Social procurement is a key driver in achieving ESG, CSR and sustainability goals. But how do you do it, and what are the challenges? We continue the conversation from part one and two, speaking to social procurement champions who’ve worked across Westpac, Microsoft, Australia Post and Major Roads Projects Victoria (MRPV) – to show us how it's done.
Here we'll unpack steps the final two steps in using your existing procurement spend, for good.
- Get buy in
- Start early
- Look beyond the spend
- Always come back to consistency
- Think outside the box
4. Always come back to consistency
The last two plus years have been disruptive. Social procurement was placed on the back burner during times of uncertainty. Australia Post released a social procurement white paper in 2018, maintaining a great conversation around the topic. But when COVID-19 hit, the focus shifted elsewhere.
“We noticed some of that engagement dropping off, so we launched a social procurement working group in 2021,” Eliza Brookes (Procurement Specialist, Fleet, Logistics & Automation at Australia Post) says. “The purpose of that working group was to revitalise the social procurement agenda at Australia Post. We wanted to continue the education piece but also continue that consistent communication across the business about why social procurement is good for business.”
“We wanted to increase the collaboration. It’s a cross-functional working group and we’ve invited representatives from each of the key stakeholder groups across the business who are all purchasing decision makers. We meet bi-monthly to identify different opportunities across the business and share stories and just continue that conversation.”
Remember social procurement is a journey, not a solution. Remaining focused and agile will support continued success.
5. Think outside the box
“Previously, the corporate world was the one ‘supporting’ the social enterprise sector. Now, corporates are the ones grappling with the challenge of how to meet ESG considerations, do business sustainably, fuse purpose into business. Guess who’s been doing that for decades – social enterprise." - Tara Anderson, Social Traders CEO.
The path to effective social procurement is not always smooth sailing. But getting stakeholders on board can be as simple as thinking creatively and taking new approaches when presenting businesses.
“I thought it was going to be easy,” Joanne Kenett says. “I thought there was going to be this magical moment of suppliers and opportunities and boom everything was going to happen and it was going to be a beautiful space. And then I discovered that the reason roles like mine exist is because it’s not that easy. The supply base may not be there – particularly in financial services, the opportunities are quite limited, so we have to be creative in the way that we approach this.”
“You may encounter a reluctance to social procurement,” she continues. “People may not understand it or they may think that it’s just charity stuff. Really try to understand what it is that drives that person and find an angle to talk about social procurement, because there’s also the other side of the coin, which is supply diversity. Is it about the social outcomes? Is it about reducing risk? Is it about innovation? Is it just about great procurement?”
“Whatever it takes, get that angle, because ultimately, you’ll get the outcome – you might just need to change the messaging depending on who your audience is.”
“Be innovative in the way you present businesses to your stakeholders,” Dave Andrews agrees. “We’ve used some approaches where we’ve introduced businesses without notifying them that they’re a social enterprise, and that business has won on merit. Once the stakeholder finds out that they’re a social enterprise, magically, they’re even more invested in that business’ success.
“We need to challenge conscious and unconscious bias in this space. How you do that is going to be critically important in your success in changing buyer behaviour in your business.”
Ultimately, business for good is a new way of thinking, so it’s easy to see how innovative thinking is a driving force in the space.
“We’re going to change this. It’s going to happen one business at a time, one buying decision at a time, but we will change it.”
A focus on social responsibility is not just a nice to have, it’s an essential point of difference for an organisation to uphold. Employees get excited about it. Customers demand it. Investors expect it. We are seeing an opportunity to build purpose into business by drawing on the ready-made solution offered by social enterprise – social enterprise procurement.
Learn more about how our team can support your procurement decisions to drive real impact.
Image courtesy of the team over at certified social enterprise Waverley Enterprises.
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