This week I welcome Gordon Donovan on to the Art of Procurement. Gordon is a presently a member of the procurement leadership team at Metro Trains Melbourne, and he has a broad range of experiences as a practitioner including Head of Procurement roles, consultant and training spanning both the UK and Australia
Our conversation focuses on influence – both functional influence and influencing skills, and I’m willing to say that there are few, if any, who have studied the topic of influence and procurement as thoroughly as Gordon. He wrote a 20,000 word dissertation for his Masters Degree on the topic of the development of influencing skills within the Australian procurement community, and he frequently weaves the topic into his procurement learning and development programs.
“My drive from a procurement functional influence perspective is to have a CXO, when they are considering organizational goals and strategy, to consider ‘lets talk to procurement’. If we get that, we have won.”
In this episode, you will learn:
The need to demystify procurement
The difference between functional influence and influencing skills.
The importance of facilitation skills
An overview of different influencing styles and how to determine which style you should use depending on who you are seeking to influence
Why kids are the best influencers and what we can learn from them
Key traits of a successful influencer
The power of inspiration
Gordon’s tips for building trust, which is the foundation of building influence.
