Bring a Lieutenant

Bring a Lieutenant

I caught up with a top Chief Procurement Officer and friend the other day. In our chat, we touched upon a whole host of topics and he’s now checking with his internal PR folks to determine what can officially be shared on the pages of CPO Rising (Sidebar: I’m not averse to anonymous case studies and will use them when I think I can describe the situation and strategy in enough detail to be tangible to the reader. You will start to see more discussions with CPOs that are ‘on the record’ in June). Back to the CPO. This guy is probably a better manager than he is a CPO, and he’s a great CPO. He has a very natural style with his people and takes a very direct involvement in the development of his team’s on-going training and development. This year, one of his biggest initiatives is staff (more than 100) training. Some of the other big initiatives are sourcing-related, including some potential changes in his eSourcing program’s direction. In each of the past two years, the training has had a very specific theme and intent – collaboration is this year’s focus, specifically training staff on how to “work more difficult problems in a group dynamic.” He has also continued to make significant investments in process training.  I’ll come back to some of the specifics around the design of this year’s training program/agenda, a few of the innovative sourcing initiatives that are now underway, and a revenue-generating program that his team recently launched in the future. What I’ll focus on today is a somewhat off-handed remark that he made when talking about the relationship that he has with his manager.

In the course of our discussion, this CPO talked about the very good relationship that he has established with his manager, who is an EVP-Operations (think: Chief Operating Officer). Certainly the relationship has been bolstered by consistent and strong departmental performance throughout the entirety of the CPO’s tenure, especially the “over-delivering” that happened in 2009. This CPO meets with the COO for a 60-90 minute one-on-one operations review every other week. The meeting has a baseline agenda but is fluid enough to include any specific circumstances that warrant inclusion. The offhanded statement: the CPO makes it a habit to bring one of his staff lieutenants (or lower) to every operations review meeting with the COO. The lieutenant (or staffer) sits in for the entire meeting and gets to present or provide an update on at least one specific department initiative. I really like this idea. In the CPO’s mind this practice accomplishes a few things:

  • His lieutenants/staff get some visibility at the executive-level
  • His lieutenants/staff get some experience presenting to an executive audience
  • His lieutenants/staff get to hear what the CPO thinks is important
  • His lieutenants/staff get to hear one executive present to another
  • His lieutenants/staff get an understanding of what the company executives are focusing on, how they evaluate the procurement department
  • With this exposure, his lieutenants/staff are more likely to give good feedback on how to improve operations
  • Builds better relationships with his staff through direct interaction
  • Helps the CPO better evaluate staff
  • Over time, the COO gets a good cross-sectional view of the talent and make-up of the procurement department
  • His lieutenants/staff are empowered and encouraged because they understand all of the above

I have participated (as panelist and moderator) in 4 separate panel discussions over the past 12 days and at least one CPO on each panel highlighted the challenges in hiring, training, and retaining top talent. In 2010, people remain procurement’s greatest constraint, but also its greatest opportunity. I personally believe that there are some very compelling trends that will make procurement a much more attractive draw for employees within the enterprise (hire!) and many CPOs are already doing a good job with training (train!). As superior talent begins to enter procurement, retention will be even tougher (retain!). I wonder how often procurement leaders think about talent retention in this light and focus on helping their talent gain the kind of experience and exposure that this simple exercise can yield? How many leaders have the self-confidence and wherewithal to bring their top lieutenants (and other staff) to meet with the generals on an operational review?

If you have one, the bimonthly ops meeting may not be the right forum in your enterprise, but there are probably many areas where your staff can benefit by participating. The CPO also benefits from these activities. I’d love to hear your ideas (i.e. leave a reply below) on how to engage the “ranks” and expand their “commands.” Ten-hut! Present ideas! Forward, post!

Postscript I: Congrats Phil!

Postscript II: I am excited to announce the panel for this Thursday’s event Procurement Leadership Summit in SF focused on the Priorities and Challenges in Global Indirect Spend Management will include Kathy Disimino, Former CPO, Hertz; Vipul Chitalia, Global Sourcing Director, Agilent Technologies; and George Odom, President, Strategic Travel and Meetings Group. If you are based in the Bay Area, I encourage you to attend.

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3 Comments

  1. Excellent article. What I see here is more about how you shape a culture – a culture of personal development and empowerment, and a focus on “share and build” versus “shame and blame”. We’ve seen it a million times in studies of organizations that when it comes to retention, salary usually ranks 4th or 5th in the list of needs. Much more important is whether people feel that they are being invested in, getting exposure, being trusted with opportunity to show that they are capable of success and will be rewarded for success, and seeing that their leaders not only talk the talk, but are willing to walk the walk. They need to see through example that leadership leads from the front, are dedicated to a vision of excellence and high performance (not flavor of the month mantras), and will stand by their team during the more challenging and difficult times. The best part of all of this is that it creates a culture of self-motivated managers who will overdeliver on a consistent basis – a huge payoff for the leaders of the organization.

  2. Howard – Another great comment, thanks! In fact, I referenced it in today’s article which is precisely the idea-cycle, I’m trying to foster.

    All – please don’t be shy about leaving a reply..

  3. Bruce Kilkowski

    Excellent article and approach. This is just one albeit an important way of developing the next generation of Procurement Leaders.

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