I attended a CIPS branch meeting this week, where the 40 or so procurement professionals present were told: “Try to honestly see things from the other person’s point of view.”
It was a presentation on how to sell the value of procurement and members were keen to learn how to engage with key stakeholders in their organisations.
This seems to be a key stumbling block for many within the profession. Many attending were eager for the procurement profession to become more involved in the strategic decisions in their organisations, but felt they were being locked out. (more…)
As I prepare to put up my Christmas tree, I am reminded of speaking at this time of year at a purchasing conference and comparing an effective procurement function to my tree. I’m sure it’s still as relevant today as it was then. (more…)
However, the time I spent watching the chancellor address parliament was not wasted. Watching the fiery debate, I began to see just how difficult it must be for procurement to get across the details and importance of initiatives to stakeholders. (more…)
I seem to have all the gods under my roof and I have only just realised it.
Guru Nanak is plastered on a bedroom wall, Mary is on the upstairs hallway shelf, Buddha is on the window sill of another room, Allah’s teachings appear in bedroom three and a Hindu god is also lurking in the house.
I have not gone mad or decided to go Roman and honour all the gods in fear of angering them. I just happen to have a Buddhist, Catholic, Sikh, Muslim and Hindu in my house. (more…)
I oversee the running of 19 venues in major towns and cities in the UK. Each has its own on-site general manager and they have individual goals to meet to ensure the collective success.
These include being promoter-friendly to encourage the best new and established bands to play at their site, delighting the customer, making them feel welcome by constantly reviewing and improving standards and maximising revenue potential by increasing spend per head and reducing costs. (more…)
Some fads can do quite a lot of harm before they fade away again into the background. Talk of “engaging” colleagues might sound like another of those crazy little ideas that gets picked up by the MD at a fancy conference and then inflicted on everybody back at HQ. But ignore if you can the clunky nature of the word “engagement”. In the context of the workplace, it refers to something that matters a great deal.
What is engagement? You know it when you see it. You find it in offices where there is a positive buzz of energy, where there are quite a lot of smiles and laughter, where people come in on time. (more…)
I attended a CIPS branch meeting this week, where the 40 or so procurement professionals present were told: “Try to honestly see things from the other person’s point of view.”![[Bloglines]](http://blog.supplymanagement.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/bloglines.png)
![[del.icio.us]](http://blog.supplymanagement.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
![[Digg]](http://blog.supplymanagement.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/digg.png)
![[Facebook]](http://blog.supplymanagement.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[Google]](http://blog.supplymanagement.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/google.png)
![[LinkedIn]](http://blog.supplymanagement.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/linkedin.png)
![[Twitter]](http://blog.supplymanagement.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/twitter.png)
