Up or Down?

More than 82% of procurement professionals interviewed at CIPSA believe that the ability to “manage up” is of greater value than the ability to manage down.

More than 600 delegates attended this year’s CIPSA conference. The Source seized this opportunity to take a poll from over 80 delegates on the question ‘As a procurement professional, do you think it is of more value to be able to manage up or down?’

Although the resounding response was “upwards”, all commented that the ability to communicate effectively right throughout the organisation was critical for today’s procurement professional. Many commented that to progress your career, senior management perceptions of your performance was critical for career progression, therefore managing upwards was key.  So what do you need to know to effectively manage upwards and what are the key leadership characteristics you need to display?

• Knowledge - know your managers/executives learning style, know your own strengths and weaknesses
• Alignment - know their priorities and challenges, know their perspective
• Communication – listen, make the recommendation, let them make the decision
• Engagement – actively engage with those at peer level and above in all areas of your organisation, not just with directs
• Empowerment – make sure you empower your own team to actively manage you

There were some lively discussions regarding all aspects of individual management styles and certainly some interesting and wry points made, especially regarding different management styles.