In both public and private sector procurement, it’s vital to the success of a changing business that key stakeholders are engaged and feel part of the decision making process.

Implementing change throughout a large organisation and filtering that change down through a supply chain is fraught with challenges. One of the biggest challenges is getting stakeholders on board with these changes.

Engaging stakeholders is the key to overcoming this hurdle and successfully implementing changes. So what can be done to engage stakeholders?

Ask About Their Thoughts and Concerns

Rather than going in there and telling them what is going to happen and why they should be happy about, it is beneficial to go in there to listen.

Asking stakeholders questions concerning;

  • Their company, service or product
  • The core challenges they face as an organisation
  • Their accomplishments as a business
  • Their thoughts on your procurement organisation, the people in it and the processes you have so far applied.
  • If they saw any opportunities for improvement and/or collaboration

Tailor Your Approach

After hearing what the stakeholders have to say, you can use this insight into their thought process to tailor your approach when it comes to delivering plans for change.

In your pitch, go over the main concerns that the stakeholders brought up in your introductory meeting. Then highlight the solutions to these concerns and issues that the new changes will offer and go into detail about how the solutions will work.

Also use the positive points from the initial meeting to further support your suggested changes. Stress how the changes will further improve or support the positive areas mentioned by the stakeholders, stating how it will impact their organisation specifically as well as the supply chain as a whole.

Communicate and Support Them Throughout

When it comes to implementing the new processes, ensure that regular communication is maintained. Supporting the stakeholders while the changes are implemented and communicating at every stage will help them to feel valued. In return they will be more willing to comply with the changes and ensure everything that needs to be done at their end is done on time and to the standard necessary.

Engaging stakeholders means investing time and money but the benefits are ample. Having more engaged stakeholders onboard in every area of the supply chain will ensure a much smoother process when changes are implemented. It will also mean the general management of procurement and supply chain process is improved as engaged stakeholders are more likely to take more responsibility and be more active within the processes.