How to Motivate Your Procurement Team with Purpose

As a procurement leader, you've likely heard the term "quiet quitting" tossed around quite a bit lately. This growing phenomenon refers to employees who do the bare minimum required in their roles, without officially quitting their jobs.

It's important to understand that quiet quitting is – at its heart – a new generation’s attempt to create boundaries in a digital age where traditional lines between work and life have been eroded. Quiet quitters don’t want to pick up a call after hours, do regular unpaid overtime (otherwise known as “discretionary effort”) or volunteer for extra responsibilities without extra reward.

Quiet quitting and disengagement

Are all quiet quitters slackers? No. Someone who refuses to do unpaid overtime could still put in 100% during their working (paid) hours. Your best performer might also be the person who logs off at 5pm on the dot every afternoon and is uncontactable out of hours.

But here’s the problem: there is a proven link between quiet quitting and disengagement.

How to purposely motivate your procurement team

Kris Lance recently pointed out, "Quiet quitters make up between a fifth and two fifths of organizations' workforce. McKinsey found quiet quitters are three times as likely to be dissatisfied as other employees - which suggests that it would be better for the organization, its performance, and its culture, if disengaged quiet quitters turned into real quitters and looked for a job elsewhere."

Work Within the Boundaries

Don’t try to fight this tide. Your goal as a procurement leader should not be to bring back the very things that quiet quitters dislike, such as the "always-on" workforce and normalizing unpaid overtime. Instead, work within the boundaries quiet quitters are attempting to set, and work together with them to boost engagement and productivity.

Redefine Success

This means having an honest discussion about what truly defines success. Are the 'best' employees only those who always go above and beyond? Why can't your top performer be someone who excels while sticking to the letter of their contract of employment?

Procurement's Unique Opportunity

We know that 35% of employees say that having a clear sense of purpose motivates them to be more productive at work. The good news is that procurement is uniquely positioned to provide the antidote to quiet quitting. Your function offers countless opportunities to imbue your team's work with meaning and significance. You simply need to help them recognize and lean into those possibilities.

Emphasize Social Impact

One powerful way to do so is by emphasizing social procurement initiatives. More organizations are looking to their procurement leaders to drive positive social impact through the supply chain. Whether it's sourcing from minority or women-owned suppliers, supporting fair trade and living wages, or partnering with non-profits - the options are vast.

Embrace Sustainability

Environmental sustainability is another area where procurement can be a driving force for good – and for purpose. From reducing packaging and waste, to sourcing eco-friendly materials, to collaborating with suppliers on their sustainability practices – your function is critical to an organization's green agenda.

Find Other Opportunities for Purpose

It's not just about social impact and sustainability - there are countless other ways you can create purpose in procurement. Perhaps it's working cross-functionally to improve the employee experience by streamlining the requisition process. Or finding creative solutions to supply chain challenges that save the company money and make your colleagues' lives easier.

Celebrate Wins and Recognize Contributions

The key is to help your team see the big picture, and understand how their work contributes to the organization's overall success and mission. Regularly sharing success stories and spotlighting their great work is a simple but powerful way to do that. Celebrate the wins, no matter how big or small – whether it's a supplier diversity initiative that's making a difference, or a cost-saving project that freed up budget for an important new program.

Quiet quitting at the functional level

It could be argued that the procurement function itself has also been susceptible to a form of "quiet quitting" when it comes to driving procurement with purpose.

Too often, CPOs and their procurement teams have been content to simply adhere to regulations and policies, rather than taking a more proactive, strategic role. They may have fallen into the mindset of just doing the bare minimum required, rather than seeking out opportunities to drive meaningful change and make a real impact.

This could manifest in a number of ways – a narrow focus on cost savings at the expense of social or environmental considerations, a reactive rather than anticipatory approach to supply chain challenges, a reluctance to challenge the status quo or push for procurement to have a seat at the strategic decision-making table.

Just as individual employees can become disengaged and dispassionate about their work, the procurement function as a whole can fall into patterns of going through the motions, without a true sense of purpose or a drive to innovate and lead.

Overcoming this "quiet quitting" mindset at the functional level requires concerted effort. Procurement leaders need to work hard to generate buy-in, excite their teams, and shift the strategic focus of the department. It takes courage to challenge conventional thinking, to push for a more expansive, purpose-driven role for procurement. But the potential upside - for the organization, the employees, and the world – is immense.

At the end of the day, quiet quitting happens when people feel disconnected from their work, like they're just going through the motions. But in procurement, you have a unique opportunity to create deep meaning and purpose. Help your team rediscover their passion and energy by tapping into the incredible impact they can have.

For more on how to purposely motivate your procurement team, listen to this recent episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast. Kris also covers topics like this in his monthly newsletter, The Sidekick. Subscribe here so you never miss a post.