If you want to connect with people start talking with them. It’s really that simple.

But damn can it be hard when you’re heads down clicking buttons, answering emails, putting out fires, drowning in spreadsheets, wearing every hat, and trying to meet deadlines.

Been there. Brutal.

Thankfully, it didn’t take long to realize that reactive life wasn’t for me. It felt backwards and I knew there had to be a better way. This is why I started a journey toward more proactive procurement. Of the many things I did to make the pivot, desk drive-bys were one of my favorite.

Yup, desk drive-bys.

(I listened to more 90s rap than most, so as I considered some alliteration and a funny way to explain the idea, I came up with this–people loved it.)

2Pac for life.

Here’s what I did.

I flipped the script on what I had been doing. I stopped clicking buttons, threw down the mouse, Ctrl+Alt+Delete → lock computer, got up from my desk, and starting walking around the office. I went from floor to floor and stopped by my colleagues desks. Some I knew, at least those in the beginning, others I didn’t. What I cared about was learning more about them–who they were, where they came from, what they did, family, pets, food, life, anything, really.

Because I was looking long term. I figured that if I could build connections with my colleagues, the very people our function was there to help, I’d be in a much better place than I was. I wanted to get ahead of the problems, issues, fire fighting, approval chasing, and nonsense that was holding back the procurement function. In order to do that, I needed to know what was going on. I wanted to know both the people and more about their jobs.

It worked. So much so that people would check in on me if I wasn’t walking around the office or hadn’t dropped by their desk in a while. That’s right, they’d stop by my desk. Because, you know, relationships are two-way streets–not only did I get to learn about them, they learned about me and what it was I did, especially for our company. They’d swing by to say hello and also kept me updated and in the loop on things they were doing, what they needed, future goals, and department strategy. I was able to collaborate with them, keep my team updated, and the rest of the organization connected.

We were, literally, driving change.

Proactive procurement.

See you next week,

Mat

ps. All this drive-by talk reminds me of 3 wheel motion.

The winner of last week’s coffee giveaway is Freya Hurwitz!

Big thanks to Atomic Coffee Roasters for supplying the goods.

Check ‘em out if you like good coffee. No, GREAT coffee!