Eleven letters word ‘Procurement’ can be broadly defined as an imperative business function in an organizational structure that guarantees supply from key suppliers and helping in continually eliminating unnecessary cost from the business. It bridges the ever-expanding demand-supply gap by making the resources available on time at the best prices possible.

Gone are those days when procurement was a part of an administrative-logistic process in a company linked with purchasing of goods and services from vendors. Its overall evolution as a valuable business strategy is very laid back because the Procurement function was perceived as a support function that only generates cash just to invest in R&D and marketing.

Also, many organizations were inept to measure the impact of procurement in terms of stock management, payment terms, supplier relationship management, business preparation, mitigation and action around supply chain risk.

In the late 70’s and 80’s procurement started gaining recognition as a noteworthy determinant and 1990’s the turning point when it received a wider recognition as the value-contributing integral process in an organizational structure. Now, it bridges the gap between internal company requirements and external markets to address the pressing grave problems governed by disruptive markets.

With the growing awareness of procurement function in the 21st century, the role of the procurement department is magnified and equated with the most valued extension of the business like the internal workforce in many organizations. It has come a long way to improve the company’s performance which is determined by major external forces like digitalization and globalization.

It is being involved as a principal business collaborator in strategic business decisions for optimizing the supply chain for higher returns leading to a “shared methodology” across the firm.

The right deployment of procurement strategy also helps in cost-benefit analysis by concentrating significantly on key company areas such as sales, innovation, investments, mergers, currency hedging, etc. and especially in scenarios of an absence of supply to the company.

On the C-suite’s radar in a manner proportionate to its growing importance within the organization, it contributes to corporate profitability at both strategic and operational levels. The Procurement team perfectly automates the sourcing and purchasing processes by leveraging appropriate technology. Also, it works at ground level to identify the key growth opportunities and manage internal operations that collectively result in a greater degree of transparency and substantial cost savings.

Today, the procurement function demonstrates the streamlined business processes associated with implementing the right key strategies to manage the company’s investment portfolio and minimize the total cost of ownership effectively. Its role has been transformed from a transactional function to a major business strategy that accesses reliable sources of supply.

Also, it aligned the complex network of suppliers and impacted stakeholder groups (both internal and external) effectively to improvise the business performance in terms of company’s profitability, team productivity, risk management, and intellectual property.

In essence, we should not underestimate the significance of Procurement within an organisational structure and treat this business function as an important part of company’s corporate strategy by positioning the procurement team at an Executive Board level.

Don’t consider procurement just an administrative function because it controls a high degree of supply chain wastage through a meticulous action planning and adds a dramatic enterprise value that builds a healthy profitable corporation.

Tags: supply chain management, demand supply gap, growth, execution, business strategies, procurement

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Why is it that so many people are driven by the fear of failure rather than the lure of success?

People who have a fear of failure are more concerned about a psychologically toxic sentiment ‘SHAME’ in lieu of envisaging the power of failure. The more we fail, the faster we get closer to success. Failing is imperative to turn our desires into decisive ambitions in reality. By failing in our attempts repeatedly, we learn how to hold on to our dreams and identify that missing piece of the jigsaw that is much-needed to succeed.

I’m no stranger to the rough path of non-success and rejections. I strongly believe failing is better than quitting the game. I opted to accept the neurotic fear of embarrassment and cultivated the confidence by remaining agile to the learnings’ I’ve gained from my mistakes. I have not only celebrated my success but embraced (with my open arms) all the learnings’ that emanate from my greatest misfortunes.

There is no magic pill to conquer your fear although you can try some intuitive ways to eliminate a fear of failure from your life:

1. Instead of running away from it, accept that your fear is real

Push yourself forward to use your fear as your strength with the right mindset and perspective. Show a positive attitude towards failure and welcome an unprecedented success that is coming way after all the hurdles.

2. Be open to “Fail Fast and Fail Often” in your life

Failing fast is all about finding the nippiest path to failure by tackling the trickiest, hardest or the most difficult work first. And failing often gets you closer to the right solution and make you learn important lessons that you’ve ignored.

3. Celebrate your learnings’ after getting fail

Every person with an entrepreneurial spirit must appreciate the failure because a failure without learning is a failure itself.

4. Freaking out after your plan flops is quite natural

Calm yourself and deal with a ‘worst-case scenario’ with a positive attitude. Believe in the immense power of a positive mindset to accomplish your goals and reach any level of success.

There is nothing like an “overnight success” in this world. Even successful people like Bill Gates, Oprah and Steve Jobs have battled against many difficulties and failures in their way to reach the notable success. What distinguishes these superstars from everyone else (including you) is their infinite amount of strength, strong willpower, positive mindset and a great deal of patience to make their dreams come true.

