How to influence others and build trust to bring about changes in your organization

As we past the 1 year mark since the onset of COVID-19 and I dare say most of our lives have been transformed - we have risen to meet these challenges so let us give ourselves a pat on the back!

With that being said, have you ever wondered how true transformation can be driven by people, like yourself?

In procurement, transformation typically meant the adoption of digital solutions to overcome problems and improve profitability. However, there is more to the primary functions of procurement, which is to bring about changes within an organization through sustainable relationships and communication.

During the last ProcureCon Asia Virtual Summit held in December 2020, Amber Meriwether, Global Category Lead, Discovery & Pre-Clinical Research R&D Procurement at Astellas Pharma shed some light on how to influence others during times of disruption and build trust to bring about radical change within your organization. 

My 5 key takeaways:

1. Understand – What are your organizations priorities? What is the current state and what are the external factors that impact your company, directly or indirectly? These are key elements to create the right messaging for engagement and building relationships of your stakeholders. Understand the network and communication channels that drive your organization: formal or informal.

2. Envision – Unite your people and orient them to support you. Create an overarching category framework that shows how the different parts of what you do interplay and share them with everyone, so each and every person understands and can be united in reaching one goal.

3. Engage – Build trust with stakeholders and collaborators by meeting them where they are at – it is essential to know what matters to them and be sensitive. Engage in trust building behaviour such as listening or acknowledging feedback, consistently building credibility and rapport building etc.

4. Communicate – Have a strong central messaging, refine it to be simple and easy so it will not overwhelm people. Different people across all levels, regions, and division should be addressed.

5. Do – When things are not fully clear, juts do the ‘next right thing’. Lean onto the mission and value of the organization to guide you in moving forward. When we change, we do it for the better which changes us all.