When will there be a ‘World Procurement Day’?
Did you know that today is ‘World FM Day’? I found out yesterday and my first question was: “when is ‘World Procurement Day’?”
Answer: there isn’t one, well not yet.
The purpose of this initiative is to celebrate the importance of the FM profession and raise its profile around the globe. Various organisations have arranged events to mark the day, which takes place on the third Thursday in June every year. Events are being held across the globe from Brussels to Bangalore, Toronto to Texas and Shanghai to San Francisco.
How much these achieve I’m not sure, but I suspect even if it is only those already in the profession who currently embrace it, it will bring them a sense of pride and unity. And over time, perhaps its influence will grow.
So while colleagues in facilities management enjoy the growing glow of recognition that comes from today having been declared ‘World FM Day’, I’d like to know if you think a similar day for the procurement profession would be beneficial.
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The day when the then Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply – Institute of Purchasing and Supply (UK) was conferred with the Royal Charter should be the “World Procurement Day or World Purchasing and Supply” day. I recalled that was in 1992. All MInstPS have been designated as MCIPS since then. What a great day after years of fight for status.
Nice one Felix. That era also co-incided with the profession becoming a “hot” issue for (stimulated by some CIPS funding) academics who developed concepts such as relationship management, and business gurus thereby generating more interest by CEO’s of large organisations etc.
Ya, its time procurement and supply chain management profession has a special day dedicated to the members all over the world, so that we can reflect on all issues accomplished and pending and show the world that we really exist. World Procurement Day can have a significant influence in most goverments in the world. Senior management can start taking their staff to higher CIPS grades and levels. This day must be advocated and endorsed by all of us in the profession to be recognised.
An interesting concept Rebecca, but rather than continually beating our own drums and shouting about all the wonderful things that procurement has done for our respective businesses, would it not be better to figure out, collectively, how we can get procurement to the core of our respective businesses – in turn, having our stakeholders beating our drums for us?
During an interview I recently conducted with a CPO from a FTSE 100 Media company we discussed that:
“at the end of the day (through my experience) people are very distrustful of individuals or functions who beat their own chests and fly their own flags too much. There is an element that clearly to get business support you have to be delivering and all the rest of it but there’s a fine line there and I’m much happier when one of the stakeholders tells others what a great job procurement have done.
But it also depends on the pace of change you have to deliver. If as a procurement leader you’re expected to deliver substantive things very fast, you probably have no alternative but to be very up-front, beating your own drum for procurement. But that’s got to change at some point in procurement’s life cycle. Procurement has just got to become part of the business, that’s when it becomes a little more subtle.”
So should we be looking to regale the achievements of procurement one day a year, basking in our own greatness?
Or should we instead focus our energy on being celebrated by our stakeholders as drivers of success within our respective organisations?
*Note: The full interview will be published shortly on the buyingTeam website, be sure to sign-up to our e-newsletter to be notified when it is released – http://info.buyingteam.com/buyingteam-e-newsletter-sample
Feeling the need to (constantly) beat one’s own drum is a sure sign of insecurity. But I would also agree that Procurement doesn’t always get the recognition it should (haven’t the answer to that one) in some quarters. It will be down to a matter of balance and thus avoid any accusations of vanity / pride.