By.O Group hosted a breakfast meeting on the theme of “Training in the Purchasing function”

On June 20th, By.O Group hosted a breakfast meeting on the theme of “Training in the Purchasing function”.

More than twenty different companies gathered to exchange with our four speakers – Caroline Maurial, Director of Purchasing Transformation for Société Générale, Thierry Bellon, Executive Director of Purchasing at Air France, Christian Galichon, Head of Purchasing for LVMH, and Michel Grévoul, Purchasing Director of the French State Purchasing Direction (Direction des Achats de l’Etat).

The discussions were rich and diverse, and will be detailed in a summary available on demand. Here are a few key points from these exchanges:

– The goal of training is to prepare the teams to play a much more important role in the transformation and management of ever more complex internal and external ecosystems.

– Interpersonal skills and leadership are therefore needed to supplement the buyers’ professional competences – the ability to promote the added value of the Purchasing function remaining at stake.

The format of training sessions is bound to evolve due to generational and technological changes, although nothing seems to require the replacement of in-person training.

Facebook is an interesting example on this topic: even though all the new training trends are made available (micro learning,YouTube-style short format videos, social learning), the company must now establish a more structured framework to support the powerful growth of the Purchasing function.

– Training remote teams, when the number of buyers does not justify local in-person sessions, remains a challenge. We will soon offer a solution to this challenge.

Hence, By.O Group and CIPS will continue to work on these themes and support the design of our large clients’ high-performance Purchasing academies.