"Getting a seat at the table" is our industry code asking how the procurement and supply chain management function can gain acknowledgement and respect from the executive suite. The general feeling is that if you are not working directly with your company’s senior management, you are personally and professionally being minimized and disrespected.
I don’t agree. The unending pursuit of a seat at the table as a definition of success and respect is folly. It’s time to change the definition.
Instead, I’d say you gain respect the old-fashioned way: through performance. As New England Patriot Coach Belichick would say, "just do your job."
The C-suite gives suppliers the back entrance
I’ve found my relationship with senior management has typically been respectful, but at the same time generally unhelpful when dealing with suppliers. While the company president or general manager would bend over backwards for a customer with the "next flight out" mentality, I never quite saw that support for the supplier community. There were certainly times during negotiations with critical A-level suppliers that the GM or CFO would get involved, but often they created more uneasiness than collaboration. Maybe they were just more comfortable working with customers than suppliers. Or perhaps they trusted me to be successful.
I’ve worked for companies that had very active supplier recognition programs, often driven by quality improvement efforts and the tacit understanding of the importance of suppliers. Yet their actions often belied that importance.
Customers continue to be the all-stars and suppliers the necessary evil.
Rich Weissman
Supply Chain Dive
One company that publicly acknowledged supplier importance in retrospect treated them quite poorly. Customers were welcomed to the manufacturing facility through the front door by a live receptionist, with their name prominently displayed on the welcome sign. They saw a well-appointed lobby with fresh flowers, cushioned seats, refreshments and a guest bathroom.
Suppliers were relegated to the back entrance, having to walk through the company smokers. They announced their arrival to the security officer through the small hole in the bulletproof glass of his booth. There were no flowers, no refreshments and no seats. The security officer half-heartedly tried to find the buyer. It was uncomfortable for all.
On a positive note, suppliers got dedicated parking spaces close to the building. More than once, the CFO complained if the suppliers were driving late model cars, they must be charging us too much.
Why do procurement professionals still yearn for a seat at the table?
The procurement profession has fought to overcome an inferiority complex over the years. They are often considered an internal organizational barrier, relegated to the enforcement of complex and arcane fiduciary rules and procedures, associated with a lack of respect for suppliers and supplier performance, isolated as a back end function and hindered by a lack of organizational respect driven by a perceived lack of leadership abilities.
We often joked: "They didn’t just fire Fred. They put him in purchasing so he could really be punished."
Perhaps it was too many holiday dinners spent at the children’s table yearning to join the adult conversation and laughter across the room, that has hardened my position. I resented the implication that I was not mature enough to join the adults then, and I don’t like the implication that I don’t add enough value to join the executive table now.
The disrespect still clings to the profession but is slowly getting better. While supply chain management may have a seat at the table, in most cases it is rooted in customer-facing activities. Customers continue to be the all-stars and suppliers the necessary evil.
Look for a seat – but at a different table
Your boss has a table, and most likely so does their boss. Strive to join their tables on a regular basis.
In the Harvard Business Review article "Managing Your Boss," authors John J. Gabarro and John P. Kotter make the case that being able to adequately “manage up” allows us to get the resources and recognition to do the best job possible for our companies. According to the authors, it is important to actively pursue a healthy and productive working relationship with your boss based on mutual respect and understanding.
Those who recognize this mutual dependence, and who are sensitive to their bosses’ work style and needs, often succeed in getting recognition.
Supply chain professionals pride themselves on actively managing strong, long-term and often complex relationships with their supplier’s management. They need to do the same thing with their company management. Having a better relationship with your supplier’s management than your own is a cause for concern.
We often joked: "They didn’t just fire Fred. They put him in purchasing so he could really be punished."
Rich Weissman
Supply Chain Dive
Sure, it is nice to get recognized by senior management. But the opposite can also be true. I’ve incurred their wrath from time to time based on a fragile sourcing decision or supplier performance issue. That seat we aspire to can be quite the hot one.
Getting a seat at the executive table is just not that critical. There are other tables that are more important; tables where you not only belong but often sit at the head. Tables within your sphere of influence are the most important ones. Sit at the table where the work is done.
