I read two interesting articles this week that merged into this theme.
One was a read and the other a watch, or rather a re-watch.
“Finance and Procurement: How to Become Natural Allies”
James Meads comments that there are often deeply rooted misunderstandings between finance & procurement.
Different perspectives.
Cost savings vs value creation.
Cost Avoidance, Savings, Payment Terms, Reporting and more.
He asks how to get better alignment. This is not unique to finance and procurement.
Earning the right to be a “trusted business partner” requires a lot of effort and a lot of EQ.
Charles Green, the co-author of “The Trusted Advisor” describes the “Trust Equation” as follows.
Trustworthiness is the SUM of Credibility, Reliability and Intimacy, DIVIDED by Self Interest.
When you think deeply about this, it is powerful stuff.
If we bear it in mind, and put it into action, a lot of these issues can be resolved.
I also re-watched a great Simon Sinek video, just 2 and half minutes long, that describes the relationship between performance and trust.
Focussing exclusively on performance, and our own views of what it entails, is dangerous.
We need to win hearts and minds, and build a strong coalition of stakeholders who trust us.
Trust and Value are close relations . . .
This topic will also be tackled at “AoP MasterMind Live 2023”, a virtual event on November 7th.
An opportunity to dig into some of today’s very real challenges and run by the The Art of Procurement.
7am San Diego, 10am new York, 3pm London, 4pm Paris, 8.30pm Delhi . . .
It’s a compelling agenda packed into just 3 and half hours!
- The Good News / Bad News for Procurement Leaders Today
- Managing Stakeholder Engagement by Measuring Impact & Value
- The Procurement “Metaverse”
- The Challenge of Services Procurement
- Supplier Diversity & ESG
- The Gnarly Problem of Supply Chain Risk
You can get details and registration here . . .
You can read James Meads’ post on driving better alignment between the CFO and CPO here . . .
And you can see Simon Sinek’s 2.5 minute illustration of “Trust vs Performance” here . . .
Thanks for reading . . .