Within the Purchasing department, skills development is essential to enable employees to effectively manage their tasks.
The acquisition and development of the ‘skills’ necessary for the role of buyer is a key success factor for a Purchasing department.
It is obviously necessary to identify the skills needed to enable their acquisition, and to offer employees career development opportunities that allow them to deploy their talents.
The 9 key skills of a buyer
Key Skills
| Description |
|
| 1. Leadership & Management | Listening, influence, conflict management, delegation, motivation, organization |
| 2. Process & Project | Persuasion, languages, creativity, project management, risk management, regulatory compliance, cultural adaptability |
| 3. Customer Expertise | Understanding of objectives, processes, and constraints; ability to develop specifications |
| 4. Market Expertise | Rapid acquisition of new technologies or standards, benchmarking, networking, knowledge of key players including their strengths and weaknesses |
| 5. Technical Expertise | Dependent on the sector and products |
| 6. Analysis | Cost structure, use of internal and external databases, purchasing portfolio, use of IT tools (ERP, office automation, internet) |
| 7. Negotiation | Preparation, behavior, SWOT analysis, tactics, strategy, persuasion |
| 8. Tender Expertise | Mastery of operating procedures, e-RFx tools, influence, legal matters, finance |
| 9. SRM and Category Management | Purchasing policy, time and priority management, dashboards and indicators, TCO, conflict resolution, motivation, creativity |
The 70:20:10 model of skills development
This model originated in the mid-1990s in the work of Morgan McCall, Robert Eichinger and Michael Lombardo of the Center for Creative Leadership in North Carolina.
A book published by Eichinger and Lombardo in 1996 lays the foundations of the model as follows:
Successful managers attribute the acquisition of their skills to:
• 70% of difficult missions and professional challenges
• 20% their professional network, mainly their superior
• 10% traditional education and their readings
Regularly, every year or two, a review is conducted with the director/head of the Purchasing department, in order to jointly determine a development plan, which aligns the skills to be developed (for example: negotiating internationally, or developing leadership…), the necessary steps, the missions that will allow the implementation of this skill (with success indicators), and the training if necessary.
The career plan
After a few years in the same position, it is wise to “push” a buyer towards other positions internally, or at least towards other missions.
These career development opportunities are important for renewing relationships with suppliers, which can create new momentum. As the tools and technical aspects of the profession evolve very rapidly, it is crucial to be able to renew available resources and skills.
© Reducio (with the participation of Qwesta) – Link to the Qwesta platform
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