How can procurement get a voice in decisions?
The pandemic changed significant aspects of how companies  and particularly those in the supply chain  do business, and many learned important lessons about the value of their procurement departments. However, even that level of recognition may not be enough to give the department the kind of "seat at the table" managers and stakeholders seek, which can help take an organization to the next level of operations. As a procurement professional, you have likely proven your value many times over, but highlighting just how much your efforts helped keep your company going over the past year can be a great way to build trust with other decision-makers, according to Procurious. It's one thing to do a good job?, and it's another to show that you went above and beyond in extremely trying times. That means delivering on the goals and promises your organization set to get through supply chain snags, shifting quickly to adjust to new realities, and tightening spending if the company's bottom line suffered amid the downturn. Being able to show that you have completed these tasks, and explain how you did so, may make it obvious that you've done everything you can within your current organizational setup, the report said. That, in turn, can help you make the case that there's more to be gained from greater investment and flexibility in the procurement department. You may have found that many companies do not have their own procurement teams and often either handle it on a department-by-department basis, or have a team that is set up within a single department without much independence, according to IndustryWeek. In many situations, the need for procurement to be broken out into its own department may not be obvious, because even high-level executives don't know how much truly goes into not only getting a fair price for various orders, but also coordinating need, shipping specifications and more across multiple departments at all times. Since you work in procurement, you know there's more to a successful organizational approach than finding the lowest possible price. As IndustryWeek points out, being able to explain why is another critical part of gaining managerial trust as you go up the corporate ladder. Show the return  You have likely been leveraging all kinds of data  and, over time, a growing amount of it  to make better procurement decisions and to streamline ordering and visibility, but you may not have shown the return on your efforts, according to Supply & Demand Chain Executive. When you can show how your work has improved supplier lead times, reduced unexpected instances of late deliveries, informed better decisions, streamlined communications and so on, it becomes easier to get buy-in on the idea that you need to be involved in high-level decision-making. All it may take is a little more evidence  and homework on your part  to boost your team's standing within the business and, with it, its influence on the company's direction.