One Quick Way Of Determing If Management Is Clueless About Purchasing

In my line of work, I see a lot of purchasing leaders trying to get their training budgets reinstated now that the worst of the economic recession seems to be over. Some have success, while others really have to fight for funding.

The latter group often finds that the reason they have to fight is because their management is clueless about what a well-trained purchasing department can accomplish. Their management will say "They've already been trained on SAP/Oracle/Lawson/etc. and have been using the system for years. How can you tell me they need more training?"

These management teams think that knowing how to be successful in purchasing simply means knowing how to create a purchase order. That's being clueless.

They have no idea that good purchasing is all about identifying and acting upon opportunities to improve corporate performance and increase profitability. They have no idea what it is costing them to have that mindset.

Where is your management on the "clueless continuum?" If they think that learning how to create a purchase order is all a purchasing professional needs in terms of training, be prepared to educate them on the value that purchasing best practices can deliver to the organization.

To Your Career,
Charles Dominick, SPSM
President & Chief Procurement Officer
Next Level Purchasing, Inc.
What Is The ROI Of A Well-Trained Procurement Department?
Download The Whitepaper "Purchasing Skills & Profit: The Correlation" At
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