Category: Infastructure

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to escalate, the supply chain sector is reeling from the shock of one of the most devastating and unpredictable global developments in living memory. It is also bracing itself for a long journey of disruption, rising costs, logistical challenges and product shortages. 

The vast majority of markets are likely to be affected and the effects will be far-reaching. It is vital that supply chain leaders do all they can to mitigate the impact and prepare for significant ongoing disruption, as well as a long and arduous recovery. 

Here are some ways businesses can reduce the impact of the Russian-Ukraine conflict on the supply chain. 

Continually monitor the impact business-wide

As we mention above, the effects of the conflict are and will continue to be far-reaching. Naturally, supply chain leaders will be keeping a close eye on rising commodity and fuel prices, as well as specific circumstances that will affect their suppliers. It’s also important to assess new risks to your business that are associated with cybercrime. This is very challenging to do without the right expert support. If you don’t have a team internally that can handle this, speak to a cyber security company that can help you with detecting, mitigating and responding to cyberattacks. 

Manage supplier relationships

Naturally, this is a high priority of all supply chain companies, even during business as usual. Right now it is more important than ever. Your suppliers are likely to be under a great deal of pressure so it is vital you don’t add to it. Make sure they know you are there to help wherever you can but keep non-urgent enquiries to a minimum and factor these companies into the monitoring activities we mention above. 

Make sure you have complete visibility

Having the right technology is essential. You will need end-to-end visibility of your operations at all times. If you are concerned about any weaknesses in your IT or operational infrastructure they need to be addressed as a priority. You will also need advanced analytics packages and experts monitoring them to alert you to any new risks or problems. 

Re-evaluate your supply chain and product offering

Unfortunately, the situation is unlikely to improve in the near future. So, it’s time to think carefully about how resilient your business is as it stands. You may need to make some tough decisions based on your ability to manufacture in the short and long-term and how this might affect your operations and cash flow. 

Try not to be too reactive

This follows from the previous point. While it is critical that you remain realistic and proactive, if possible it is important not to be too reactive. The procurement and supply chain sector has weathered all manner of storms in the last few years; the pandemic and the EU exit to name just two. If you can adapt your business strategy to be more flexible and tackle the current challenges presented by the conflict in Ukraine it should not only make your business stronger it will also help to support the rest of your supply chain during this challenging time. 

I read an interesting article by Daniel Lane from Baringa  on his experiences with ADHD.

Members of my family have been diagnosed with ADHD and Dyslexia (including myself) and I’m positive many others have Neurodiversity traits that have never been tested and fully diagnosed. All these diagnosed family members struggled at school before finding ways to work through their difficulties and flourishing at university and in work, developing into international CEO and MD roles etc and it got me thinking about Neurodiversity as a whole.

One of the roles I champion at Bramwith, alongside my Recruitment Director role, is to be Bramwith’s Diversity & Inclusion Champion, which means internally and externally I champion diversity. This means I work closely with diversity bodies such as Business in the Community, MSDUK and WeConnect International to better understand and drive positive change around D&I. I also work with all Bramwith’s clients (when they’ll let me!), giving advice on how they can be more proactive in widening and attracting candidates from more diverse pools, ultimately allowing them to have more diverse workforces, which in turn allows those businesses to be more successful.

Reading Dan’s article though, it struck me that very little is discussed about Neurodiversity when talking about D&I, as 95% of the conversation is about gender and ethnicity.

Did you know that 1 in 7 people has a neurodivergent condition? It’s estimated that in the global adult population that 10% are dyslexic, 5% are dyspraxic, 4% have ADHD, and 1-2% are autistic.

For those who are new to this, Neurodiversity describes the idea that people experience and interact with the world around them in many different ways; there is no one “right” way of thinking, learning, and behaving, and differences should not be viewed as deficits. Classic Neurodiversity approaches include:

Ø Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) people may have trouble paying attention, controlling impulsive behaviours (may act without thinking about what the result will be), or be overly active

Ø Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) people may show differences in communication, learning, and behaviour, though it can look different from person to person

Ø Dyslexia affects how a person processes language, and it can make reading and writing difficult. It can also cause problems with grammar and reading comprehension

Ø Dyspraxia affects a person’s motor skills. Motor skills help us with movement and coordination

Ø Dysgraphia affects a person’s writing abilities

Ø Dyscalculia affects a person’s ability to do maths

Ø Auditory Processing Disorder is a problem with the way the brain processes the sounds a person takes in. It is not caused by hearing impairment

The more I have researched and started to understand Neurodiversity, the more it strikes me that in some way we are all a little Neurodivergent, we’re all presupposed to be a bit Autistic, ADHD, Dyspraxic, Dyslexic etc, partially at least. Everyone is different, we all have our little idiosyncrasies (whether they’re good or bad!) and that’s what makes us different. It should also be pretty obvious as well that we all have different drivers, ways of learning, things we like and dislike and ways that we all approach problems. We know all this already, so the idea that there is a “normal” person is pretty laughable really, who is this normal person? If you know them, I bet they’re pretty boring as well! So why does our education system, our hiring processes and people management largely be so restricted to a “one size fits all approach”?

I do not proclaim to be an expert in everything Neurodiversity related at all, so this blog is more about me raising this thought and question for those who read it about how as employers, work colleagues, parents, friends etc we are considerate that our friends, colleagues, sons and daughters etc may need us to take a different approach to get the most out of them and help them to achieve their potential. As a parent myself, I am definitely thinking about my kids who are both very different but wonderful in their own unique ways.

