Stakeholder Management
A stakeholder is someone who has an interest or concern in the organisation. In procurement a stakeholder is directly or indirectly affected by the process of buying and selling a product or service.
Strong stakeholder management is a key to procurement success. The procurement process is likely to deliver better outcomes for your organisation if it is informed by more people with knowledge and experience of buying the right product or service at the right price.
First, you need to understand who these procurement stakeholders are. This will depend on the type of organisation you have and what you are planning to buy.
There are two types of stakeholder:
- Internal: This includes managers and employees. The procurement team may have to engage with senior management or management teams, or may have to communicate changes in purchasing policy and procedures to all staff. This could also include end users and patients.
- External: These stakeholders have an interest through contractual or commercial relationships with the organisation. This group ranges from shareholders and patients to suppliers and banks. It is also the case that businesses are increasingly aware of the importance of maintaining a good reputation with a broad range of groups in the community, in government and in the public sector. This includes regulators, trade unions, and patient associations. External stakeholders are likely to have different objectives and degrees of influence.
Once you have identified your stakeholders, take steps to understand their priorities and objectives. The information you need includes:
- What they need from you
- What you need from them
- The benefits of them being involved
- The risks of them being involved
- Their influence over other stakeholders
- Their influence over the outcome of your objectives
This information will help you decide the best way to engage with them. You may even decide not to engage with them at this stage.
When you do engage with stakeholders, use their language and explain how your approach to buying products and services bring benefits to them or meets their criteria. Meet in person when you can and don’t just use emails. Keep in touch regularly to demonstrate that you are committed to a partnership that will last for a long time.
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