BRIDGING THE GAP: BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS WITHIN YOUR ... · (VMS) use with their own specific goals in mind. Successfully “bridging the gap” between any two sides with sometimes

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BRIDGING THE GAP:

BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS WITHIN YOUR CONTINGENT WORKFORCE PROGRAM

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Tying Strategic Goals to the Program from the Start by Greg Fenton

Collaboration Between the Program Office and Hiring Managers Breeds Success by Matt Kreh

Cutting Down Tension Between the Supplier and the PMO by Matt Kreh

How C-Suite Leadership Lays the Groundwork for a Contingent Program by Andrew Thiermann

Start Your Engines!

Contact

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C-SUITE

HIRING MANAGER

PROGRAM OFFICE

Relationships can be tough – songs, novels and entire movies revolve around the trials and tribulations of making them work. Whether the relationship is personal or business, it takes time and effort to ensure it not only remains intact, but continues to grow.

The connections between stakeholders in a contingent workforce program aren’t much different. The Program Office (PMO), program sponsors, hiring managers, C-suite and suppliers all approach contingent workforce management and Vendor Management System (VMS) use with their own specific goals in mind. Successfully “bridging the gap” between any two sides with sometimes disparate business objectives is the real challenge.

We asked our own relationship management experts at Fieldglass to share their experiences in connecting the different parts of a contingent program. In this eBook, Matt Kreh, Andrew Thiermann and Greg Fenton of the Fieldglass Professional Services team discuss the importance of tying the program’s goals to those of the overall business, successful collaboration between the PMO and hiring managers, reducing tension between the PMO and suppliers, and how the C-suite’s support sets the tone for a program. Using real-life customer examples, our thought leaders demonstrate how to “bridge the gap” in your contingent program.

Throughout this eBook, we’ll show how you can navigate the road to successful relationships in your contingent program.

The road to successful collaboration in a program can be a long one. By communicating with key stakeholders, execution and adoption will be a smooth drive.

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Tying Strategic Goals to the Program from the StartOrganizations typically have four value propositions top of mind when designing their programs: cost, quality, efficiency and compliance. Greg Fenton explains how organizations can turn these high-level strategic goals into practical action throughout the entire lifecycle of your program.

More. Faster. Cheaper. These, in a nutshell, represent the 2013 objectives for both contingent workforce buyers and Managed Service Providers (MSP). As last year’s lessons learned become this year’s business goals, the mantra remains the same: manage costs and increase quality as quickly and consistently as possible. While Fieldglass is widely used, each customer’s use is unique. Regardless of the organization or business goal, every contingent workforce program is driven by four basic value propositions: cost, quality, efficiency and compliance.

These value propositions are not out of reach, but the daily pursuit of these goals demands aggressive execution. You’ll need to understand the value each goal provides, determine an implementation strategy, and form the right team and partnerships to deliver actionable and measurable results.

So how can you “bridge the gap” between the planning and execution stages? How can you move the “more, faster, cheaper” discussion to an executive level? How can you demonstrate improvements to the original functional rollout of your VMS?

No bridge can be built without multiple – and different – support spans. We recommend our customers regularly examine the goals, objectives and performance of each key area of their programs, including VMS, MSP (if one is in place), internal program office and even suppliers.

In addition to regular business reviews, we suggest customers take advantage of Fieldglass’ Program Maturity Model (PMM) to maximize VMS use. The PMM allows companies to assemble all key stakeholders in their contingent workforce programs as well as their account teams, Fieldglass business

COMPLIANCE EFFICIENCY QUALITY COST

Are you fully prepared for your journey toward better program management?

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intelligence subject matter experts, and if necessary, key leaders from the MSP. These teams review key data points, assess if functionality is being utilized to its full potential and examine reporting needs. Most importantly, the PMM determines the overall health of your company’s program as compared to other Fieldglass users, creating the foundation for recommendations for optimization.

Here are a few examples of how companies have improved areas of their program.

— Customer A discovered it was actually using significantly less than half of its suppliers. Decreasing the total number of suppliers (and thus bringing that average use number higher) provided better insight and management of supplier quality, as well as increased competition among better quality suppliers.

— Customer B achieved clearer insight into market rates and allowed a better rate comparison and more realistic (and in many cases, lower) rates by using O*Net codes on job posting templates.

— Customer C discovered that is was several percentage points higher than similar customers in its overtime costs. Creating an OT exception workflow brought down year-over-year costs for the top 10 overtime-offending jobs.

So, how do you set your foundation? If you’ve been with Fieldglass for over a year, speak with your account manager to set your optimization in motion. If you’ve engaged in a PMM previously, we’ll review your data and accomplishments since that time and make additional recommendations.

This year doesn’t have to be a road to nowhere. Enlist Fieldglass and your MSP for a PMM session to make the drive for cost savings a clear enhancement for your business.

Regardless of the organization or business goal, every contingent workforce program is driven by four basic value propositions: cost, quality, efficiency and compliance.”

