1. Influencing Internal Stakeholders Supply Chain as the enabler
August 17th 2017
29th ASHPO Conference
James Piplios
Group General Manager -Procurement

2. Leadership question - How to influence using supply chain?
Was I Going to talk about a literal interpretation
Ie go get a chain getting a chain and proceed to influence people with it!! 
Probably not I would think – we don’t do that sort of thing in this country

3. Defining the Question
Finally had a look at the definitions
Influencing skills require a business person to take others’ perspectives into account. It involves getting people to change their minds about a topic (product, system, policy, activity etc) and to act in a certain way by acknowledging their opinions.
And this for Supply Chain
A supply chain is a system of organizations, people, activities, information, and resources involved in moving a product or service from supplier to customer.
Talk about the act of shifting physical vs mental – lets call it supply chain of thought – as viewed by the person on the other end
So I concluded that to influence people you are using supply chain process by
moving people from their way of thinking to you way of thinking ie move box from a to b.

4. Not all stakeholders are created equal
Some have the ability to push back other to influence right back at you

5. Sound Familiar ? What do people think of the procurement departments ?
The seat at the table thinking comes into play when I have these conversions about leadership and why procurement needs a voice.
I do reflect on this and find outcomes can be achieved through influencing and not having a supreme authority
Who is the stake holder ?
The usual suspects
CEO/ MD
Finance manager
Nurse
VMO / Clinician
Patient

6. Spend time in the grey with those you are looking to influence
To influence we need to understand and appreciate
Each one is impacted by the supply chain process in a very different way and of course has their view on the outcome or how it impacts them
What angle are you going to consider
Financial
Efficiency
Green sustainability
Solving a problem
Is it a new supplier that’s coming in

7. What ? So What ? What now ? Leadership approach Keys to influencing.
For example
Lets assume we want to change the way theatre setups are done and do it all in the warehouse.
Or how prosthesis is being managed – such as trays in particular revisions
The Stakeholder reactions are going to be different as they will view the matter from their own perspective not necessarily from your wonderful way of thinking
For Example
Nursing staff – they will consider how it will work for them and that they have to change practice or that if a change is being made will a surgeon yell at them –
So What for them may be improved availability of products and reduced time running back ad forth to the main supply store and reduced clutter in theatre corridors.
So For a theatre manager it may reduced labor hours and overtime management, reduce CSSD Costs
For business manager it could be the ability to shift labor costs in the P/L, save on stock holding costs or cost shift on the balance sheet rather than the operational budget
For the Hospital Exec – the reduced space in theatre may allow them to build a additional theater and generate more revenue
For the supply staff it may mean increased job satisfaction as they a closer to the patient outcomes ad can be further involved with the clinical team or they may feel change is complicated
For the supply manager they will look at it as a just in time project and deliver improved efficacy in the d supply chain.
Enviro may get excited about the sustainability options or less packaging hat hs to come out of theatre.
One version of the plan or solution I feel has less impact in moving the hearts and minds of every one of your stakeholders
Spend time in the grey and go over what is driving the individual as they are also cleaver and will have a different world view to you
Look to solve the problem that someone else has and use the supply chain process
Then if your looking to inspire rather than just influence – need to go outside the box and use examples from other industries
One that excites me is this

8. It always seems impossible until its done
To Finish
It always seems impossible until its done
– Nelson Mandela
Creating change is about winning the hearts and minds of others which may require a different version of the conversation to be had.
To Finish
Have a mantra
If you don’t ask you don’t get

9. Questions