Redefining Procurement Excellence!
Procurement has emerged as a fundamental for organizational success, ensuring resource optimization, cost efficiency, and seamless operations. The function has progressed from traditional purchasing to a more strategic role, integrating advanced technologies and data-driven decision-making processes. Today, procurement is not merely about acquiring goods and services but forging sustainable supplier relationships, maintaining compliance, and driving innovation to meet diverse stakeholder needs. This shift demands agility, foresight, and an adaptive approach, as procurement must now address fast-changing market dynamics and embrace technological advancements like artificial intelligence for enhanced outcomes.
Lance Jay, Chief Procurement Officer at the City and County of Denver, is a leader who brings a unique perspective to this growing field with remarkable success. His leadership is deeply rooted in nurturing collaboration, prioritizing measurable goals, and promoting continuous learning. By placing a strong focus on listening and understanding diverse perspectives, Lance cultivates an inclusive environment where his team thrives. His ability to anticipate operational challenges and craft innovative solutions reflects his visionary approach to procurement, ensuring organizational efficiency and team growth.
Denver General Services has positioned itself as a leader in procurement innovation, consistently pushing boundaries to redefine excellence. The City embraces modern tools and practices, integrating advanced technology to streamline processes and enhance supplier interactions. By staying ahead of industry trends and engaging with key stakeholders, Denver General Services ensures that its procurement strategies meet current demands and anticipate future needs, solidifying its reputation as a forward-thinking entity in the procurement sector.
Let’s explore Lance’s inventive strategies for developing procurement efficiency:
Mastering Agility and Efficiency in Procurement
Procurement for Lance began in the late 1990s, working in hospitality, where managing the unexpected was a constant, teaching him to be agile and efficient. Over his career, he has worked for some of the largest hospitality and entertainment businesses across the globe, including The Walt Disney Company, Disney Cruise Line, Gaylord Hotels, Marriott International, and Millennium Hotels globally, and now the City and County of Denver.
Transitioning from the hospitality sector to the government realm allowed him to bring many skills honed in the hospitality world, particularly customer service and anticipating operational needs. This dual perspective has enabled him to see situations from both operational and procurement viewpoints, creating win-win opportunities for all.
Customer-Centric Approach in Procurement
As the Chief Procurement Officer for the City and County of Denver, Lance believes balancing leading large-scale procurement operations with ensuring high-quality services across various environments starts with the voice of the customer, which is currently the city’s 41 diverse agencies Denver General Services supports. Their operational needs are the foundation of where it starts.
Setting Attainable Goals for Team Success
The leadership strategy Lance finds most effective in ensuring the teams embrace is to start with the end in mind and then set up a framework working towards that end. The strategy must begin with strategically relevant goals so the team can first focus on the most critical and wildly essential elements.
Lance reflects on making them measurable, as people will perform differently when they see how their efforts move the needle. Further, ensure that the strategy steps are attainable; there is nothing more demoralizing to the team than setting milestones that are not attainable and, more importantly, ones that the team can see their involvement with by keeping the mantra of thinking big, acting small, and being willing to pivot in mind.
Managing Diverse Teams with Effective Listening
Lance highlights the key approach to managing diverse teams: cultivating productivity and collaboration. Most importantly, “you have to listen.” There are four forms of communication: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Despite all the training and education we receive to learn how to speak, read, and write well, practical listening is where most leaders miss the mark. As the old saying goes, the key here is to seek first to understand, then to be understood.
The Impact of AI on Vendor Bid Submissions
Lance learned early in his career that one will get left behind if one is not constantly learning and adaptive. In the last 12 to 14 months, AI has increased exponentially and is being incorporated into many different things. As a city, Denver General Services has many vendors now using AI to submit their bids.
It is necessary to look at the bids and determine if they were AI-generated versus the vendor doing the work. So, many of those old-school procurement practices are still valid, but there is a need to pivot and shift how things are done to be either more technology-savvy with AI or incorporate it into the business. Because things are moving quickly, they will get left behind if one isn’t agile.
Strategies for Managing Time and Energy
For Lance, managing time and energy to maintain productivity and personal well-being comes down to setting clear expectations for oneself. For him. it is not so much about balance as that implies a trade-off (essentially a time management equation). Early in his hospitality career, a mentor shared advice that he still uses today: “Work needs to be a part of life, not the meaning of it. You must be 100% present at home and work.” As a result, he prefers to look at it as work-life harmony, where work is incorporated into the rest of life in a way that promotes happiness at home and in the office.
He established some personal non-negotiable: Be present through established boundaries, set priorities, and (most importantly) seek support when needed.
- Be present by setting clear boundaries: Ensuring full engagement with tasks and activities, making the most intricate decisions first thing in the morning when at his best. Then, putting work responsibilities out of mind when off the clock. He uses technology to enforce these boundaries to hold himself accountable, such as setting ‘do not disturb’ modes on devices after hours.
- Set priorities: Establishing goals and priorities for work and home helps him focus on tasks that provide satisfaction, happiness, and a sense of accomplishment. To hold himself accountable, he ensures time in the day for regular exercise, adequate sleep, and, most importantly, healthy eating.
- Seek support: Passion for work is essential, but no one can do it alone. An intense work and home support network can provide much-needed advice and emotional support. Do not hesitate to seek help when required.
Staying Ahead of Industry Trends
According to Lance, networking, especially with the small business community, is essential to staying ahead of industry trends and ensuring Denver General Services remains competitive and innovative in its procurement processes. Getting out there and talking with industry partners, vendors, and the community is essential. These groups provide key insights into what is on the horizon. Anyone who thinks they can do it alone misses a valuable opportunity.
Growth as Individuals and Collaborators
Looking back, the most rewarding aspect of his career in procurement, and what motivates him to continue growing in this field, is watching the team grow as individual participants and collaborators.
Leadership Advice for Aspiring Professionals
As a leader, Lance advises professionals aspiring to follow a similar path in procurement and operations management to embrace continuous learning and remain open to feedback and criticism, as it ensures consistent personal and professional development. In the workplace, the best advice he can give is to master soft skills, as it can be a noteworthy differentiator and set a young professional apart from the competition. With a focus on effective communication and leadership, developing these competencies is crucial for career advancement. The path forward is shaped by personal ambition, strategic planning, and openness to learning.
Preparing for the Next Chapter in Procurement
Although Lance is many years away from retirement, the next chapter of his career will involve giving back to the industry and teaching the next generation of procurement professionals. He will utilize his several decades of operational experience in conjunction with his master’s degree in Adult Learning.