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Collaboration Between the Program Office and Hiring Managers Breeds SuccessOnce the strategic direction has been defined, organizations begin determining the program structure, how the VMS will be used, and specifically, how the PMO will interact with everyday users such as hiring managers. Matt Kreh says successful collaboration comes down to three things and provides questions you can ask of your program to help maximize results.

In my six years here at Fieldglass, I have had the benefit of working with many different customers and have seen a variety of different program structures. Across the board, a program’s success usually comes down to three key things: collaboration between the hiring manager and the program office; remembering KISS principles (we’ll talk about what that means later); and seeking to understand rather than seeking to be understood.

Collaboration Between the Hiring Manager and PMOThe interaction between the hiring manager, the VMS and the PMO usually falls in a spectrum between two extremes – a completely independent “self–service” model and a much more dependent, “guided” approach. For example, when a new position is required, do hiring managers create their own job posting in the VMS? Or do they call the PMO, conduct a detailed intake session and the PMO creates the job posting for them?

If hiring managers create their own job requisitions without any program office feedback, then the program employs more of a “self-service” model. If the PMO acts as an intermediary between the hiring manager and the VMS, then the program utilizes a more guided approach. One approach isn’t considered better than the other, although the self-serve model definitely requires more commitment, communication and training. It’s up to you to decide where your program fits on the spectrum but it’s essential to have collaboration between the hiring manager and the program office in order for a program to be successful.

The interaction between key players varies for all programs - some change the flat tire themselves while others enlist the help of the service shop.

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Keep It Simple, Stupid (KISS)Regardless of whether a program follows a self-service model or not, the hiring managers and the PMO need to clearly define their needs vs. their wants within the program. The PMO should consider how the manager community will be affected if they create lengthy processes in the VMS. For example, if the PMO requires the hiring manager to complete 20+ fields during the creation of a job posting simply for reporting purposes, they might need to reconsider. The PMO should ask itself if there’s a better way to store and report things if hiring managers are negatively impacted by the long processes required to get that information. Take a simplistic approach – it will make the process less laborious and more user-friendly for your hiring manager community.

Seek to Understand, Don’t Seek To Be UnderstoodGetting user feedback regularly is critical to a program’s success and a “feedback loop” should be created in order to maximize the value of the program and promote its adoption. Seeking to understand instead of seeking to be understood ensures users you’re listening to their concerns and rolling out changes to positively impact the program. How often do you solicit feedback – monthly, quarterly or yearly? Do you provide a survey or feedback forum? The key is actually listening to this feedback without pushing your own agenda. If the program office actively seeks out feedback and actually listens to it, it’s much more likely the program will continue to evolve and be adopted by users.

To summarize, figure out the best mix of manager interaction between the PMO and technology, focus on KISS whenever possible and regularly listen to user feedback. If your program consistently addresses these three issues, it’s much more likely to be successful.

Take a simplistic approach – it will make the process less laborious and more user-friendly for your hiring manager community.”“

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Cutting Down Tension Between the Supplier and the PMOMatt takes the idea of the “feedback loop” one step further and explains the importance of an ongoing dialogue between the PMO and suppliers. He outlines four different types of relationships between the two and provides guidance on how to deal with suppliers – good and bad.

I previously talked about collaboration between the hiring manager and the PMO and stressed the importance of creating a “feedback loop” so users have a way to share their experiences with the program on a consistent basis. In the same way it’s imperative to a program’s success for everyday users to communicate with the PMO, it’s equally imperative to have the same sort of open dialogue with suppliers.

As the PMO, take a step back and evaluate the relationship between you and the suppliers, who are usually bucketed into one of four groups:

— Under the Radar: This category can actually be one of two scenarios: either there is very little communication between the PMO and the supplier, or there is not a lot of activity coming from the supplier at all. In other words, the supplier doesn’t submit many candidates or makes up a small portion of overall program spend.

— Supplier Submissive: The program’s business is critical to the supplier and they’re very dependent on the relationship. In this scenario, the program holds a lot of the control and the supplier tends to adhere to anything the program implements.

— Strategic Relationship: It’s a two-way street. Both sides rely on each other to keep their respective businesses moving forward. From the PMO’s perspective, suppliers keep the program’s business going by filling positions and in turn, the placements (also known as “fills”) aid the supplier’s bottom line.

— Supplier Dependent: If the supplier wasn’t available or quickly disengaged from the program, the PMO would be in trouble or in urgent need to find a new one. This type of relationship usually occurs when a supplier services very niche positions, such as graphic designers. In this case, the supplier is in the driver’s seat and could, in some cases, dictate pricing.

Think carefully before taking your program in one direction - there might be another road to success.

9Once you’ve established the type of relationship you currently have with your supplier community, you can start thinking about how to establish the regular “feedback loop” discussed earlier. Ask the following questions of your program: How often are you meeting with suppliers? Do you have a quarterly review or scorecard to rate them? Are you willing to pay more for candidates from a particular supplier when the candidates consistently perform superbly?

As one of our customers once jokingly said, “Sometimes we need to take a supplier down to the principal’s office.” Every now and then, it’s necessary to reevaluate the relationship with the supplier if things aren’t working out. In some cases, the PMO might need to remove a supplier from a distribution list for a period of time or move them down to “second tier” status.

