Qantas CPO Jane Harley: Building procurement capability through transformation #wpc

Qantas recently went through a major business transformation to be able to compete in the competitive airline industry. In her keynote at the WPC in London, CPO Jane Harley talked about how she and her procurement team supported the business throughout this challenging time.

Quantas is not only Australia’s largest airline, but also a company that operates in a low-margin industry where cost is constantly top of mind. In order to maintain and ensure air competitiveness, the company had to embark on a major business transformation in 2013/2014. Jane Harley, the company’s CPO and artist in her spare time, talked about how she managed to develop and nurture good procurement talent during this crucial time.

• Collaboration is key to transformation. A centre-led procurement organisation, Harley and her team had to come to a definition of value first. “There is a difference between what ‘good’ and what ‘great’ means,” Harley highlighted. “It can be anything from cost savings, operational improvement, all the way to revenue generation.” Once this definition was established, Harley and her team sat down with their business partners to understand their needs and as part of that, they came to understand what they were mostly interested in: for procurement to work alongside them, to take ownership, and to deliver to their timeline. This collaboration effort also took place in a more physical sense with procurement hot-desking with its business partners and changing the business language (to reinforce positive outcomes).

• Always transform to be agile (not to a certain situation). As part of the transformation journey, Harley made it a priority to streamline processes by agreeing on what is most important (and yet simple) first, and then educating business partners on these changes. Once critical outcome was the first ever category council which was established in 2013.

 

• Invest in building capabilities beyond procurement because procurement is a business skill. Harley invested in a range of talent development activities by ensuring the basics are covered. But equally important, she made it a point to complement technical skills with building managerial responsibilities.  “Throughout this transformation, as challenging as it was, we were able to retain our talent, and it was because we were able to offer diverse and impactful development opportunities,” Harley concluded.

Qantas’ transformation has resulted in a range of operational improvements and customer service innovations (such as seasonal flying, partnering with Emirates and expanding its hub footprint, as well as introducing a more effective and higher-quality meal service). And Harley now observes three behaviours in her talent: 1) passion for the business, 2) the drive to achieve results, and 3) curiosity.

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