A vision is often described as “an image of the future that we seek to create.” It is a description of our future plans with goals and objectives. You need a vision for your procurement group for two main reasons. One is to act as a motivator for people in acquisitions so that they are inspired to aim for outstanding results day after day. The other reason is to establish the importance of procurement in the minds of other departments and show them how procurement can help them achieve their goals and objectives.
An example of a vision statement for a procurement group in local government is “to continually create and develop a Procurement Service that acts as the first link in an integrated supply chain from suppliers to the public and provides high quality services. quality at an affordable cost that are flexible enough to meet changing demand. “
Here are five good practice tips for creating a compelling vision.
1. Be brief. If you can’t convey your vision to others in just one or two sentences, you run the risk of not being understood.
2. Keep the language you use simple. This is not because you think others are too stupid to understand each other. It is because you want others to be clear about what you are saying so that they immediately see the value you add and remember it.
3. Do your research. There are many websites that contain sample vision statements. Take a look and write down the good and bad points about them that first caught your eye. When you have done this for at least twenty statements, look at what you have written and see if there is any consistency in both the good and bad points. You can use the first for the things to do and the second for the things to avoid.
4. Don’t be too quick to write your vision statement. Create your statement and then sleep on it. Looking at it again the next day with fresh eyes can show you how your statement can be improved.
5. Share your vision statement with others. Get their opinions on how it could be improved. If there is a consistent vision of what to change, think about making the change. If there is no consistency, ignore them: it is just the opinions of individuals.
