I was asked the question “has the quality of collaboration in procurement improved as a result of remote working? when speaking on The Procurement Show recently. Here were my six conclusions to the question:-
- Remote collaboration is nothing new. Pre-pandemic many global organisations excelled in remote cross-functional collaboration due to the adoption of robust planning across many time zones, a percentage of face-to-face meetings planned well in advance, regular team dialogue and clear objectives defined for the meetings scheduled (whether that be remote or face to face).
- Businesses rose to the challenge of remote working during the pandemic, and we saw remarkable results in business survival rates and consumer offerings. Technology played a pivotal role, with an upsurge in AI adoption too.
- I experienced a drop off in the quality of collaboration towards the end of the pandemic, even though the quantity of interactions remained the same, if not higher. Research at Stanford supports this by reporting a drop of 10% in remote working productivity after 18 months of lockdown, whereas hybrid working seemed to deliver similar productivity levels to pre-pandemic.
- The genie is out of the bottle. After experiencing the benefits of working from home many employees are adopting the mantra “work is something we do, not a place we go to”. Leadership teams are concluding hybrid working is the way forward with the support of AI and Automation.
- However, I advocate some procurement processes still benefit from face-to-face interaction. McKinsey backs this up by reporting activities such as negotiation, collaboration, ideas generation and decision making excel if undertaken face to face.
- High quality cross functional interactions with suppliers, budget holders and procurement staff achieves more than by working within silos only if structured processes, uniting the team and driving change, are embedded as working practice. Leaders should support a selective number of face-to-face team meetings, safe in the knowledge that one face to face is worth ten online meetings.
For more on this multifaceted debate on ways of working, post pandemic, and the impact of AI and automation on our daily lives with Jonathan O’Brien and Paul Philpott, go to the podcast https://positivepurchasing.com/podcast-the-procurement-show/