This article originally appeared in Spend Matters, March 2013
Last week I attended
the Procurement Talent 2013 conference, and I have to admit I wasn’t sure what
to expect from a single subject conference. I mean after all what more is there
to say other than there isn’t enough talent, we should spend more time
developing and nurturing it, and someone should go into the universities to
promote Procurement as a profession.
But once there it
became evident that the big advantage of focusing on a single subject allows
for far greater development of a topic than the normal conference where we get
a range of 45 minute sessions on subjects as diverse as eAuctions and
Sustainability, which can only scratch the surface of the subject due to time
constraints. Consequently there was good debate, helped by Peter’ flexible
approach to timing and sticking to the agenda!
The presentation that
really caught my imagination though was Chris Taylor’s of SAB Miller. They
clearly expect a lot from their new young hires, with an expectation to
metaphorically get their hands dirty analysing a category, and then to have
spent time out in a different country, understanding how procurement works out
in the field as well as the ivory tower of Group Procurement, before
progressing to category manager. I think it is an excellent approach, requiring
dedication, sacrifice, loyalty and commitment from its staff. But for it to be
sustainable, that loyalty does need to be two way, reciprocated by the company,
evidenced by a degree of protection during harder times and a policy to
(nearly) always recruit internally. After all if their talent development
scheme is failing to produce suitable successors for vacant roles, it is the company’s
scheme that is failing as much as the employees that are in it.
This model was common
in corporate life up until the late 80’s. I used to work for IBM at the time,
and then, once you joined them, there was an assumption on the part of both
parties that you were there for life. You became an IBMer. There were very few
hires who were aged 25 or more, people came in from school, as graduates or
after a couple years working elsewhere after graduation. Almost every single
senior post was recruited internally. This model was based on mutual loyalty
and trust, but it broke down in the late 80’s following 2 events. First IBM
hired its new CEO from outside the company, in the shape of Lou Gerstner.
Second IBM launched its first ever redundancy programme, the euphemistically
titled Career Transition Programme.
IBM broke the bond of
loyalty it had built up with its employees over decades in a couple of years.
Inevitably pretty soon the loyalty those employees felt towards IBM (and
therefore the commitment and sacrifice they were prepared to give) broke a few
years later. But this is not just an IBM story. You could substitute IBM’s name
with any large corporate.
This break down in
loyalty also changed the perception a company had of its staff. In the past they
were seen as long term assets, worth investing in (through training and
development) and taking a few risks in the course of that investment. In the
modern world those long term investments in people in the learning stages of
their careers have largely gone. The first thing that goes when you are under
budget pressure? The training budget. The result of that is our workforce is now
less well trained and prepared than it could be and consequently we are all
struggling to recruit from a limited pool of talent.
So I wish SABMiller
well. There is no reason why it can’t succeed, but they will need to remember
that loyalty and trust are two way streets and on occasion they will have to
make some compromises to maintain its side of the bargain.
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