Four building blocks for tomorrow’s leaders

What will it take to be a supply chain leader of the future? The Association of Healthcare Resource and Materials Management (AHRMM) and the Strategic Marketplace Initiative (SMI) conducted research, including extensive interviews, to come up with some answers. They identified four key building blocks for tomorrow’s leader: qualifications, competencies, experience, and personal traits.

Qualifications
Future supply chain leaders must possess qualifications that demonstrate they are capable of leading a supply chain program, according to AHRMM and SMI.

Formal academic qualifications are a “must.”

• A post-graduate degree is considered a minimal qualification.
• Academic concentrations in healthcare administration and/or supply chain will help.
• Attainment of an advanced degree, such as an MBA, can prepare the professional to engage in high level and executive duties.

Leadership training is desirable. Future supply chain leaders can bolster their qualifications with professional training in such topics as:

• Lean principles.
• Six Sigma.
• Group facilitation.
• Quality improvement methods.

Attainment of the CMRP designation (Certified Materials & Resource Professional) from the American Hospital Association demonstrates seriousness in healthcare supply chain practices, as well as a level of professionalism.

Competencies

• Communication. As supply chain leaders interact with CEOs, physicians, nurses, life science professionals, executives, groups, etc., communication is a key competency. Communication can be by the spoken word, written word, non-verbal and the use of graphs or charts.

• Negotiation. Developed through practice, mentoring, or formal training, negotiation competencies reveal an ability to persuade others, strategize, align incentives, protect assets, and achieve positive outcomes for all involved, according to AHRMM and SMI.

• Analytics. Supply chain leaders should understand how data is managed, how metric formulas are developed, and how to apply analytics to various business needs.

Experience
Aspiring supply chain leaders should seek to learn from a variety of experiences, both within and beyond healthcare supply chain. Every experience – whether performing a physical inventory, leading a project team, implementing a new system or technology, working with clinicians, presenting to an audience, or simply managing people – helps to build that body of experience.

Personal traits
The positive traits of a leader can be seen by others in a person’s actions, attitudes and behaviors. They include:

• An ability to see the “big picture” and to ensure that others see it too, by building and sharing their vision.
• A strong ethical background.
• Intellectual curiosity.
• Self-motivation.
• Positive thinking.
• The ability to be an active listener.
• Flexibility.

“The Healthcare Supply Chain Leader of the Future” may be downloaded free of charge at http://www.smisupplychain.com/tools or www.ahrmm.org/supply-chain-leader-of-the-future