David Ward is a procurement leader with over 20 years of experience across 4 separate industries having held leadership roles in Unilever, AstraZeneca, MSD (Merck & Co Inc) and currently the Head of Global Laboratories, IT & Business Services Procurement at Catalent Pharma Solutions.
Passionate about advancing the strategic agenda of procurement by linking procurement’s value proposition to enterprise priorities, outcomes, and growth. He has successfully designed and led the transformation of global and regional procurement organisations, created and sponsored strategic partnerships, and optimised supply chain performance and resilience. David is committed developing and coaching the next generation of procurement leaders, and fostering a culture of sustainability, collaboration, and inclusion.
David’s procurement eyes have certainly seen a lot so we were excited to tap into his thoughts on today’s procurement world.
David, what do you love about Procurement?
Where to start? First and foremost, I am a big believer in business being as much about human relationships and the way in which we interact with each other as it is about the end product and to that point, Procurement has provided me, personally with incredible opportunities to partner with some truly brilliant people. From literal rocket scientists at Rolls-Royce to brain surgeons at MSD and AstraZeneca. I have had the good fortune to call some of the most prestigious companies across multiple industries ‘home’ and work with and learn from some of the very best procurement and supply chain leaders in the World and together contribute towards impactful and purposeful initiatives which drive value and growth.
For instance, partnering with the Unilever legal group and external partners to put in place a global modern slavery charter, which for some countries set a standard in respect to employment conditions to prevent exploitation and ensure fair treatment of workers in the absence of law or regulations in some counties, or closely collaborating with my procurement peers to leverage key supplier partners to locate, safeguard and move MSD’s Ukrainian based employees and families displaced by the military conflict and to reconnect with Ukrainian oncology patients to ensure supply continuity of life-saving medication.
Procurement occupies a strategic position sitting between the organisation and the outside world, where for most companies 70%-80% of innovation comes from and whereas before it was sufficient for organisations to partner and align goals and objectives with 1-2 major suppliers to be successful, this strategy has been completely disrupted due to seismic shifts in technology, sources and availability of talent, importance and greater scrutiny of social, environmental and ethical factors, supply disruption and risk most recently due to the pandemic, geopolitics and instability in global financial markets.
As such the expectations placed upon procurement and subsequent scope has grown exponentially. Whereas once we were the cost-cutters we are now value generators and growth enablers today Procurement’s agenda is broad and challenging, it is daunting but also incredibly exciting. Procurement has become many organisations ‘Swiss-Army-Knife’, and that isn’t for everyone, but from my perspective – what’s not to love?!
How do you feel procurement is perceived in general? Why is this?
I give this a lot of thought, it’s front and centre of my mind whenever I take on any new role.
Perceptions differ, wildly, due to multiple factors such as but not limited to; industry, company culture, mindset of key decision makers, stakeholders prior experience of working with procurement, talent and capabilities, functional alignment… the list goes on, however in my humble opinion, leadership ultimately sets the perception.
Poor or negative perceptions held by C-level leaders filter down throughout the organisation and solidify into hard-set expectations of roles and responsibilities. If procurement is positioned to be a back-office transactional function, why would a key decision maker consider involving procurement at the beginning of a project or initiative? What’s the point? That’s not what we are here for, right?
However, on the other hand, in those organisations where procurement receives active sponsorship from senior leaders the general perception is far more positive, in fact the sky’s the limit, reference Tim Cook CEO of Apple, Mary Barra CEO of GM and Marc Engel, former Chief Supply Chain Officer of Unilever – the latter being rated by Gartner as the top Chief Supply Chain Officer over five consecutive years and whom I had the privilege of working for during his tenure as Unilever’s CPO.
Procurement must also take some responsibility. Historically Procurement has set a fairly low barrier to entry, often used as a dumping ground for lost souls and under-performers from other functions. Also, and perhaps like myself, previously few people actively sought out a career in procurement and there were few clear pathways, they just happened to find themselves there. A lot like throwing eggs at a wall and seeing what sticks, the results have been hit and miss, manifesting in mixed levels of talent, capabilities and most of all mindsets and behaviours which has led to equally mixed performance and stakeholder experiences – perceptions are reality.
But we are not helpless. Yes, it’s (very) difficult to alter perceptions from the bottom up but not impossible. There’s no silver bullet solution but start by fixing the basics. It’s important to carefully listen to feedback from the stakeholder communities, team members and supplier partners – all feedback is a gift, including negative feedback. Use this as a baseline and from it, build out a stakeholder engagement strategy and value proposition linked to opportunities and business priorities.
Foundationally things are also changing, and I feel that the outlook for our profession is very bright. There are now University and College courses devoted to procurement and supply chain and new generations of talents are actively seeking to take up a career in procurement – and this is critical, as we need this new generational talent to take our profession forward.
What can procurement do better?
Linked to my comments regarding how to change negative perceptions of procurement, I give this question a lot of thought, multiple times a day in fact.
I think it’s helpful to break this down into two major elements; first the mirco (organisational) level and secondly the Macro (profession-wide level).
What can / should procurement do better or differently at the micro level is situational. Generally, my advice is to ‘Be The Change’, don’t expect the CEO or C-Level leaders to pick up the phone and dial procurement. You need to actively listen to what the business actually needs and adapt your value proposition around that. Most of us are very capable of creating a 20-30 page category strategy slide deck, with various 4-box analyses and colourful dashboards, but is it really what the stakeholder wants right now?
Know your audience. Identify opportunities for quick wins and build equity and credibility, take an enterprise mindset and be willing to move out of your swim lane to ‘fix problems’ that may not sit within procurement’s typical scope. This commitment will more than likely lead to a growing appreciation for the value that you can bring and move the relationship forward with greater, more strategic involvement down the line, eventually moving from fixer to trusted advisor. See it as a journey, be patient and consistent – it’s a marathon not a sprint.
Regularly reassess and refresh your value proposition linking procurement’s role to enterprise priorities and business growth. For instance, procurement typically sits on a wealth of under-utilised data which could be packaged to; equip business development to be more effective in client engagements, provide insights to supply chain planners highlighting potential risks and opportunities across the supplier landscape and value chain such as increasing spend through diverse / SME suppliers or identify key suppliers located in the path of a hurricane and in doing so play a major role in steering business strategy to achieve enterprise priorities, whilst using the opportunity to highlight impacts for non-action.
At the macro level, we need to be better at sponsoring and elevating talent. Procurement is primarily about soft-skills, interpersonal skills, mindset and relationships. Hard skills can be taught, competency and knowledge learned. My advice is to hire for mindset and opportunity not primarily for experience.
We must invest in the procurement community. Share our best practices, constantly learn from one another, celebrate each other and our successes. Additionally, I feel strongly that we should expect more from the professional bodies to drive higher educational and professional standards to increase the credibility of our profession.
Lastly… rebrand where appropriate or necessary. I believe that our profession is getting to a critical juncture, where we need to make a conscious decision. Every day I see the same tired posts on LinkedIn attempting to explain the differences between Procurement vs Purchasing. For our collective sanity I don’t want to give that subject any more air – but if this is the state of our profession then how can we expect functional peers to understand, or care? Let’s consider the accension of finance in the corporate hierarchy. Over a period of 10 years our finance peers went from back-office bean counters to orgnisational overlords.
I appeal to fellow procurement Leaders that perhaps it’s time to rebrand and call ourselves something new, something that more accurately incapsulates our new agenda and strategic importance in organisations. All thoughts and suggestions are welcome!