Social Procurement Q and A with Seán Barnes

Director of Impact Consulting Clementine Baker with Director of Social Procurement, Seān Barnes.

Late last year our Director of Social Procurement, Seán Barnes, won the NZ Procurement Excellence Forum supreme award and the procurement professional of the year award. We figured this meant he’d probably have something interesting to say about the future of procurement, so we asked him a few questions.

Where is procurement headed in 2022?

2022 is rubber on the road time for social procurement in Aotearoa. The current economic situation with increasing costs and supply chain challenges has the potential to push any considerations about positive social and environmental impact to the side at a time when we need it more than ever.

 Many organisations have talked a good game, but now they need to walk the talk and deliver. You see this a lot when the promises from a slick bid writing team transition to the delivery team on a project, for example. Put simply, it doesn’t happen.

 Collectively, we need to keep focusing on improving procurement practice, because this is generally what undermines social procurement. In particular, it's time to change the game on supplier relationships. Let's have more robust conversations about what’s working and, more importantly, what’s not.

The best way to know what’s working is through deliberately measuring the impact of your procurement activity. You need to know what positive outcomes you’re creating in order to grow those outcomes, so  I think we’ll see more organisations moving forward with impact measurement this year.

 I’m hopeful that procurement professionals will hold true, and that organisations will be bold by taking actions that commit them to making positive change, even if it is hard. For example, committing resource on your procurement team to progress social procurement – rather than contracting out – is a great start. 

What kind of social procurement support are organisations looking for? 

There’s a big need for support with implementation. People are really keen to do it, but then they get back to their desk and go “what do I do now?”. That’s where we are trying to focus our work.

It isn’t easy, so it’s really important that we provide them support by mapping out the best next steps and by finding opportunities for their organisation to start taking action in social procurement. We’ve seen that over time, our Ākina Impact Buyer members start to build their own implementation capability, which is ideal!

Why offer a membership approach to social procurement?

Our experience has taught us that social procurement requires long-term change, so membership enables that. Being able to work with an organisation over the course of a year is a realistic timeframe to make a good start – in the first year – then to keep that journey going through year two and beyond. We’ve had a lot of feedback that this approach builds some accountability for members and it gives them the chance to engage meaningfully in the Buyer community over a good period of time. It allows time for collaboration and joining the dots.

 It also means our work – which is really tailored to the organisations we work with – can stay focused on partnerships and relationships. It’s not so much about distinct pieces of work, it’s much more about the people themselves – it’s the people that are most important in achieving change.

However, in order for change to stick and then grow, the organisations themselves need to actually own this work and drive it in the future. That’s what becoming an Ākina Impact Buyer supports them to do.

What is the most significant change you have seen from an organisation that’s signed up to be an Impact Buyer? 

I love watching the people we work with build confidence and understanding, and then influence outwards and upwards in their organisations. We’ve seen social procurement hit the top table of a large corporate due to the bold leadership of a procurement team member who embraced it and drove it forward. In another organisation social procurement grew from a conversation between two people, to a movement of fifty plus people – which is critical to getting traction. The more buy-in you can create inside an organisation, the more opportunities are created and the more change happens. 

Some organisations now have dedicated staff for social procurement, and some mature resourced programmes to make it happen. That wasn’t the case a few years ago. It can feel like hard going at times, but sometimes the big change moments happen when you least expect them!

What’s your favourite part of working with Impact Buyers?

Learning. Everyone we work with is different, and has a different context. I’ve enjoyed being challenged and inspired by the people we work with. While the complexity can be a bit scary at times, I’m really proud of the fact we are forging a new path, making some headway, and growing the social procurement movement in Aotearoa, together.

Finally, tell us about recently winning the NZPEF Procurement Professional of the Year award.

I’m really excited and stoked about the award for a couple of reasons. Firstly, who the award comes from; the New Zealand Procurement Excellence Forum. This is a forum that represents the procurement practitioner community, so the award comes from my peers, which makes it the most valuable feedback.

But secondly, I’m actually most grateful for the recognition of the work we have been doing, and the importance of social and sustainable procurement. I feel lucky to have found a profession and role that I’m truly passionate about, which enables me to contribute to positive change as a professional. 

Find out more about social procurement, or Ākina Impact Buyer membership.