March is National Procurement Month. It’s a time to celebrate our accomplishments and bring awareness to our profession. In my experience, procurement professionals tend to be “people people,” meaning we enjoy collaboration, helping, and serving others. We have a responsibility to bring awareness about our profession to others, especially our organization’s leadership team. It’s easy to think everyone knows what buyers do. We know that procurement is an organizational asset, and we also know it’s not fully understood by leadership or our constituency, aka the public we serve.

So, how do we bring awareness to our profession and the day-to-day roles and responsibilities we manage? How do you tell your story? Here are three ideas based on my experience as the Director of Contracts and Purchasing Services at the University of Idaho:

Connect Procurement to Your Organization’s Strategic Goals

It’s critical to understand an organization’s long-range, strategic goals. In higher education, a typical goal is to increase student recruitment and retention. But how that’s accomplished is unique to the institution. The University of Idaho’s strategic plan (2016-2025) Goal #1 was Innovate: Scholarly and Creative Work with Impact. A KPI was an increase in research expenditures and an increase in collaboration and partnerships. For my staff, it meant: procuring more scientific equipment. We increased our participation in cooperative purchasing groups that had competitively bid contracts for scientific equipment. We made sure to tell everyone on campus about the steps we were taking to support that strategic goal and bring awareness to the work my team was doing.

• Do you know your leadership’s long-range, strategic goals?
• How does your work connect to the goals?

Use Data in Your Success Story

When you meet with senior leadership or even when sharing your story to the public, be prepared to back up your success story with data. Highlight procurement success stories by sharing data about department efficiencies, cost savings, and supplier management. Managing cost/cost reduction is a top CFO priority, as stated in the Wall Street Journal article: As CFOs Prepare for an Unpredictable 2024, Here’s What Tops Their Checklists.

At the University of Idaho, we improved our purchase order issuance from three days to 45 minutes by utilizing our new eProcurement software system. I loved sharing that data with my CFO! Plus, it was an easy point for leadership to remember and continue sharing about procurement.

• What is one data point you are most proud of?
• Who should know about it?

Have Your Story Ready

You know your story because you’ve lived it.  The window of opportunity has opened, and you’re prepared to deliver your story. Three critical components to consider when shaping your story are:

• Be clear and concise. Have your elevator pitch ready for delivery.
• Know your audience. Is the story the same if you’re speaking with the governor vs CFO?
• Be confident in your story. You know the value and impact of your work.

Feel proud of the valuable work you do for your organization and don’t hesitate to share. Please continue to promote our great profession and your colleagues’ outstanding work and remember: a great story makes all the difference!

In conclusion, let me take a minute to bring awareness to my new role at NASPO. I’m the Procurement Content Manager for NASPO’s Research and Innovation team. R&I develops and provides procurement-focused research, webinars, articles, and databases for NASPO members and the public. Prior to joining NASPO, I spent 30 years in public procurement. I loved it! I saw firsthand the positive impact procurement has on an organization. I had the opportunity to purchase everything from artificial turf to artificial intelligence. As such, I’m here to help, so please AMA (Ask Me Anything). You can reach me at jmcilroy@naspo.org.