are they?

Well, maybe they're your manager and their boss—the people with whom you'll be working on projects and who will make decisions based on information provided by your procurement team.

Then there are the end users who have probably asked Procurement to help them find a solution to a problem.

Of course, Suppliers and their teams are considered your external stakeholders.

The best way to manage stakeholders is by keeping them informed throughout the process of developing requirements for new projects or services through training sessions or educational materials like videos illustrating how things work at both the company level (e.g., how purchasing works) as well as at individual level (e., an overview video showing what it is exactly that each role does). You can host these on your intranet or even a private YouTube channel for your company or Procurement team.

From there, I’d suggest you invest in some solid supplier and contract management tech that gives your stakeholders visibility of what is going on.

Critical thinking

Critical thinking is a skill that enables you to analyze and evaluate information.

It helps you think independently, rationally and objectively so that you can think creatively, solve problems and make decisions. Critical thinking is also important for making sure that you don’t jump to conclusions or generalize too much from limited experience or data.

I took an A-level in Critical Thinking during my time in college. It was eye-opening as you suddenly realise how skewed every piece of content is and why it’s so vital that you’re objective and can think for yourself.

A Tech First Mindset - we cannot have any dinosaurs here

If you’re in a Procurement role and you think:

• I really enjoyed completing that Excel spreadsheet, copying and pasting data from all of those different data points into those cells and then creating a graph that is out of date by the time you share it;

• Or you think Procurement, Contract and Risk Management Software is a scam;

Then you’re going to find yourself out of the procurement job in the next 5 years.

Seriously.

You all need to understand what tech can do in the world of procurement to make your life better, and your stakeholders' interactions with Procurement more positive.

I could add more to this list.

I likely will over time.

But I’d love to hear your suggestions in the comments, my friends. Just scroll down, leave a comment and you know what, I’ll happily include any awesome points and credit them to you (with a link to your LinkedIn profile or website).

Thanks, Procurement Legends.