In the modern digital world, the focus is shifting towards solving problems through AI, digitalization, and automation. These tools liberate businesses from more operational tasks. However, amidst technological advancements and digital transformation, a fundamental truth remains steadfast: the basis of success lies in understanding and utilizing the power of human connection and collaboration across companies.
The person at the forefront of this shift is Mirko Kleiner, a Keynote Speaker, Author, Serial-Award Winner, Thought Leader & President LAP Alliance, and co-founder flowdays.net. With a diverse background spanning cultures and industries, Mirko’s journey underscores the central role of people in driving organizational success. Embracing the ethos of Agility, he has led initiatives to empower teams and foster a culture of innovation, culminating in innovative achievements that challenge conventional norms.
Mirko’s pioneering efforts lie with the Lean-Agile Procurement Alliance, an organization committed to reforming strategic sourcing on a global scale. Through innovative practices and a reliable commitment to collaboration, the alliance has gathered acclaim for its ability to deliver unique results in record time. As organizations both from public and private sector face increased complexity and uncertainty, Lean-Agile Procurement emerges as a ray of hope, offering a pathway to accelerated time-to-market and sustained success for all parties involved.
In this exclusive interview, Mirko shares his vision of embracing Agile principles to transform procurement!
Your bio emphasizes the importance of cultural exposure in shaping your perspective. How have your experiences in diverse cultures influenced your approach to entrepreneurship and leadership?
I’ve been lucky enough to meet people from different cultures all over the world. All my travels and business relationships have taught me that it’s always been and will always be about people! Today, we’re trying to reduce today’s problems to those that can be solved by AI, digitalization, or automation. Don’t get me wrong, these are powerful tools that will free us from more operational tasks. However, I’m a firm believer that creating a common ground of respect for each other’s cultural backgrounds and beliefs, including psychological safety, will unleash the power of innovation, co-creation, and adaptability needed to solve today’s problems.
Tell us a little bit about yourself. How have you ended up disrupting procurement?
As a former software vendor, we’ve scaled quickly to more than 200 employees and applied Agile working to our organization. This improved our satisfaction and lead times by more than 100%, not just in software delivery. From this experience, I decided to focus on people and their impact and co-founded flowdays.net, the Agile corporative in Switzerland and Germany.
Back in my days as a software vendor, I’d already realized that current procurement approaches weren’t designed to deal with uncertainty. Especially in software, a customer just knows what he wants when he sees it! – Try to specify and contract for such a scenario. 9 years ago, as Business Agility wasn’t yet a term, I reminded myself of this challenge and started to look around to see if there was a more Agile way of strategic procurement. There wasn’t!
Knowing nothing about procurement at the time, we started with the powerful question, “What if we only have one day?” and “How can Agile ways of working help us to close a strategic deal faster and with better outcomes?
Do you mean that your ambition was to create a new approach to strategic procurement where multi-million-dollar sourcing cases could be done in one day? I’m told that today it takes 6–12 months.
We’ve become famous for sourcing a new ERP system in just two days! – And yes, this would easily take 12 months using traditional strategic procurement. This sourcing case was recognized by Procurement Leaders and won the World Procurement Award 2020.
Wow, how was that possible in just two days?
Well, what would you do if there was a restriction of only two days? We’ve put everyone in one big room! – Imagine all relevant people from the buyer side together with key people from the shortlisted vendors in one room, simultaneously co-creating their proposals, solution designs and improving a draft of an Agile contract in parallel.
Of course, there’s more to it than that, which we’ve defined in Lean-Agile Procurement, the new global standard for strategic procurement.
Being recognized in “The Procurement Magazine,” receiving the CIPS Awards 2018, the Global Procurement Award 2020, and the WordCC Innovation & Excellence Awards 2023 are notable achievements. What do these accolades mean to you, and how do they validate your contributions to the fields of Agile and Procurement?
