A New CPO Facing a Matrix With Two Bosses
Anika Rahman has just joined Fenwick Retail, a FTSE 250 grocer, as CPO. Procurement has 120 staff across five hubs and a £3.2bn third-party spend. The CEO expects £75m of savings over three years. Year one delivered £12m against a £25m target, and the function's engagement score is 41%, against a company average of 68%. Category managers report to hub heads and to the centre in a matrix that staff describe as 'two bosses, no decisions'. Voluntary turnover among category managers is 38%; two critical supplier negotiations are being run by interim contractors. Business unit directors bypass procurement for urgent buys, and only 22% of spend goes through a competitive process. The board wants a transformation plan, but the CFO is wary of restructuring costs and the HR director warns that a redundancy programme would worsen engagement.
1. Diagnose the leadership and operating-model problems. What would you prioritise in your first 100 days?
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The symptoms point to unclear decision rights, a savings target without a delivery model, a weak talent pipeline and low psychological safety. Engagement at 41% and turnover at 38% are leading indicators of failed change, not a morale problem to be fixed with a communications campaign.
First 100 days: (1) agree a written mandate with the CEO and CFO covering what procurement decides, what it influences and how savings are defined; (2) map and baseline the £3.2bn spend, validating the £75m target; (3) resolve the two-boss problem with a RACI: hub heads own delivery, category leads own strategy and supplier negotiation; (4) listen in all five hubs and run a talent and risk review, including the interim-dependent negotiations; (5) secure two or three credible quick wins with business units; (6) pause public restructuring talk until the model is designed.
Avoid a redundancy programme first. Use vacancies, redeployment and capability plans. Set a 12-month scorecard: spend under management, competitive coverage, savings quality, engagement and turnover. The first leadership task is to create one decision system, not another layer.
2. Propose how to redesign the operating model and build capability without a damaging redundancy programme.
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Design a centre-led operating model: category strategy and standards at the centre; sourcing execution in hubs or clusters; transactional buying in a shared service; and a small centre of excellence for data, contracts and supplier risk. Clarify roles through a RACI and give each category one accountable owner.
Build capability with a skills matrix, category academies, coaching and rotation. Retain scarce negotiators with career paths, not only pay. Address turnover by fixing the matrix and workload before blaming individuals. Use a redeployment pool and natural attrition to reduce duplication, moving hub buyers into category or contract roles.
Set performance contracts with hub directors that include savings and compliance, and give them a service-level agreement from procurement. Measure spend under management, competitive coverage, cycle time, savings quality, engagement and retention. Risks: centralisation slows local response; mitigate with thresholds and a fast-track route. The CFO's caution is valid: sequence capability first and structure second.