A decade ago, I was asked to join a company who organizes trainings for supply chain professionals. Not really understanding what supply chain actually was at the time, I accepted the challenge and started discovering.
As the world changed over the last ten years, so has supply chains. When I started, supply chain professionals were people with a good view on how the company worked, what products the company actually could offer and had ideas on how to improve their job role. But supply chain professionals were more often than not, just employees who ended up in that role by coincidence. Careers in supply chain were not looked at as ‘the right step’ to improve your career.
No need to explain you that education for those employees, was never a priority and mostly based on practical daily skills. Employees with a willingness to develop their skills mostly needed to look at evening classes and hope that their company would fund a training or a certification. It was very much an individual initiative, driven by passionate employees. If the demand was big enough, the education could be held within the company. These initiatives were often ‘a one-time thing’.
Around 2018, I started noticing a change. Supply Chain professionals convinced other departments within the company that instead of investing in more sales force once again, the solution for the problem could also be found by improving the supply chain. It’s around that time that an article was published stating that only 6% of supply chain professionals actually had a theoretical training within their field of expertise. That number was staggering to me but, by talking to more companies over time, I was also convinced that this number would be changing for the better in the future.
More companies were thinking about developing skills of their supply chain professionals in a structural way. How can we develop the full potential of our employees? It became clear that with the help of the digital tools that we have nowadays and the end-to-end view on supply chain, an education strategy for the company became easier imaginable.
A strategy where every planner, manager or executive developed their skills in supply chain in a coherent way. I was happy to see this change and started helping companies setting that strategy, more then just helping them get a one-off training. The building blocks were developed, now we could start to place them in the right order to optimize the development of the workforce and thrive for success.
The pandemic in 2020 has put education on the back burner for a moment. Companies were trying to stay afloat but also realized in that moment, that their supply chain was more important then ever. I could feel that although the moment wasn’t ideal, the plans for further development were made.
Today, the individual initiatives of ten years ago have completely shifted to an approach that is supported and initiated by the company. Companies have realized, that to have a bright future, a well oiled supply chain is a corner stone. Skill development is a crucial part of this.
A decade of supply chain education has shown me the importance of supply chain in the company, and it has shown me that skill development as a corner stone for success is necessary. I’m happy to help companies for over a decade in forming their employees and envisaging their strategies in supply chain academies all over the world.
The quote that I saw the first day, when I started ten years ago, remains:
A true master remains a disciple
(unknown)