First, I’m grateful for the great people and organizations that have had the courage to try Lean-Agile Procurement – something disruptively different. It’s more their achievement than mine. For the global movement, publicity is very welcome because it acts as a catalyst. It’s our goal to get more people to know about a new tool in their toolbox.
Congratulations on your new book, “Lean-Agile Procurement: How to Get Twice the Value in Half the Time.” What struck me, apart from the incredible speed, was that you wrote that it’s less about savings and more about impact. Could you please expand on that?
Indeed, or as Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, recently said, “Speed is the new currency for business.
Procurement could also be seen as an investor for the company or government.”. To deal with the uncertainty and complexity in strategic procurement we have to act more with an angel investor mindset. We want to invest in the most promising hypotheses first, with the intention of a quick return. Imagine a strategic sourcing case that is worth spending $100 million on.
Would an investor ever spend all at once? No! But that’s exactly what we do in todays procurements. Instead, 10% would be invested to test the market and our hypotheses. This startup/investor mindset is good for business and procurement because it fosters a culture of quick impact or quick return. This goes back to the 20/80 Pareto principle that we all know. On the other hand, cost and negotiation become less important.
We need the best people and the best product within the given budget to be as fast as possible. Because when we reach our market window, it could be billions over a few dollars for a discount.
You’re also a global keynote speaker, which showcases your commitment to sharing knowledge and fostering collaboration. How do these engagements enrich your own learning and development as a professional?
I love to inspire audiences with our stories from all industries, both public and private. It is in my DNA to share knowledge with other communities. I have spoken globally at conferences and internal leadership workshops in areas such as leadership, supply chain management, ecosystems, procurement, sales, legal, commercial, and sustainability.
As the world becomes more complex and interdependent, I’m a strong believer that we also need to connect the different communities, professions, etc.
What are the latest trends in procurement, and where are you yourself pushing the boundaries now?
I could repeat all the latest trends, such as AI, ESG, Diversity, Circular Economy, etc., but honestly, I’m more focused on how we can incorporate all these new topics into our day-to-day ways of working. People in commercial roles already have a lot on their plate, and with each new trend, it gets more.
I recently told the head of sustainability that the organization doesn’t become more sustainable just by introducing a new function!
To establish sustainability for the organization, it must become a capability.
Lean-Agile Procurement gives some answers on how all of these topics could be incorporated and scaled. Therefore, we are also supporting organizations in their Agile Transformation in commercial roles.
Furthermore, we are taking Business Agility to the next level by incorporating strategic partners in Agile adoption. Similar to Lean, most businesses are dependent on their suppliers and partners, so all of them have to become Agile.
Your current focus on topics like De-Scaled Business Agility and Adaptive Partner Ecosystems sounds intriguing. Could you provide some insights into these areas and their potential impact on businesses in today’s dynamic environment?
I was once involved in a huge program with over 20 teams that had been going on for two years. I asked about the business objectives and the required skills. We ended up with two cross-capability teams that delivered 80% of the scope in 4 weeks. In other words, we need to de-scale even so-called Agile organizations and directly involve third parties.
With Lean-Agile Procurement we’ve learned that maximum speed can be achieved when the boundaries of the company become fluid and the people with the necessary expertise can work together without unnecessary bureaucrazy.
Over the last nine years, we’ve seen the emergence of various movements such as Agile Leadership, Extreme Manufacturing, AI, 3D-printing, Scaling Agile, LeanAgile Procurement, etc. As a result, we’ll be able to build a multi-party Adaptive Partner Ecosystem in hours and days rather than months and years.
What’s more, if we start to apply Agile values based on a win-win culture, we have the chance to even develop a more fair economy where ecosystems become the new supply chains to solve today’s problems faster together.
In conclusion, do you have any tips or recommendations to share with our readers?
Remember, it’s always about people. You’ll find the solutions together. So, build the necessary trust and share your goals, concerns, etc., openly. It’s never about a new approach, framework, or tool. Think like an angel investor and try to solve today’s problems instead.