Confront the failure head-on and embrace it fearlessly!

• For more about failure, view a short TED talk about Psychological Health here.
• For more about the many other ways failure impacts us negatively and what you can do about it, check out this book, Emotional First Aid: Healing Rejection, Guilt, Failure, and Other Everyday Hurts (Plume, 2014).

This article is written in partnership with TBM Growth, India’s premier growth strategy services company institutionalizes growth strategy for entrepreneurs & Leaders who aim to build innovative organisations. Deploying its expert intervention into key areas such as Strategy Business & Execution.

Tags: Business Strategies, Fear of Failure, Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Growth, Success

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Mobile app startups are no different. Even, they demand a massive amount of hard work, a pinch of luck, a clear vision, and some winning strategies to survive in an industry, which is not less than a graveyard full of millions of similar ventures that nobody cares for.

Here’re five startup winning strategies for Mobile App Startup entrepreneurs like you to survive “the valley of death” and avoid the struggle of the early stages. Let’s get started!

• Brand your startup with a single purpose

 Identify the major strength of your entrepreneurial venture and make sure you’re bragging only about a particular expertise to put down roots strongly in the industry. The same rule applies to mobile app venture. Start branding your agency as mobile first and only, and try to ride the wave of market dominance. Make sure it is only and only your mobile apps expertise that gets clients in the door – no matter how good you’re in other things.

• Neglecting the competition

Most of the time, the mobile app startups are so occupied on their own venture and ignore the competition. Much to your surprise, neglecting the market competition was a recipe for catastrophe in approximately 19 percent of business startup failures. So, it is highly recommended to keep a close eye on your rivals and must try to be one step ahead of them.

• Go responsive

With millions of users having different screens and operating systems, launching an app for a particular platform is an absolute foolishness. Instead, you should make your mobile application support all platforms – IOS and Android – aiming for maximum reach.

• Forget about money

 Try to launch your mobile app as a free base product like Candy Crush, Netflix, and Amazon Kindle. This way, you’re giving the first taste of the service to the target users. After the users are hooked, you must offer next level of freemium model i.e. premium services. It will allow promoting a healthy business and improving the conversion rates by converting free users to paying customers.

• A well-thought-out strategy is necessary

 For a successful app, it is important to realize that great design is paramount, and solid development is fundamental. These are the major parameters to decide the future of an app. So, make sure your app passes alpha and beta phases to keep it free from all the common pitfalls. Always give preference to user-friendly designs with much significance on the retina, high-resolutions, and pixel-dense screens.      

Always remember: every startup or a matured business like Amazon started with a passion, risk-taking and stubborn perseverance. There’s no set formula for success and there is nothing like an overnight success. To make the tremendous jump from next to nothing to more than a million, you have to adopt the hardest all-in approach and put all your efforts.

Tags: winning strategies, launch of mobile phone apps, startup, growth

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Some people are almost phobic about FAILURE, and unknowingly, they slide from one failure to the next because they try to avoid it every single time. They often forget one simple truth, and that is Failure is inescapable. It is just a temporary detour and not an end of ends.

I truly feel that leaders and entrepreneurs often suffer from the fear of SUCCESS and not the failure. Yes, you heard that right. It’s the fear of success that paralyzes and cripples the trajectory of growth.

With success comes uncertainties and changes that can sometimes surpass all boundaries of imagination. It demands immense farsightedness, stamina, and risk-taking ability to tread these uphill terrains.

Also, success can sometimes bring in a whole new level of popularity and limelight. It’s not in everyone DNA to be an object of constant scrutiny and spotlight. The name and fame that’s one of the outcomes of prodigious success are intoxicating to the point that it leads people on a spate of self-destructive behavior.

Success often embodies:

– Fear of Change

The most commonly experienced fears that keep entrepreneurs on the sidelines – fear of taking risks. But, business leaders can’t escape the substantial risks and uncertainty of disruptive business environment because ‘Entrepreneurship’ is nothing without risk-taking. They must embrace and practice agility in times of change to maximize business impact.

– Fear of Decision-Making

The dilemma of decision-making is routinely expected in the life of business leaders, especially when they realize the vulnerabilities & pitfalls of competitive business environment characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. Leaders should develop more integrated thinking to overcome the decision-making challenges because your people will look up to you for direction and solution.

– Fear of Using Technology

Resistance to embrace technologies is one major fear that’s holding many entrepreneurs and slowing down their business performances. Their rigidness towards innovation, changing technologies and business market is so strikingly paradoxical to their growth. Leaders must respond to the fast-paced technological advancements to keep them abreast with the dynamic environment and accomplish their “Next Big Thing.”

