By Carlos Solorzano – Managing Partner at Alder Koten

Top Skills

Are you looking forward to a quantum leap and becoming a Chief Procurement Officer? Do you think you have what it takes? We may sometimes think that doing just a “good job” it’s all it takes to get a promotion but, have you questioned yourself, is it really that easy? The answer is no and if you are looking forward to becoming a Chief Procurement Officer, you can follow this brief but powerful points.

First, back to basics

There is a set of primary set of skills every Chief Procurement Officer needs when it comes to a daily work basis. Most organizations are looking for a candidate with the following abilities:

• You have managed all spending, regardless of the nature of the operating/influence model being used (i.e., who performs the strategy vs. execution of sourcing, buying, paying and managing of suppliers
• You have been responsible for leading procurement efforts to efficiently and effectively enable spend owners such as business units and functional partners to maximize the value they receive from suppliers to meet their objectives.
• You have strong negotiation skills and you know how to use them for large commercial deals.
• You have a strategic mindset and problem-solving skills.
• You also have a working knowledge of finance and/or accounting in terms of cost management, budgeting, treasury, financial accounting, engineering, risk management, etc.
• You possess an in-depth knowledge of sourcing and procurement principles and best practices (but it doesn’t just come from within the procurement ranks, you need to have a broader knowledge!)
• You are familiar with relevant legislative and regulatory requirements of your country, and you have an understanding of standard contractual terms and conditions to mitigate any legal risks.
• Ability to “sell” procurement’s value and to run procurement as a services business like any other well-run professional services business
• You are a team player at executive levels and you are really good at collaboration with business units and functional partners; you are actually a solid bound between IT, finance, HR, legal, and other departments you need to work with to ensure clarity of the specifications and expectations of the company. (Did you know that the biggest reason for CPO’s not staying long at a firm is actually due to culture?)

Therefore, you have a global perspective and an understanding of the cultural/business dynamics of international business.

You also need to have excellent communication skills (and even better-listening skills!) that allow you to get the “voice of the internal customer” and to understand the company culture and how to best communicate procurement’s value to it.

Taking your Procurement career to the next level:

Agility: what does it mean to be an agile CPO?

Giles Breault from Beyond Group deeply investigated what it really means to be agile with respect to procurement, you must know that every single job has its own kind of agile skills and features. Identify them and work on them can help you to work even better, faster and smarter. He came up with four essential qualities that come together and are not mutually exclusive; in order to be agile, you need to bring them all together.

Be able to anticipate: You always have to be one step forward. Either is focusing on the needs of a customer, having an effective intelligence network or having a strong risk management approach, you’ll need to have an almost natural capability to anticipate the things that can happen and be able to take action.

Having an analytical capability: This particular skill goes beyond just having the brains and that means having digitally enabled information systems and using them for building better insight for you and the company.

Responsiveness: Focusing on delivering insights and advice, being known for taking action, and focusing on output and results. This will rely on your process knowledge and experience.

Be into collaboration: This particular point can help you on building a strong leadership. This means to become a ’connector’; an individual that can link a complex external environment to pressing internal issues. This should also be combined with fearless leadership.

Have transformational leadership skills

Companies are looking for Chief Procurement Officers with leadership skills that can actually make transformations. It’s not just about the leader facade who can lead a team to objectives with know-how techniques, it’s about tracking a record of leadership success in your company (not only in the procurement area!) and being able to transform functions and organizations all along with your internal knowledge; mixing the best of both worlds. Remember, a leader is a person people want to follow, not someone that has to be followed.

Be open to technology

Technology shifts are faster and smarter every day and they actually help us in everyday-tasks, so, why not be open? Times are changing and Chief Procurement Officer’s have to change too. A CPO needs to be well-informed and open to new technologies that are just made to help to improve procurement processes. For example, big data can help you to understand more about how and when to purchase goods and services to understand demand in much greater detail, helping you make more strategic purchasing decisions. Take a look around, there are many big data, artificial intelligence and technologic solutions at a glance!

A Chief Procurement Officer with this set of skills demonstrates an organization is aware of the complexities of its industry. It signals a willingness to embrace those complexities and prepare for the future.

At Alder Koten, We help shape organizations through a combination of research, executive search, cultural & leadership assessment, and other talent advisory services. Contact us at www.alderkoten.com or carlos.solorzano@alderkoten.com. More articles here