The topic of stakeholder engagement within procurement is a common one. This only proves how important building relationships is for procurement professionals. After all, procurement’s role in any sourcing project and the success of the sourcing project will usually depend on their relationship with stakeholders.
Measuring Engagement
But how do you measure engagement? Are your stakeholder’s satisfied? A recent article by ProcureDesk, “Proven Techniques for Procurement to Increase Stakeholder Engagement,” highlights several ideas related to managing these relationships, including how to measure. In their article, ProcureDesk quotes a Deloitte Survey, “…Only 44% of procurement organizations are measuring internal customer satisfaction…In other words, 56% of organizations are not measuring satisfaction with internal customers.” The article continues, “Procurement departments need to baseline procurement performance and engagement before they take steps to improve it.” So, if you’re not measuring stakeholder engagement, now is the time to start. Here are some ideas ProcureDesk has listed to get you started:
- Surveys: Conduct a survey, however, it is important to monitor the focus group. You can’t only include people that already support procurement.
- Informal Feedback: What are your stakeholder’s saying outside of formal meetings and during one-on-one conversations
- Meeting Deliverables: You know your stakeholders are happy if your spend under management is increasing. It is also important to look at the savings delivered. Is procurement responsible for any of those savings?
Improving Engagement
ProcureDesk also highlights several ways Procurement can begin improving engagement with their stakeholders. Here are a couple that stood out:
- Understand Personalities: Everyone communicates very differently. It’s important to learn each stakeholder’s personality before and how they prefer communicating, as these relationships develop.
- Empathy: You may wonder why a stakeholder has a certain perspective. Why is something that’s obvious to you, not obvious to them – and vice versa? This is a great reason to put yourself in their shoes. By doing so, it will also be much easier to communicate with them moving forward.
For more insight on ways to improve stakeholder engagement and to read ProcureDesk’s full article, click here.
