22 October 2009 | Rebecca Ellinor

Incoming CIPS president Shirley Cooper tells Rebecca Ellinor about her leadership aims for the next 12 months

Shirley Cooper is a convert to procurement. When she was interviewed by her employer Computacenter, 10 years ago, she was given a choice: did she want to be the UK finance or procurement director?

She chose the latter - why?

"Shopping darling!" she quips.

She was looking for a new challenge and procurement was it. She accepted the job with the option to switch to finance after six weeks if she'd made the wrong choice, but never looked back and is now procurement and supply chain services director.

Theme for the year

Cooper's tenure continues a topic selected two years ago - leadership. The CIPS president at the time, Ron Jarman, chose "leadership for the 21st century" to drive his term and outgoing head Bola Afolabi picked "leadership without boundaries". For Cooper, leadership is about "reputation, relationships, right now".

There has already been criticism for this choice: "Some have said 'so fluffy Shirley'. So fluffy? There's nothing fluffy about relationship management. It is core to everything I do and everything that everybody should be doing. It can be the difference between strategic success or failure. Supply chain leaders need the right soft skills to be successful. The ability to engage and persuade others is vital."

Cooper has first-hand experience of the power of relationships and reputation. "I've gained opportunities to work on a number of indirect spend areas in the business because people knew what I did elsewhere and said: 'Could you do it for me please?' So I did."

Strong relationships and a good reputation have seen her go from strength to strength at Computacenter. When she arrived, the result of an anonymous employee satisfaction survey put the then 100-strong purchasing department in the bottom quartile, with a 30 per cent attrition rate. By the following survey she was halfway up the board. By the next she was in the top division.

She puts that success directly down to her style of management. "If you treat employees well they are more productive. I look for the potential in everyone and believe the sum of the whole is much bigger than its parts."

Computacenter then gave her another team of 250 people who were at the lower end of job satisfaction ratings, hoping she could repeat her success. She did, and now she also manages the quality division too.

"Within the first two years I made savings of £2 million, while reducing headcount by 25 per cent. I have made savings of a further £1 million each year since. I now have 96 staff in supply chain, which is a significant drop, while maintaining and improving customer satisfaction and team morale."

That's not to say that establishing a reputation that precedes you is easy. "Throughout my career I have been asked to do things I don't believe in or value, so I fought my corner always. Sometimes I win, sometimes I don't, but I don't lie down. If people understand what your values are, you are more likely to get that push through over time."

She says the first step is to "know thyself" and then project that to others. "The sorts of phrases people have used about me are 'open and honest, empowering, loyal, integrity' - those are my values and this is what others have said about me."

Relationships with suppliers is also key. "Does squeezing them until it hurts help your relationships or your reputation? At Computacenter our whole approach is focused on building relationships with customers, suppliers and staff. We have continued to grow the business, even in times of difficulty, which is proof, if it be needed, that relationships can have a direct financial impact."

The Profession's Reputation

While Cooper's first career - accountancy - benefits from a high profile and globally recognised standards, procurement has some way to go. "In finance, when you ask the business to jump they say 'how high?' As a procurement director, they say, 'why?' You have to justify your case far more than you ever do as a finance director," she says.

And this is something CIPS is focused on. Raising the profi le of procurement across the world and making the CIPS qualifi cation the global standard is one of the ambitions of CEO David Noble.

And as president, Cooper plans to work with CIPS over the coming year around her theme. "When we see 'relationships' in our world of procurement it's wrapped around 'supplier relationship management' and 'customer relationship management' but it's broader than that," she says.

"I want to pull it together under one banner. What is a relationship and what should it look like? What is a toxic relationship and how do you achieve good ones? Have you mapped out the relationships that are most important to you and checked if the ones you spend most time on correlate to those."

She hopes some of this work will result in case studies of individuals and organisations with top performing teams, and will be working towards CIPS being more engaged with the profession's leaders through a revitalised fellows programme.

Cooper also plans sessions on how to use business networking sites to forge relationships and build your reputation - and how to avoid damaging them on social networking sites. "It takes years to build a good reputation, minutes to ruin it.

"My message is a call to action. As procurement and supply chain stay firmly in the spotlight we must seize the opportunity this presents.

"Furnish yourself with the softer skills that will gain you leverage and buy in, and don't put things off until tomorrow - take action right now.

CV: SHIRLEY COOPER

2004: Procurement and supply chain director, Computacenter (UK)

1999: Procurement director, Computacenter (UK)

1997: Chief financial accountant, Yorkshire Water

1996: Director of financial management, healthcare business solutions, United Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust 1994: Finance executive, Carlsberg Tetley, Allied Domecq

1989: Financial planning manager, Joshua Tetley Brewing and Wholesale, Allied Domecq

1987: Financial controller, Business Mail Data Services

1983: Project accountant/factory accountant, Noxell Corporation UK

1982: Senior regional accountant, Music Hire Group

1977: Vehicle admin/trainee accountant, Rowntree Mackintosh

Qualifications

Harvard University, Achieving Breakthrough Service (2003); Cranfield University, supply chain courses; Bradford Management Centre, MBA (1991); Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (1983); MCIPS (2003); FCIPS (2007)

Other achievements

Member of CIPS Board of Management and Council; General Commissioner for Income Tax (1996-2009); past regional chair of NETWORK (organisation for senior women in business); member of Institute of Directors; past regional finance director of Opp2K (supporting women in return to workplace); CIMA; CIPS Supply Management Awards judge (2004- 2007), chairman of judges (2009)

Interests

Travelling, cycling, scuba diving, alternative therapies