The role of traditional procurement teams is changing.
By definition, procurement experts are typically responsible for obtaining goods and services based on a company’s needs. However, these days, their role is expanding and they’re also in charge of staying on top of supply market trends and understanding how these can affect the business. Companies rely on them to use their expertise and insight to create new growth strategies and help them remain competitive. Procurement teams are also key players in business expansions with significant supply chain impact.
Given the importance of their role, it’s crucial that companies set their procurement team up to succeed. Here are five ways you can do just that:
- Be transparent
Be very clear about what you expect from your employees. This goes a long way towards getting the job done; especially for team members who juggle as many functions in the company as procurement professionals.
Procurement teams should know exactly what the company needs from them to ensure that they are focused on the right priorities. It helps to involve them in major company decisions as early in the process as is feasible so that their daily priorities don’t inadvertently drift too far from the company’s long-term strategic direction –.
- Provide constructive feedback
Employees rarely do well working in silos — this is especially true of procurement teams. They’re tasked to coordinate both with internal teams and clients, which means it’s especially critical for them to receive regular feedback from people they interact with.
Providing the team with constructive performance feedback lets them know exactly where they’re at and how well they are doing. It’s also a great way to let them know what areas of the job they can improve on.
- Give them incentives
Positive reinforcement is great. Giving your procurement team that extra push through incentive programs is essential to acknowledge that they’ve done a stellar job.
Proactively reward your team for a job well done. Try setting smaller annual goals that procurement teams can work on. Provide incentives when they successfully complete each objective. This will help them feel more accomplished and motivate them towards achieving the bigger, long-term company goals.
- Recognize individual expertise
Procurement teams succeed as a group. And within that group, there will be individual team members who will stand out for their specific areas of expertise. For example, one person may enjoy haggling directly with suppliers, while another may loathe it. Identify their particular areas of strength or what specific part of procurement interests them and leverage that as much as possible.
- Give them the tools to help get the job done faster
As the job of procurement continues to evolve your team now finds itself intricately involved in multiple aspects of business operations. Think of ways to ensure that they are able to efficiently do their jobs.
One way might be to streamline key aspects of the procurement process, such as writing effective marketing RFPs. eSourcing makes that process more transparent, promotes better adherence to best practices, and saves time for both your team members and your suppliers. Providing the tools to get the job done more efficiently shows your team that you are invested in their success.
If you want to enable eSourcing as a way to increase your procurement team’s performance, find out how Vendorful can help. Contact us today!