Bridging the Procurement Talent Gap with ISM CEO Tom Derry

Welcome back to the Second Part of our interview with the CEO of ISM, Tom Derry. In Part One Tom spoke about the changes occurring within our function and outlined the vast opportunities a career in procurement and supply chain presents.

Today we’re discussing talent, more precisely, the procurement talent gap.

Procurious asks: We hear a lot of talk about the procurement ‘talent gap’. ISM itself has called this out as a potential issue facing the function. As a representative industry body, do you feel that your organisation has a role to play in closing this gap?

Tom: Within the United States we’re witnessing a demographic shift. A huge number of people will be retiring within the next ten years. By 2025, the so-called millennial generation, people born from 1980 onwards, will constitute three quarters of the global work force. So clearly, there is a lot of knowledge that is about to leave the workforce. We need to ensure that knowledge is transferred across to the younger generation.

Also, the rate at which technologies and the markets move now, means we need to be constantly up-skilling just to stay up to speed.

The skills issue real, it’s a challenge that most companies are aware of.

ISM wants to be the facilitator that addresses this skills gap and allows procurement and supply chain teams to succeed well into the future. We’ve recently developed a model that enables us to effectively do this; it’s called the Mastery Model.

The Mastery Model provides a strategic approach that allows procurement and supply chain teams to deepen their expertise. The model is designed to drive organisational success through increasing staff capability.

Whether you are early in your career, just entering in the field, or a highly skilled supply chain professional, the Mastery Model can be used to make sure you continue to build up your experience and expertise.

The model defines 16 major competencies and 69 sub-competencies, tailored to four different career levels: essentials, experienced, leadership and executive. Users complete a self-assessment process; this is linked to their own personal aspirations. The Mastery Model then maps out a competency based learning and development program that will enable the user to develop the skills required for their desired role.

The Mastery Model takes the mystery out of understanding the steps you need to make the next jump in your career. 

Procurious: It sounds like a great way to open up a conversation between an employee and a manager around personal development planning.

Tom: Absolutely, staff members can determine the sort of role or position they are after, fill out the self assessment section and be provided with a run down of the areas they need to develop in order to be effective in their desired role. This can lead to very constructive conversation between employees and their managers.

I have to point it out that the tool is multidirectional. We’ve had employees approach managers after having completed the assessment. Managers too, have used the Mastery Model as means to set a development path for their staff and we’ve also seen managers and employees sitting down together to work through the assessment to create a personal development plan.

Procurious: Can you give us some insight and background into how the Mastery Model was developed?

Tom: As an organisation, ISM has been certifying competency for a great number of years. Over this time, we’ve developed an amazing database detailing the evolution of peoples skills within a procurement and supply chain context. It’s at the core of what we do as an organisation.

Now what we’ve done, is build upon that knowledge base to develop a tool that can be actively put into practice in the supply chain and procurement community. An advisory committee that was comprised of procurement professional, practioners and internal staff here at ISM developed the tool. Working together with these great professionals, we’ve been able to develop a model that strategically maps and matches training materials to your career experience and aspirations.

Procurious: What sort of time commitment does an assessment on the ISM Mastery Model require?

Tom: Well, that really depends on individual company, but it’s not a long process. In one thirty-minute session most people would be be able to complete it. What we encourage, is for people to do it in stages; complete your own sections then take it to your manager and get their input and review.

At a conference back in June, I had three young professionals to come up in front of the audience I was addressing. I asked them specifically about their career goals “where are you headed?” I asked. As the conversation flowed, we did their assessments live on the website, we drove down into specific competencies and consulted their levels of experience in certain areas. At the end of the process, a series of resources popped up that showed them what they needed to do to get to where they wanted to go in their careers.

After that, they were in a position to go back to their bosses and say “here are some areas I can work on to get better at my job”. I think that’s pretty powerful.

Procurious: The Mastery Model sounds like a fantastic tool. How can people out there access it.

Tom: It’s simple, just go to the ISM website. If you’ve already got an account with us, just log in and away you go. If you don’t have an account yet, you can get one right there on the spot.

Stay tuned for part three of Tom Derry’s chat with Procurious where Tom will talk us through the importance of social media in the procurement and supply chain space.

If you would like more information on ISM’s Mastery Model you can find it here.