I've written a blog on that!

When delivering Category Management or Supplier Management training I can often be heard saying "I've written a blog on that". Not so much about the procurement theories and models - more often about learning, influencing, communication and perhaps the softer skills that enable effective best practice procurement to take place and deliver real value to the organisation.

Often those attending the workshop ask for details of a blog I mention. So here's an index of blogs mentioned on a recent  3 day category management workshop (I'm updating these after each subsequent workshop. This mean it's becoming quite a long list, which I apologise if it only
makes more sense to those who attended rather than those looking to understand what we might cover in such a workshop.)

• Unconscious incompetence through to unconscious competence (how we learn)
• Standing in the shoes of your stakeholders
• What motivates your stakeholders
• We see others through our own lenses
• Creative thinking, creative environments and use of the Creative Whack Pack
• Problem Reversal (a great tool for problem solving)
• Why do I have to adapt my style when dealing with stakeholders?
• Implementing change 
• The subtleties of influencing
• Communication planning
• Rapport
• How to deal with a tricky stakeholder
• Time to take responsibility, and use I or we instead of 'they'
• Emotional intelligence - although the blog is more a summary of notes from attendance of a conference on the subject
• Being in the right state of mind and body to start the meeting 
• Having a chocolate moment 
• How our values impact our relationship with others
• Start with the end in mind (when running and attending meetings)
• Walking meetings - such a great addition to a recent workshop
• Doing something different every day 
• Is your head in the sand - what is hidden to you about yourself, and yet obvious to everyone else
• Do you play games - at work or with suppliers

Blogs on more procurementy topics have covered:

• The difference between buying, purchasing and procurement (using gardening as a metaphor)
• The cost of getting procurement wrong
• Strategies need evidence 
• How attractive are you to suppliers? Always an interesting subject to discuss. 
• Winning together, or are your suppliers the losers
• Are you getting the business requirements right?
• Not just cost reduction
• If the Earth was a supplier
• Procurement: Mr Wolf or enlightened?
• Will you change the buyer supplier archetype?
• Don't turn a blind eye to unacceptable behaviour

Well-being also crops up, perhaps more over lunch or in the evening. Here's a few blogs covering topics discussed, not at every workshop, but occasionally:

• Adrenaline junkie
• Priorities
• My prescription for positivity 
• Are you unhappy at work?
• Brian Gym - the book that demonstrates the exercises I have used very occasionally when people are flagging and low in energy (often after a heavy lunch). There's also a brain gym for business book.

Have a great week.

Alison Smith
The Purchasing Coach
Inspiring change inside and out (more here on why that's important)

PS: See this link for a similar index for a supplier management workshop I ran recently, and another on effective team building. Although over time these lists are starting to contain very similar blogs.