Changing How Your Business Sees Procurement

When procurement transformations stall, the culprit is rarely the new technology, redesigned processes, or updated organisational structure. More often it’s the invisible barrier of how the wider business perceives procurement – or rather, misperceives it.

While we invest heavily in systems, tools and restructuring, we frequently overlook a critical success factor: reshaping how the organisation views procurement’s role, capabilities and value proposition.

The Challenge: Procurement’s Perception Problem

Most procurement teams face a fundamental perception challenge. The wider organisation often holds outdated views of procurement as simply “policy police”, “purchase order creators” or “cost-cutters” rather than strategic value creators. These misconceptions become firmly embedded in organisational memory and culture, creating resistance to change before transformation even begins.

There’s a curious asymmetry at work: successful procurement interactions fade quickly from memory, while negative experiences are remembered vividly and shared widely. The result? Stakeholders operating with an outdated understanding of what modern procurement can deliver.

Why Organisations Resist Procurement Evolution

This resistance stems from several perception-related factors:

Institutional memory preserves the status quo. “This is how we’ve always done things” becomes an unexamined truth that’s difficult to dislodge.
A potent combination of negative experiences and baseless stereotypes. Some stakeholders have had genuinely frustrating experiences. Others resist based on stereotypes despite having no direct negative experiences themselves.
Fear of the unknown. When procurement seeks to engage in new areas, stakeholders often resist simply because there’s no precedent. This is based not on what procurement has done wrong, but on what it hasn’t yet proven it can do right.
Successful workarounds become standard practice. When stakeholders find ways to circumvent procurement, these workarounds become embedded in their operating model.
Critical gaps in understanding. Many organisations simply don’t know what contemporary procurement functions are capable of delivering, especially in innovation and sustainability.

Key Perceptions That Need Changing

To successfully transform how procurement is seen, we must focus on shifting understanding in four crucial domains:

1. From Cost to Value

The perception of procurement as only focused on cost reduction creates significant blind spots. Businesses fail to leverage procurement’s potential for innovation, risk management, and sustainability. Changing this perception requires:

Reshaping the narrative around how procurement optimises value, not just reduces cost.
Building organisational knowledge about procurement’s role in driving innovation.
Reframing conversations about what “good” looks like in procurement outcomes.

2. From Transactional to Strategic

When stakeholders view procurement as primarily transactional, they miss critical strategic opportunities. This perception creates inefficient hand-offs and late engagement. Shifting this requires:

Building awareness of procurement’s strategic capabilities in supply chain optimisation.
Creating shared understanding of procurement’s role in identifying and mitigating risks.
Developing knowledge around procurement’s contribution to competitive advantage.

3. From Policy Enforcer to Business Enabler

The perception of procurement as a bureaucratic obstacle hampers organisational agility. When procurement is viewed merely as “policy police,” stakeholders develop workarounds. Transforming this involves:

Reshaping perceptions about procurement’s role in governance.
Creating a new narrative around how procurement accelerates business initiatives.
Establishing procurement as a facilitator rather than a blocker.

4. From Isolated Function to Value Chain Integrator

When procurement is perceived as an isolated function, organisations fragment their approach to markets, suppliers, and risks. Changing this requires:

Building knowledge of procurement’s cross-functional impact.
Developing shared understanding of end-to-end value creation.
Creating awareness of procurement’s unique perspective across the value chain.

Practical Approaches to Shifting Perceptions

How can procurement teams effectively change how they’re perceived? Several approaches have proven effective:

Strategic success storytelling. Document and communicate success stories, ensuring they highlight strategic value beyond cost savings.
Cross-functional knowledge exchange. Create opportunities for procurement teams to learn about business needs and vice-versa.
Mythbusting sessions. Directly address common misconceptions through educational sessions.
Stakeholder-specific value propositions. Develop value narratives tailored to specific functional areas (operations, finance, technical teams).
Quick wins with high visibility. Prioritise initiatives that deliver rapid value to challenge established perceptions.
Executive sponsorship. Engage executive sponsors to signal the new procurement paradigm.

Bridging Old and New Perceptions

Effectively changing perceptions acknowledges where you’ve been while clearly communicating where you’re going. Employing a “Then, Now, Next” framework in communications can be highly effective, acknowledging procurement’s historical limitations while showcasing current capabilities.

Measuring Changed Perceptions

How do you know if perceptions are changing?

Perception surveys tracking evolving views.
Monitoring language shifts in how procurement is described.
Tracking changes in engagement patterns.
Measuring narrative shifts in organisational communications.

Conducting simple quarterly pulse surveys asking stakeholders to describe procurement’s role in three words can provide measurable evidence. Over time, you might see a shift from “rules” and “process” to “partner” and “enabler.”

Implementation Framework: The Perception Change Roadmap

Transforming how your organisation sees procurement requires a systematic approach:

Executive Perception Alignment: Research supports leadership alignment as critical. Outcomes improve when executives accurately see procurement’s strategic role.
Middle Management Adoption: Middle managers play a pivotal role. Case studies demonstrate success through joint planning sessions and negotiation training.
Procurement Ambassadors: Identifying champions outside of procurement teams allows stakeholders to receive positive messages from trusted peers.
Perception Reinforcement: Continuous reinforcement mechanisms (dashboards, scorecards) are critical for sustaining changed perceptions.

Conclusion

Changing how an organisation perceives procurement is perhaps the most overlooked aspect of procurement transformation—yet often the most critical. Before new processes, systems, or structures can deliver value, the collective understanding of procurement’s role and potential must evolve.

The most successful procurement transformations I’ve witnessed have all started here—with a deliberate effort to change how the organisation sees procurement before attempting to transform what the procurement function does.