Mindset for leading successful procurement transformation

Dave HenshallBehaviors, Mind-sets

Growth Mindset

Mindset for leading successful procurement transformation

Mindset for leading successful procurement transformation – Here we discuss the Personal Mindset required by procurement professionals.

Procurements challenge for as long as I care to remember is to change the corporate mind-set.
In other words changing the mindset of how procurement is viewed (and therefore its status – a transformation) inside the organization.

For some this means moving from a transactional to a strategic function whilst for the more mature organizations moving from procurement viewed not as a function but as a strategic organization. Key to making this change in perception and gaining the prize of increased status, more power and influence in the organization, is the mind-set of the procurement professionals themselves. This is a complex topic and there are many different mindset’s at play. Considering that in many organizations procurement is still playing catch-up, one of the key traits or mindsets required is courage. Or as we have termed many times, we need to be developing Brave CPO’s:

At the highest level there are two personal mind-sets:

  1. Growth
  2. Fixed

The personal mindset is important because it impacts our resilience which equips us to go the course when we face challenges

The courage present in a Brave CPO comes from a growth mind-set. They believe ‘people are made, not born’. They are more open to learning, willing to confront challenges, able to stick at difficult tasks and bounce back from failures.

The fixed mindset believes that abilities are fixed. You either are or aren’t good at something, based on your inherent nature, because it’s just who you are. As a result they tend to set their goals low and avoid difficult challenges, and deflect failure elsewhere.

When faced with failure the Brave CPO will focus on the lessons to be learned, building increased capabilities and revising strategy going forward. They focus on mastery. In other words they demonstrate resilience. In contrast, fixed mindset people do not focus on learning but on their feelings. They lose self-esteem, become pessimistic and ultimately give up. They demonstrate helplessness.

As a result, fixed mindset people may plateau early and achieve less than their full potential, whilst growth mindset people will reach higher levels of achievement.

It is not difficult to see which mindset the Brave CPO must possess, but it is up to the current procurement leaders to develop the Brave CPO’s of the future.

Nuff said…

Next we will discuss the Position Mindset that is critical to procurement success.

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