10 June 2010 | Rebecca Ellinor in San Diego

Delegates at the ISM conference were advised to develop their influencing skills if they want to reach the top.

The US tends to do things on a big scale and the 95th annual Institute for Supply Management conference is no different.

This year the event was held at the 2.6 million square foot San Diego Convention Center, where about 2,000 delegates attended more than 100 workshops, seminars, presentations and keynotes over four days.

While the sessions covered a wide variety of subjects – from continuity planning to survive the next disaster to how humour can strengthen your supply chain – a large number of presenters made a common point. And that was about the skills and traits needed by today’s procurement and supply chain professionals and why.

Innovation, risk management, getting a place at the top table, best practice and leadership are all important but without the necessary abilities, it would be difficult to achieve all the above.

INFLUENCING SKILLS

“There is so much need for leaders, so present yourself as one,” advised David Nelson, senior partner at Fenix Group International. He is a former vice-president at Honda of America, John Deere and Delphi Corporation and now heads the supply management consulting operation at Fenix. He was among the senior professionals on a panel entitled ‘earn – and keep – a seat at the table’.

Presenters agreed the ability to influence others is vital if you want to ensure a permanent place on the board of directors.

Lisa Martin, senior vice-president, worldwide procurement at pharmaceutical company Pfizer, said she spent a lot of time meeting all the firm’s senior executives and getting to know them. “You need to have a relationship with those whose budgets you’re hoping to influence. It was a really valuable investment of my time.”



If you need to hone these abilities, Martin suggested practising these skills in a ‘safe’ environment such as church or at parent-teacher groups. She pointed out that language you use (ie. talk about things other than cost) can help or hurt you. “The first thing is to listen,” she said.

Shelley Stewart, senior vice-president operational excellence and chief procurement officer, Tyco International, said influencing is a skill that’s learnt, in many cases, and how you exercise it depends on your organisation.

“You have to be an influencer, it’s so critical because you can’t always get it done yourself. You have to be able to influence the organisation and others to drive change in your business. Everything we do is with another department,” he said.

In the opening address, speaker Angel Mendez, senior vice-president of customer value chain management at communications firm Cisco, made the same point. “The characteristic I look for now when I hire, in younger talent especially, is ‘can they influence?’ You have to be able to influence, this is so important. Love the inventors and make them love you,” he said.

Far from being depressed about having to face difficulties presented by, for example, the volcanic eruption in Iceland this spring and the closure of airspace that followed, he lived for such challenges. He said he wanted staff who had the same attitude: an interest in the impact of globalisation and the ability to predict such risks and figure out ways to overcome them. “You’ve got to want it and love it – to come to work every day thinking: ‘I live for this.’ This is what we do.”

 “The past 12 months has been the finest year for the purchasing and supply profession. We have stood up in our companies and become more popular than ever before. There’s nothing like a very sharp recession followed by a very sharp recovery then a whole series of natural disasters to make supply chain people very popular.

“We’re looking for change agents, people who are comfortable with ambiguity,” said Mendez.

HEALTHY CURIOSITY

Julia Brown, senior vice-president of procurement at Kraft Foods, said it was essential staff had the right attitude, approach and healthy dose of curiosity. Brown, who joined the food giant 18 months ago, said she inherited an organisation with a mix of both people and experience.

“I want people who are energised about how they can make a difference to the corporation, who are curious and constantly looking for what’s new, better, different. They are confident and able to influence at the most senior levels at our companies and supplier companies. And they’re creative.

“They have to be willing to take that hill with me as opposed to saying ‘when you get to the top of the hill if everything’s okay we’ll come on up’. Procurement is all about driving change. I think it’s easily taught, what’s harder to teach is that ability to lead, to influence, to drive change and have that confidence and creativity to do that when everyone around you is saying that’s not possible.

“It’s about ensuring you have that right leadership mindset to take our transformation to the next level. I launched a blog stating that as my expectation for the entire organisation, which has about 1,300 people. I wanted to send a consistent message to tell them that’s what I was looking for. I want to redefine how people feel about their roles so they consider themselves general managers fully accountable, with strategies linked to those of the business.”

When it comes to creativity, elsewhere at the event Robert Kemp, president of Kemp Enterprises, suggested using a little humour at work to aid success. He advocates taking “humour breaks” in meetings, even playing the odd innocent prank at work. Positives include improved morale, more job satisfaction, increased productivity, better problem-solving and innovation and a reduction in stress. In other words, a happy workforce is a more productive, creative one.

Tom Linton said people were a vital part of his transformation as LG Electronics’ first CPO, that last month earned the company the R. Gene Richter Award for Leadership and Innovation in Supply Management. Among other elements of his overhaul was to establish a procurement leadership programme.

“With more than 2,200 people in the overall structure I wanted more people involved in strategic activities to drive more value.

“I hired people from all these wonderful supply chain and procurement universities. People with hybrid capabilities and MBAs from top schools and we’re putting them through a five-year rotation – so a year on TVs, a year on phones and so on. That moves people around, so we’re doing a lot of work on that.”

He’s also set up an “early identification programme” which takes the “top of the top” and puts them through a programme he co-teaches. “It develops them rapidly on a career path and includes the leaders of the future,” he said.

COLLABORATION

Tied in with influencing skills is the ability to work well with others, form good working relationships with internal customers and suppliers, which isn’t the same thing as always getting along.

“You have to think in terms of transformation and you have to be collaborative,” said Mendez from Cisco. “Don’t confuse it with consensus, we want people who know how to get to a solution by being able to influence others point of view into their own in a way that when it’s over they’re just as happy as they were before the conversation ended or happier.”

Martin also added a note of caution to always keep in mind the company’s overall objective, which means not always doing what the customer wants. “It’s a healthy tension. In fact, if you don’t have it you may not be doing something you should be,” she said.



WHAT TALENT WANTS

On the flipside, one session looked at what young talent is looking for from hiring organisations. Both Jami Coop, procurement manager for ConAgra Foods, and Martin from Pfizer said competition for top college students and young supply management professionals was tough, with a recent survey showing such individuals typically receive four offers for full-time employment upon graduation. Companies must find a way to differentiate themselves, they said, adding: “Offering competitive salaries is no longer sufficient.” Retention too presents challenges. So, what actually gets their attention? Coop and Martin identified the top three areas for employer selection as desire for challenging work assignments, salary and the ‘perceived fit of company culture’.

The first is about clarity and specifics around the role or roles they will play in the organisation and therefore their ability to make a meaningful contribution. In terms of pay, the top talent surveyed in their research attracted average starting salaries of $58,000 (£42,000). And Martin added she thinks new hires trying to negotiate on salary is a good sign.

 But it’s not just about money, Coop pointed out that more than half of the people they asked did not accept the highest offer because they were more interested in the first area – challenging work assignments.

Lastly, company culture is key. They want to work with people they enjoy being around, at a company with a positive reputation, commitment to community and the environment. And they want to be offered flexibility and the opportunity for work-life balance. “They want to work for a company they can be proud of,” said Coop.