On the other hand, if a supplier is performing above par and deserves some recognition, there should be acknowledgement and action from the PMO. For example, if suppliers are providing high quality candidates and cutting down hiring cycle times, they can be rewarded by being moved to “first tier” status or given full exclusivity to certain labor categories or sites.

Before coming down too hard on suppliers and taking them to task, make sure your own program is in order first. If hiring managers complain about long hiring cycle times causing delays, take a look internally before coming down too hard on the supplier base.

Much like a successful relationship between the hiring manager and the PMO is dependent on open lines of communication, a successful relationship with suppliers depends on the same thing. The more you strive toward building relationships with constituents from all aspects of the program – program managers, suppliers, etc. — the more likely it is the program will flourish.

Contingent programs are constant works in progress. Take time to make repairs if something isn’t going well.

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How C-Suite Leadership Lays the Groundwork for Contingent Program While Matt focuses on how to build relationships at the operational level of a contingent program, Andrew Thiermann shares how the C-suite sets the strategic tone for VMS deployment. Although every company’s strategy is different, the commonality among all successful programs is communication between the C-suite and the rest of the organization.

Over the last seven years with Fieldglass, I have helped dozens of customers expand their contingent workforce programs in terms of size, scope and complexity. Solid programs naturally grow and evolve over time. More often than not, we help companies implement the Fieldglass VMS within one business unit, and additional geographies and business units get rolled out from there.

In order to design a deployment strategy that is best for your particular business, your contingent workforce program goals should be aligned with corporate goals. This will help secure the C-level support that is critical for change management. Stated another way, a program manager should understand the overarching company goals and create objectives for the program around those goals.

HP provides us with a classic example as described in this Wall Street Journal article. CEO Meg Whitman asked John Hinshaw, HP’s senior technology executive, to help cut $3.5 billion in costs by the end of next year. In a massive cloud strategy that includes replacing client-side applications such as Peoplesoft, HP is “switching his [their] service procurement process from a home-built system to software from Fieldglass Inc…This application will be rolling out across HP in the next several months.”

When I think about the companies I’ve helped with VMS deployments, I realize the expansion process can be very different based on the leadership style. No one way is better than another, but it is important to get the model right from the beginning and ensure the program offers constant communication to the C-suite in order to drive the most impact. And, because I really like examples, let me offer up two more that describe very different VMS deployment approaches. You might find yourself identifying with one or the other, or somewhere in between.

It is important to get the model right from the beginning and ensure the program offers constant communication to the C-suite in order to drive the most impact.”

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Example OneOur first customer example comes from a global financial services firm that is very structured and methodical. They institute strategic initiatives like VMS with a mandate. Some of the motivations behind this approach include:

— Executive pressure to get the entire business on the application as quickly as possible

— Sun-setting existing in-house systems

— A strong IT group that is able to automate solutions, gather data quickly and wants to introduce a unified platform for all procurement decisions

They roll out their contingent workforce management program expansions with “big bangs,” deploying many countries and business units at one time. The keys to making this work include:

— Strong executive leadership

— Ability to break down roadblocks and mandate program adoption

— Access to pre-VMS implementation data (small timeframe needed to get to clean data)

— Unified management team overseeing regional support

Example TwoThe second example describes a well-known energy company that treats each deployment in a more decentralized fashion, allowing for thoughtful change management and buy-in discussions. For this reason, the company concentrates on several small, focused deployments each year. Although the program leaders want rapid implementations, they will first get sign-off from the appropriate business group. For them, a win might look like 12 new business units added into the program with tight Fieldglass and SAP integrations so they gain that much more visibility into who is working for them.

Some keys to make this approach work include:

— A flexible team willing to put projects on hold for long periods of time

— Ability to sell successes to disparate business groups

— Ability to clean data elements and provide templates for quick data gathering

— Unified solution for all business groups Do you take your time rolling out your program and ease into it? Or do you “drive through the night” and roll out all at once?

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So what can we learn from these examples? No singular approach is the right answer for everyone. In the end your solution may pull from one of these examples or be a hybrid of all of them. The key is to ask, “Does my strategy make sense in the framework of my company?” For success, the answer to that should always be “Yes.”

Start Your Engines!Building relationships and “bridging the gaps” in your contingent workforce program take time. Program sponsors, hiring managers, the C-suite and suppliers all have different and sometimes competing perspectives, objectives and ideas for how to make the program work. The ability to marry these goals with one another is key. Using Greg, Andrew and Matt’s expertise in cultivating successful collaboration in a contingent workforce program can help maximize yours.

About FieldglassFieldglass, now part of SAP, provides a cloud-based Vendor Management System (VMS) allowing organizations to better procure and manage their global flexible workforces, including contingent labor, services managed through Statements of Work and independent contractors. More than 250 customers leverage Fieldglass to optimize visibility, spend, quality, compliance and program efficiencies.

ContactTo read more insights from other Fieldglass thought leaders, please go to our blog at From the Field. To learn more about Fieldglass or how to build stronger relationships within your contingent workforce program, please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected] or visit www.fieldglass.com.

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