I think there is still a big stigma, a lack of awareness, and lack of appropriate infrastructure (such as office setup or staffing structures) and these can cause exclusion of people with neurodevelopmental differences. Understanding and embracing neurodiversity in communities, schools and workplaces can improve inclusivity for all people. It is important for all of us to foster an environment that is conducive to neurodiversity, and to recognize and emphasize each person’s individual strengths and talents while also providing support for their differences and needs. I think there’s also a need to see specialists to assess if we have Autism, ADHD etc, so we can learn about ourselves and start to play to our strengths and learn to manage our weaknesses.

This brings me nicely onto my next point. Neurodivergent people have some fantastic strengths that others may not have.

1.      Neurodivergent people often know what their strengths and weaknesses are, which is built from a lifetime of creating workarounds to allow them to reach their full potential.

2.      Many Neurodivergent people struggle for years with activities so have to work harder than others to form ways of “making it work” which can lead to excellent problem solving skills, thinking outside of the box and even better listening skills. So any business will probably find a lot of their most innovative thinkers have ADHD, Autism and other Neurodivergent traits, whether they are diagnosed or not

3.      People with ADHD may have trouble with time management, but they often show high levels of passion, drive, and creative thinking.

4.      Many neurodivergent people are strongly focused on social justice. What some consider rigid hyperfocus on rules can be better understood as a natural tendency to intensely believe in the import of fairness and justice. This focus on fairness, combined with deep empathy, leads to individuals who will fight passionately to protect the welfare of the disenfranchised and the environment.

5.      Two facets of Nonverbal Learning Disability (NLD) are a phenomenal long-term memory, and an ability to hyper-focus on individual details. When you combine those two, you get the ability to draw connections between things that seem completely unrelated.

I’m sure I have missed loads of other fantastic traits of Neurodivergent people, but hopefully that gets you thinking about how you could communicate better with your friends and colleagues, as employers how you could utilise people who view the world differently to you, how you can get the most out of them and in turn be more successful.

Please let me know what you think. I’m sure there’s literally millions of people out there who know a lot more about this than me, so would love to hear from them if I have missed the point, if there are other strengths missed etc.

While businesses need the top talent to succeed and thrive there are a number of other things that are required to build the ideal workforce. From understanding digital transformation to establishing a great team culture, read on to discover why talent isn’t all you need to build the perfect procurement and supply chain team. 

Plan for future talent requirements 

Even before the pandemic hit, the procurement and supply chain sector was heading with increasing momentum towards digital transformation. A raft of new and exciting AI technologies as well as advances in report automation and cloud-based record-keeping are transforming the way our businesses work – and business leaders need to plan their recruitment strategy accordingly. A recent Gartner report revealed some worrying skillset shortages in procurement and supply chain, particularly around digital and analytical skills. Businesses should ensure they are able to recruit the talent required to manage these new technologies and ways of working. This includes process automation, scenario planning, machine learning, AI, and data-based analysis. 

A good place to start is to align your plans for business growth and development with the skillsets you need to make it happen. If you have additional IT requirements, who will you need on board to take care of them? Will AI and new technologies expose your business to greater risk? If so, what cybersecurity experts will you need to recruit and when? Don’t worry if this sounds overwhelming. Give the team at Bramwith a call today about your skills requirements and we can point you in the right direction. 

Establish a great team culture

Recruiting all the leading lights of the procurement and supply chain world won’t help you build a successful business unless your team has a good cultural fit, can collaborate and cooperate well and feel happy and supported at work. Here are some tips for making it happen: 

• Make it clear what your values are. Your employees, candidates and customers should be able to see what your brand stands for throughout all your internal and external communications. This includes on your website, your job ads, your HR and other company policies, your social media – every touchpoint people have with your business. By doing this you can make sure you attract the right people and that your current staff feel a sense of belonging and cohesion. 
• Encourage collaboration and teamwork and try to make it fun, informal and unifying. Promote autonomy within teams and empower people to make their own decisions. 
• Cross-train team members. This is particularly valuable in procurement and supply chain where working together effectively in high-pressure situations is a frequent challenge. The more your employees understand and appreciate each other roles and responsibilities the better they will be able to help one another out and relate to each person’s unique pressures. 

Promote diversity and inclusion

The pandemic has exposed horrifying levels of inequality in the UK and beyond with the various economic and health impacts disproportionately affecting minority groups, as well as highlighting glaring issues around gender inequality. If you haven’t already got a robust D&I policy in place then now is the time to start. Aside from the rich benefits you and your team will experience from having a diverse workforce, racially diverse workplaces have higher revenue growth and a greater readiness to innovate. 

Be the leader your team needs to succeed

Even if your team works remotely or seems to function pretty autonomously, they still need a strong leader to succeed. Thankfully, we have moved on from the workplace culture of yesteryear so this doesn’t mean being an authoritarian figure. It means building trust with every employee and being approachable and open to ideas, issues and concerns. 

Being a good leader also means being transparent in your decision making and being able to delegate when necessary. It also means owning up when you have made a mistake. There is a lot of power in your team seeing you admitting you’re wrong as long as you make efforts to rectify the situation of course! Finally, great leaders must communicate what they want from their staff. Your employees will benefit from understanding what your business goals are so they can perform to the best of their abilities and help you to achieve them.