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Networking in Newfoundland:
Supply chain strategies from PMAC's annual conference
Lisa Wichmann
Like kids on a field trip, delegates at the PMAC conference in St. John's, Nfld. eagerly boarded the buses to the infamous George Street. The 600-plus crowd had been split into several colour-coded groups. These 'teams' were on a mission: crawl the pubs, toss back a shot of 'screech' and kiss a cold wet fish. All in the name of supply chain management.
On the cobbled streets of old St. John's, practitioners had a chance to network and socialize. They chatted with their Irish dance partners, exchanged ideas with their tablemates at the fish and chip supper, and ranted and roared to traditional Newfie music.
Though the evening was planned as a social gathering, it underlined one of the major themes at the conference--the importance of networking and building relationships. By day, with a view of the icebergs floating in the harbour, delegates attended seminars on supply chain strategies. This year, sustainability had a prominent spot on the agenda, with presenters from Wal-Mart Canada and the City of Calgary talking about ethical and green procurement.
But the keynote speakers largely focused on the ever-growing importance of 'soft skills' and emotional intelligence.
Personal brand
Supply chain practitioners have to constantly sell the value of their departments to their internal clients, and to the senior executive. As purchasing managers strive to attain C-level positions, they'll need to ensure they've got the networking and social skills to play in the boardroom, said Mark Jeffries, a communication, presentation and soft skills expert based in London, England.
"Your personal brand is the number of people who know you, and know you're good at the job you do," said Jeffries. He gave a keynote presentation on how to shake hands properly, the right posture for meetings, eye contact, and joining conversations with new people.
According to Jeffries, everyone in the room possessed soft skills, but in the busy workday, these skills often get neglected or overlooked. Pressed for time, managers may find themselves tempted to check their Blackberrys in meetings.
"Don't ever let someone think the little screen is more important than they are," he advised. He also cautioned delegates to take a few seconds to look at a business card they've been handed and make a comment or two.
"If you take that card and put it away without looking at it, that's disrespectful." He said purchasing managers, in their efforts to raise the esteem of their departments, should prepare a short "elevator pitch" that positively summarizes what they do, in language the executive and internal clients can relate to. Other tips included never saying "no," but phrasing your response in a more positive manner.
His other main message was to get out and network. Instead of hunkering down behind a desk, supply chain practitioners should attend industry events and make a point not to hang out with their friends or colleagues, but to meet new peers.
Emotional intelligence
In past years, soft skills were often a fringe topic at these conferences. Delegates were more concerned with tactical strategies such as cost control. Those elements are still the main draw, but they're having to shift over to make space for executive skills, as procurement is increasingly viewed as a strategic function.
On that topic, a presentation by J.P. Pawliw-Fry covered the premise of emotional intelligence (EQ). He's noticed intelligence quota (IQ) is not as big an indicator of potential as once perceived.
"There are three drivers of performance: how smart you are, how technically skilled you are and how emotionally intelligent you are. There's virtually no correlation between IQ and future star performance. They count as threshold capabilities. They get your foot in the door but they don't make you a star."
Pawliw-Fry, an author, columnist and performance coach to Olympic athletes and business leaders, recalls he was never the smartest person in any class. Since then, he's discovered managers who can read and control emotions are better poised for success than those with high intelligence. Yet these skills are often given short shrift.
"Only 14 per cent of [managers] are able to hold a difficult conversation in an effective way," he said. "But if [staff] know from your daily conversations with them that you value them, you appreciate them...when it comes to having to deal with the turbulence it's so much easier."
In difficult situations or catastrophes, one of the most common mistakes managers make is reacting with only five per cent of the information they need. So staff get "thrown under a bus" when in fact they were blameless.
He advised managers to take a breath, find out more and get different perspectives before taking action. But that doesn't mean they should coddle staff.
"If you have more than five per cent of the information and someone really did let you down, throw them under the bus," he said, speaking metaphorically.
This is a task many managers back down from, for fear of not being liked. But avoidance of uncomfortable situations is not a hallmark of a good manager, he summarized.
The right training
The theme seemed to be on many delegates' minds this year, as another session on supply chain skills was equally well-attended. The resenter was Terry Esper, assistant professor of logistics with the University of Tennessee. He spoke about a recent article written by his colleague in Harvard Business Review. The article gave CEOs and CFOs a type of 'self-test' to see if they give enough consideration to the supply chain.
"We wanted to find out what the differences are between organizations that manage supply chains effectively and those who don't," Esper said. "The key impediment is an intra-organizational issue...There's so much focus on the customer, that we've forgotten to look internally."
For instance, he's seen the marketing arm of companies make lavish promises to customers, without finding out if the company's supply chain can cost-effectively support those ideas. The practice is wreaking havoc on inventory levels and margins, he said.
As CEOs begin to realize the importance of giving their companies a 'supply chain orientation', they're coming up against another challenge-expertise.
"Fifty per cent of the CEOs and upper executives we interviewed are allowing people to manage the supply chain that have no training in that area. People are just kind of working their way into procurement."
That's why progressive organizations are starting to implement rotational programs, giving staff a three-month position in logistics, then purchasing, then marketing, and so on.
"The best-of-breed companies we see are choosing experienced personnel
to run the supply chain organization...Wal-Mart has a CEO home-grown
through logistics. That was a major breakthrough in saying 'hey, we have value. We can be a key differentiator in competitive advantage'." Examples such as that will no doubt proliferate as CEOs acknowledge the importance of the supply chain. It will be up to practitioners to ensure when the time comes, they're prepared to function at the executive level, with emotional intelligence, soft skills and a good handshake all set to go.
Lisa Wichmann, editor of Purchasingb2b Magazine, may be reached at lisa.wichmann@pb2b.rogers.com. Watch for coverage of the sustainability sessions in our July/August issue.
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