Procurement GPS

In May 2009, I met the Procurement Leaders Advisory Board to share the Procurement Intelligence Unit's business model pre-launch. As well as presenting our vision of how the PIU would help maximise the value and impact of procurement within our members' businesses, we also shared some of the projects we proposed kicking off with. One of these was to develop a standardised skills/competency framework for the procurement profession, as we felt the capability of the people was the key differentiator between the leading procurement functions and the rest. » more

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Doctor Who had the Daleks, Star Trek had the Borg (who were the scariest). As the Borg approached they would access their victim's intercom and say "Lower your shields and prepare to be assimilated. Resistance is futile." Their victims would vainly try to fight them off, but their relentless push for domination seems indomitable. In these examples, the enemy is 'out there' not within our own organisations. So why do we so often find ourselves fighting our colleagues when we try to change things? » more

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Fix the Process Not the Problem - this was the title of an article by Sirkin & Stalk in Harvard Business Review (July-August 1990), a seminal piece of work that highlighted the difference between treating symptoms and addressing the root causes in order to bring about sustainable levels of continuous and step-change improvement. » more

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