C3S Consulting
Why purchasing leadership today?
There are two major reasons why leadership has come to the fore.
First of all, purchasing performance is primarily an internal issue. Today's buyers are part of a value-creation chain that encourages them to challenge their internal customers or Business Partners. This healthy confrontation gives rise to the most significant innovations and gains.
Secondly, as Dr. Natacha Trehan, Lecturer and Researcher at Grenoble Alpes University and Director of the DESMA Purchasing Master's program at Grenoble IAE-INP, pointed out in the first research paper published on this subject, in recent years we have witnessed a reversal of power in negotiations in favor of suppliers.
This phenomenon is reinforced by internal procedures that can take up to 24 months to change a supplier in a monosourcing situation. As a result, the supplier becomes de facto "monopolistic" during this period, and enjoys a particularly high degree of power.
Leadership, i.e. the ability to influence without hierarchical or contractual authority, takes on its rightful place in this context.
Buyers need to be able to unite their contacts around their ideas or positions, without being able to rely on strong power.
The Purchasing Leadership by C3S Consulting© module is suitable for both individual and group training. You don't need to set up a group to benefit a buyer or purchasing manager.
Five stages characterize it:
Intervention with management: videoconferencing
Depending on the purchasing strategy, expected changes, performance indicators, etc., we identify which of the 22 behavioral criteria proposed in the L.E.A. Leadeship Effectiveness Analysis™ tool should be prioritized.
Assessment: online
People complete the L.E.A. Leadeship Effectiveness Analysis™ Questionnaire (self-assessment, 180° or 360° version). The form of the questions makes it impossible to predict the results. The person is therefore not in a position to "value" this or that behavior.
Group meetings or individual interviews: videoconferencing
The aim of the meeting(s) (depending on the number of participants) is to present each of the 22 criteria in order to establish a common frame of reference, a sine qua non for working on and evaluating the change dimension.
Individual feedback
This is a key moment in the process. On the basis of individual feedback, the individual can "situate" him or herself in relation to the Purchasing Department's expectations on each of the criteria. A customized action plan is implemented.
Coaching, individual follow-up: videoconferencing
Individual coaching makes it possible to work on each of the behavioral criteria to be developed. It takes into account the links and interactions between the various criteria (systemic vision). Behaviors to be developed are clearly identified, making follow-up particularly efficient. The direct manager is also involved in the process, to support and anchor the change in the employee.