Procurement’s reputation precedes it - and not in a good way. For years, misconceptions have dogged the function and kept it from accepting a role as a business partner and strategic enabler. Procurement is dismissed as a budget-policing, resource-cutting, altogether tactical entity, but those stereotypes have little basis in reality. They reject the fact that Procurement has the power to elevate acompany’s performance while identifying opportunities for stakeholders within every business unit.

These common misconceptions present real obstacles for both Procurement and its peers. They keep businesses from investing in Procurement and - as a result - keep the entire business from reaching its potential. It's up to Procurement to redefine itself and prove that it has a lot to offer. In the latest issue of ProcureRising, Source One Director Diego De la Garza encourages Procurement to rebrand itself. 

He advises Procurement to stop presenting itself like Tim Duncan (quiet, reliable, 'boring') and frame itself as the Michael Jordan (dynamic, aggressive, instantly-recognizable) of the business world. "For all his success on the court," De la Garza writes, "Jordan was even savvier in one area: branding." This makes him a fitting, if somewhat unlikely, role model for Procurement teams looking to set themselves apart. 

Conversations around branding, De la Garza remarks, tend to focus on individual and corporate initiatives. He encourages readers to begin applying these principles to branding efforts at the functional level. If an entire organization can re-brand itself, surely a business unit like Procurement can do the same.

De la Garza emphasizes the importance of codifying and communicating a mission statement. He asserts that "perception is reality." For Procurement to make an impact, he suggests, it must prove to its peers that it's even capable of doing so in the first place. This argument comes down to both clarity and consistency. Procurement's mission has to resonate across the business and it has to stand the test of time. He concludes, "brands live and die by consistency." If Procurement wants to inspire and empower its team in the long-term, it has to ensure its new brand remains not just compelling, but consistent.

Addressing More Misconceptions

Source One's Procurement Transformation address additional misconceptions in their new whitepaper. Busting Procurement Transformation Myths challenges the 'conventional wisdom' that tends to discourage companies from investing in Procurement. Calling on years of successful initiatives, the Source One team separates fact from fiction and advocates for a new understanding of what Procurement (and Procurement Transformation) can mean. 
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