Best Practice In Supply Management Professional Development

Introduction
The business world is not sitting still. If nothing else, the last two years have taught supply managers to be ready to adapt to changing market conditions quickly.

An individual, a procurement team or an organization that knows only one way to do things will be left behind by those who are constantly learning.

In this environment, supply management teams need to apply the same strategic approaches and discipline to their professional development as they do to the purchasing categories they manage.

Unfortunately, many companies approach professional development as an ad hoc string of training courses. While many employees may learn new skills, the work environment may not enable the employee to effectively use the skill set.

There is little or no support within the business to encourage the application of something new. Change, for most companies, is difficult at all levels and time constraints force people to use time-­‐tested habits.

Furthermore, there is no accountability placed on the individual who attends a training course and little measurement between their old skills and the newly acquired skill set.

A better approach to improving staff skills is looking at each individual’s professional development, targeting learning experiences to individual and team needs and providing long-­‐term mentoring, coaching and measurement of progress. In this professional development approach, expectations and deliverables are clearly stated and measurable.

Implementing a solid professional development program may have a higher cost than simply training through a few selected courses, but it also has a higher return and delivers enhanced organizational capability.