What to do as the first procurement hire

If I were the first procurement hire, I wouldn’t start by saving money or implementing a P2P tool.

I’d build a foundation.

Something I learned the hard way that’s stuck with me.

Early in my career I kept hearing from experts that saving money was the number 1 metric for procurement pros and that the way to ensure you hit your number was to implement a “no PO, no pay” policy.

And with it, restrictive technology. Often overly complex.

While that may be one way to do it, I found a better one.

As the first hire, I needed to build what wasn’t there.

That included:

- Relationships
- Trust & proof
- Spend visibility

What I realized was that in creating something from scratch, especially in a function that works with the entire organization, it was so important to create connections with my fellow colleagues.

After all, they are my customers.

I needed to get to know them, understand their wants, and build a buying foundation that could meet their needs.

It would take time and effort.

It needed to happen together.

Because when procurement builds in the back office to meet their own needs without taking into consideration the people they’re there to help, it fails faster than a missed auto renewal.

And when you introduce strict policies and tech that doesn’t make sense, you’re making things harder from the very start.

When coming in I:

- Build connections
- Learn the business
- Study the spend

And I work to create a buying culture that build a foundation for growth.

The irony of it all, by building together you buy better.

Savings included.