Supply Chain Talent: A Practical Approach to Hardening Soft Skills

This is an excerpt of the original article. It was written for the July/August 2015 edition of Supply Chain Management Review. The full article is available to current subscribers.

July/August 2015

When it comes to career development, supply chain managers have to execute a bit of jiu jitsu. They’re charged with nding and developing the next generation of talent while simultaneously advancing their own careers in a eld that is often overlooked by senior management. The biggest challenge of all is getting their agenda in front of the Board at a time when supply chain operations are more critical than ever to an organization’s success, but still largely invisible compared to sales, marketing, and product development. Remember: It’s your career—and your supply chain. We hope this month’s issue will help you make the most of both.

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You know the type: hard-working bosses who are bright, but poor leaders and terrible communicators. Their business cards are adorned with all kinds of certifications; they’re logistics experts, procurement supremos, or inventory geniuses. They get stuff done! But they could get so much more done if only they played well in teams.

In short, they have truckloads of hard skills but they’re pitifully short of the soft skills that are so much more necessary in today’s volatile, fast-paced, globalized world.

To some extent, their education and training have not prepared them well enough. While there is no shortage of resources for teaching and developing the technical skills required to become a supply chain professional—university programs, APICS certification, and in-house training programs—there is far less obvious support for organizations that want to enable their supply chain experts to develop skills in areas such as leadership, communication, and teamwork.

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