Supplier Teams: CPG Special Forces (OPINION)

Sometimes it is easy to forget that supplier teams, whose primary focus is servicing the needs of the world’s largest retailers, grocers or home improvement stores, are the Special Forces of the consumer products industry.

Greg Foran, CEO of the U.S. division of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., told suppliers at a series of meetings in February that they needed to have their “best and brightest” talent calling on Walmart. He said the retailer is looking to suppliers for shared innovations and insight, and that will require the most talented professionals be seated at the table. 

Recognizing oneself as part of this group has nothing to do with ego or arrogance and has everything to do with training, preparation, discipline and execution.

Consider what it takes to become a member of a U.S. Army Special Forces unit: nine weeks of boot camp; nine weeks of basic combat training; four weeks of advanced individual training; three weeks at the U.S. Army Airborne School; a four-week Special Operations Preparation Course, which includes physical training and land navigation; and three weeks of Special Forces Assessment and Selection, survival training.

Only 10 percent of candidates make the cut at this point. Up next is a 34–76-week Special Forces Qualification Course, and, depending upon the specialty, candidates might then undergo language and cultural training, Military Operations Specialty training and unconventional warfare/collective training.

During this time in the training process, the number of candidates usually decreases by about half. Then, depending on your specialty, you might have 14–18 months of Live Environment Training in foreign countries.

In the military and in business, we go to great lengths to ensure the team we bring together is well-trained, disciplined and prepared for the task at hand, because we know what’s at stake. We don’t send in the rookies to handle high-stakes engagements. We walk alongside them as they take on increasingly challenging assignments to ensure their preparedness.

Like the military Special Forces, those chosen to work with Walmart have every reason to be proud to serve on a team where the stakes can literally make or break your company. A lot is expected of you. You expect a lot of yourself, your colleagues, your support system and your team members.

You should have confidence in your training and preparation, but, at the same time, there is no room for arrogance or elitism. The focus should, instead, be on executing the mission. 

While it is a daunting task to become a member of such a team, there are also several skills and character traits required to be a leader of such a team. The skills include hiring right, or getting the right people on the team, establishing clear goals and expectations, holding the team accountable for performance and encouraging them to hold one another accountable, managing conflict, developing talent, and engaging in the courageous conversations required to keep such a team functioning. 

Courage is one of the essential character traits of effective leaders of such teams. That is where many leaders fail. They know what to do, but lack the courage to do it. 

Anyone interested in doing business with Walmart should ask these questions:

• Do I have the skills to be a member of or to lead a high-performance team?

• Does our team view itself as the Special Forces arm for our company?

• Am I doing the work and practicing the disciplines required of a Special Force team member or leader?

• Has our team adopted the disciplines that will ensure our success at this level?

• Do I know how to take this group of high-performing individuals and turn it into a high-performing team?

• Are we achieving the results expected at this level?

• Have we developed talent-management strategies required to find and prepare the right people for this work?

• Do I have the heart of a mentor who can help high-potential professionals to achieve their dreams of being part of our high-performance team?

Tony Hawk is an executive coach and owner of Resources for Leading, (www.resourcesforleading.com) an organizational development firm in Bentonville. He can be reached at [email protected] or by calling 479-366-7692.