When we last left our ISM Conference recap, ADR CEO Bill Michaels was speaking of the skill set required for the next-generation supply manager. Michaels’ comments reminded me of a study I conducted last year on procurement transformation. Over the course of three months, I interviewed more than 100 chief procurement officers and VPs of procurement. One area of this research centered on new skill sets and hiring practices.

My discussions uncovered the little-talked about secret of supply management automation. One of the initial value propositions was that new technologies – e.g., e-sourcing, e-procurement, contract management — have freed up procurement and supply managers to focus on more strategic tasks. While this is true, many enterprises are learning that buyers often lack the domain expertise or skills to drive such strategic activities as conducting risk analyses or managing supplier relationships and development. In response, CPOs reported recruiting new talent, particularly those with graduate degrees in supply chain, logistics, procurement, and finance. More than half of manufacturers reported that they had begun recruiting buyers with engineering degrees onto their commodity teams to drive parts standardization and reuse and identify innovation in the supply base.

I also put this question to my pal Julie Murphree, co-founder and former editor of Supply and Demand Chain Executive and new-age career consultant and advisor to SupplyStaff, a staffing firm for procurement and supply chain executives. In an excellent white paper on how supply management executives can and are staffing up their teams, Murphree shares four steps for skill set realignment:

1. Continually assess the skills requirements of the team
2. Provide continuing education where gaps exist
3. Hire new talent in areas where skill gaps of current staff cannot be fixed
4. Regularly review requirements based on new and ever-changing expectations of the supply management group

Says Murphree: “What’s important to executives is continually assessing their top skill requirements based on their organizations’ business strategies, then formally testing for shortcomings and using education or hiring strategies to fill the gaps.”

Access the full white paper for free at www.supplystaff.com (registration required). Or, you can avoid registration by accessing the paper at www.denaliusa.com/pdfs/2005-Skill-Sets.pdf

Email Forward & Bookmarks

Close this WindowBookmark and Share This Page

Save to Browser Favorites

Ask backflip blinklist BlogBookmark Bloglines BlogMarks Blogsvine BUMPzee! CiteULike co.mments Connotea del.icio.us

DotNetKicks Digg diigo dropjack.com dzone Facebook Fark Faves Feed Me Links Friendsite folkd.com Furl

Google Hugg Jeqq Kaboodle linkaGoGo LinksMarker Ma.gnolia Mister Wong Mixx MySpace MyWeb Netvouz

Newsvine PlugIM popcurrent Propeller Reddit Rojo Segnalo Shoutwire Simpy sk*rt Slashdot Sphere

Sphinn Spurl.net Squidoo StumbleUpon Technorati ThisNext Webride Windows Live Yahoo!

Email This to a Friend

Copy HTML: 

If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

More »