To overcome these fear of Success, entrepreneurs must behave proactively because Success demands Agile leadership. They must stay responsive to adaptive planning, changing market trends, advanced technologies and continuous innovation.

Leaders should focus on their aim while staying rooted to the ground in the uncertain business world. They should not shrug off from embarking on this journey of success merely because of hurdles and risks it will entail. Because when you reach the apex and look back, you realize that it was never about the destination but the journey one under took to get there that counts.

A BRAND REACHOUT INITIATIVE: This article is written in partnership with TBM Growth – a boutique growth and business management consultancy firm offers specialized expertise at every phase of the business cycle to help organizations, entrepreneurs and leaders.

Tags: fear of success, grow, leadership, entrepreneurship, fear of failure

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Effective Communication is everything and everything is effective communication. We are constantly communicating with our actions and even inactions. As the world is transforming into one big global community, we often find ourselves in consistently increased contact of people who are different in communication styles, intelligence quotient, tenacity and opinion.

Great Communicator = Great Leader

To be effective as a great leader at the workplace, you need to be a great communicator. What does one do with all those brilliant ideas and thoughts if they cannot be communicated in a manner they must to achieve desired impact. With the RIGHT tone and the RIGHT attitude, a leader can maintain the much-needed team spirit and happy culture in a workplace. As the unaddressed negative mindsets of people may lead to weakened harmonious relationships, torn soul of emotional human engagement and ultimately poor performance.

Some Effective Communication Strategies & Principles Every Great Leader Must Follow:

• Embrace the art of listening

As a leader, you should know what your employees are thinking and what’s troubling them. Depict that you genuinely care about their well-being and grievances. Beyond caring, you must increase the employee engagement level within the team and make them feel valued as an important asset. Ask your team members about their views and never zone them out. Go for an open organizational structure that gives the employees a freedom to express their excitement and anxieties. “There are no extraordinary men… just extraordinary circumstances that ordinary men are forced to deal with.” – William (Bill) Halsey, Jr.

• “Never judge a man until you’ve walked a mile in his moccasins”

This is a fundamental principle of effective communication that emphasizes more on understanding the perspective of your team. To maintain the happy organizational culture, you must customize your communication intelligently and convey the message to address your needs precisely. As a key influencer, you must know how to make your words and actions yield desired results. Also, you should know when to withhold your reactions and when to make a comment on a particular situation.

• Encourage a two-way communication

It is the cornerstone of a healthy workplace environment which is all about increase employee engagement and boost workplace productivity. A two-way communication is the lifeblood of a company and ultimately determine the success or failure of the organization. Establishing a two-way flow of information within the team creates a power of empowerment.

• Give constructive feedback

Famous leadership guru Ken Blanchard has rightly said that “Feedback is the breakfast of Champions”. Gone are those days of the past when ‘the command-and-control paradigm’ used to work as a leader’s life-support system to achieve operational efficiency. It’s time for a pragmatic mantra. Today with the Gen-Y workforce, a leader needs to extend a real performance feedback which plays a crucial role in employee satisfaction and improving the productivity in an organization.

• Don’t mince words

There should be a clarity in whatever you communicate. For leaders, it is always necessary to gain their employees attention and discuss the factual situation. Without offending or demeaning, make your team members clear that the work assigned must meet the standards without dilution. Use the right words because your language triggers reactions and creates a ripple effect on the people around you. Find that perfect tone for expressing your leadership DNA and communicate your message about common and shared challenges to the staff members openly. Keep reminding yourself that you are not just a supervisor, but also a mentor.

• Agree to disagree

People leave people not jobs . So, in the blind pursuit of bottom-lines, refrain from becoming a tyrannical dictator and embrace dis agreement & diversity .You don’t want a team of yes mans but thinkers who bring out the best in each other. “To win in the marketplace you must first win in the workplace.” – Doug Conant, CEO of Campbell’s Soup

• Keep the compliments free-flowing

Never shy from appreciating your people abundantly as complementing is an incredibly powerful tool in the leader’s arsenal if used wisely. Every boss needs to understand that it only works when it is used genuinely and responsibly in the required measure.

• A stitch in time saves nine

Enable deeper in-time communication (at all levels) in your team and involve everyone in the spirit of co-creation. Be proactive and just in time because pre-mature or delayed communication both are absolutely futile and meaningless.

Babe Ruth, the famous baseball player rightly said, “The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime”. Infuse the ability of Emotional Intelligence along with effective communication skills to become a leader of ultimately a more productive and happy team.

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