For this very special episode of Talent Talks, I’m delighted to be joined by three well-known leading experts in the world of procurement consultancy for a panel discussion;
- Simon Whatson – Principal – Efficio Consulting
- Simon Geale – VP – Proxima
- Jeremy Smith – Managing Partner – 4C Associates
We discuss using external consultants versus hiring procurement talent in-house and what the mindset and skills it takes to succeed as a Procurement Consultant.
We also flip the questions and discuss CPO’s experiences on when working and engaging with procurement consultancies hasn’t worked and why, the importance of empathy and understanding, and the future of the profession.
Links & References:
- Simon Whatson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-whatson-6872a47
- Efficio: https://www.efficioconsulting.com/
- Simon Geale: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simongeale/
- Proxima: https://www.proximagroup.com/
- Jeremy Smith: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremysmith27/
- 4C Associates: https://www.4cassociates.com/
“As consultants we bring acceleration. We have to be empathetic to those internal politics, but we also can’t let them distract from where we’re trying to go. So I think a consultant brings a little bit more focus and direction than maybe an internal “Head” may do.” – Jeremy Smith
“I think the strongest argument for bringing in a consultancy is around that change management piece . How big of a change is this for the organisation? Does it warrant having that kind of external access support?” – Simon Whatson
“The longevity of your relationship is based on advising the clients the best thing to do. Let’s not forget that sometimes we get asked not necessarily to deliver the change but to deliver the resource that allows the client to deliver the change.” – Simon Geale
“ I could quite quickly get very knowledgeable and quite cosy in my role and there wasn’t too much change. Then going into consultancy there’s a different mindset of constantly being ready to do something different that you don’t know the answer to but being prepared to go with the client to try and help them find it. That’s something that I think is very strong. “ – Simon Geale
“I do find that in interviews you’ve got the people coming in who want the glamour and don’t understand that there’s a lot of hard work going on and a lot of pressure that comes with the role of being external. There’s also people who think they can do it because they’ve done a little bit of the internal consultancy, and it isn’t quite the same.” – Jeremy Smith
“One of my colleagues framed it as the ability to challenge and be challenged” – Simon Geale
“At that time, in a lot of organisations, if you said you were from procurement, that was a black mark. And if you said you were from consultancy, that was another black mark. So you were starting off with a credibility level of a traffic warden. People were looking at you thinking, “well, I don’t want you here, you’re about to tell me how to do my job, but you don’t understand my job.” – Simon Geale
“When you’re a consultant, you’ve got to get your mind around the fact that someone is paying you to deliver an outcome. Everything is somewhat amplified. Whether or not you think it should be, it is.” – Simon Geale
“I’ve come across a number of people in industry who have quite frankly blown me away with their ability and what they’ve achieved from the inside.” – Simon Whatson
“There and some very, very talented people who work in industry, who achieve great things, cut through the politics and make change happen. I think we need to have a bit of humility as well as consultants that we’re not the be all and end all obviously, we all believe in our value proposition but we’re certainly not the only way of doing that.” – Jeremy Smith
“That’s the cool thing about being a consultant, isn’t it? Because you go into a company and you become part of their story. The reason why we do it is because they inspire us and they want to make change, and we’re there to help them make change. And that’s probably what we all enjoy about the variety of meeting different people and challenges.” – Simon Geale
“Understanding what a consultancy is, how it delivers value, and how you can attach yourself to the brand for someone who’s coming from industry can be quite a tricky thing to do.” – SImon Geale
“So this kind of curiosity, courage and confidence, I think, irrespective of the level, I think those three things are vital.” – Simon Whatson
“85% of people’s decisions are emotional rather than logical. So it doesn’t matter what you come with, from a logical perspective inside the decisions that they’re making about whether they like you or not, whether they want to work with you or not, whether they trust you or not, are emotional decisions.” – Simon Geale
“I think there are huge challenges for procurement functions to really get that transformation, right. And it’s not going to happen overnight. But I can see a world in which, you know, the business self serves some of the less complex parts of procurement more through technology and procurement is there to kind of offer insight and foresight to that.” – Simon Whatson
