Breaking Free from the Operational Quicksand
Based on CPO Outlook 2025 Survey | 58 procurement leaders from 47 Nordic companies
EBG | Network asked procurement leaders a deceptively simple question – “If you could reinvent your role today to focus entirely on future value, what would you stop doing?” Their answers revealed something profound. This wasn’t a list of minor annoyances. It was a collective articulation of professional identity in transition. Procurement leaders naming the practices that no longer serve them, and in doing so, beginning to construct who they want to become.
The responses clustered around five clear themes, each representing practices that currently shape procurement’s organizational identity. What’s encouraging? When leaders collectively name what they’d stop, they’re socially constructing a new reality. One where these outdated practices lose their legitimacy. What’s revealing? The barriers aren’t just structural – they’re embedded in the daily practices through which procurement professionals enact their roles.
Anna Bjärkerud, founder of EBG | Network have a behavioral science focused Bachelor’s degree. She focused on how social construction can help explain resistance to organizational change. The following Open End Survey articles are analyzed through that lens.
The Five Things Procurement Leaders Would Stop Doing
1. Firefighting and Reactive Crisis Management
The Pattern
“Stop internal politics and run-on firefighting created by other functions”
“Stop reacting to deviations with changing priorities all the time”
“Stop band-aid fixes; start implementing more sustainable solutions”
The most prevalent theme was the exhausting cycle of reactive work. Constantly responding to urgent demands that prevent any strategic progress. Leaders described being pulled into crises manufactured elsewhere in the organization. Forced to solve problems that could have been prevented with better planning or process design.
Why This Matters
The survey data confirms this isn’t just perception – 62% of respondents cited resource overload as a top bottleneck. And 30% reported being stuck in constant crisis management mode. When procurement operates perpetually in firefighting mode, it cannot build the systems that would prevent future fires.
The Social Construction Insight
Firefighting isn’t just inefficient – it’s identity-shaping. When procurement professionals spend their days in crisis mode, they construct themselves (and are constructed by others) as “fixers” rather than strategists. The organizational narrative becomes “procurement solves urgent problems,” which then generates more urgent problems for procurement to solve. Breaking this cycle requires consciously enacting different practices – even when it feels uncomfortable – to reconstruct what “procurement work” means.
2. Unproductive Internal Processes and Politics
The Pattern
“Stop: Bickering over RACI* internally”
“Stop building committees and councils”
“Meetings and alignments not prepared and reviewed beforehand”
“Stop ineffective/unproductive meetings”
*A RACI chart is a project management tool that defines roles: Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed, to clarify responsibilities
Leaders expressed deep frustration with the administrative theater that consumes their calendars. Meetings without clear purpose, endless alignment discussions, internal turf battles over ownership, and process bureaucracy that exists more to cover organizational risk than to create value.
Why This Matters
When 36% of respondents cite collaboration friction with Sales, R&D, and Finance as a major bottleneck, it points to deeper organizational silos. The procurement leaders aren’t asking to avoid stakeholder engagement – quite the opposite. They want to STOP meaningless coordination overhead so they can START genuine value-creating partnerships.
The Social Construction Insight
Meetings and coordination processes aren’t neutral. They’re rituals through which organizational reality is constructed and maintained. When procurement’s primary interactions with stakeholders are approval meetings and RACI debates, these practices construct procurement as a “control function” rather than a value partner. Leaders want to stop these rituals not because they’re inefficient, but because they construct the wrong professional identity. Different practices – collaborative problem-solving sessions, joint planning, co-creation workshops – would construct procurement as strategic partners. This is why EBG | Network was founded. Creating meeting spaces where new professional identities and relationships can be constructed through different forms of interaction.
3. Manual Transactional Work
The Pattern
“Stop doing the operative tasks, like manual orders, correcting invoices”
“Stop managing P2P and automate it”
“Stop operationally run tendering”
“Low value administration”
Leaders want to escape the tactical transactional work that AI and automation should be handling. They described spending precious time on invoice corrections, manual order placement, administrative approvals, and routine tender management – work that adds little value but consumes enormous capacity.
Why This Matters
The survey shows 47% face pressure to automate and reduce costs, yet 62% are trapped in resource overload. This is the paradox: leaders know automation would free them, but they lack the time to implement it because they’re drowning in manual work. It’s a trap that requires external intervention to escape.
The Social Construction Insight
The work we do shapes who we are. When procurement professionals spend their time correcting invoices and placing manual orders, they enact – and therefore become – administrative processors. This daily practice constructs their professional identity, regardless of their job titles or strategic aspirations. Automation isn’t just about efficiency; it’s about identity transformation. By removing these practices from procurement’s daily reality, we create space for new practices (strategic analysis, supplier innovation, risk foresight) that construct a different professional identity. You become what you do, repeatedly.
4. False Control and Bureaucratic Theater
The Pattern
“Stop having to explain myself continuously to non-Procurement people who seem to control my budget”
“Stop corporate bureaucracy and the false sense of control”
“Reduce number of meetings, streamline communications with leadership to speed up decision making”
Leaders expressed frustration with organizational control mechanisms that create the appearance of governance without actual value. This includes excessive justification of decisions to non-experts, multilayered approval processes, reporting that nobody reads, and communications overhead that slows execution.
Why This Matters
When 42% report budget and headcount freezes, procurement often faces heightened scrutiny from stakeholders who don’t understand the function’s strategic value. This creates defensive bureaucracy – layers of justification designed to protect decisions rather than drive outcomes.
The Social Construction Insight
Control mechanisms aren’t just bureaucratic. They’re performances through which power relationships and organizational roles are enacted and maintained. When procurement must continuously justify decisions to non-experts, this ritual constructs procurement as subordinate, requiring permission rather than exercising expertise. The practice creates the reality. Leaders want to stop these rituals because they construct the wrong power dynamics. Trust-based accountability would construct procurement differently – as experts whose judgment is valued. Changing the practice changes the relationship, which changes the identity.
5. Short-Term Thinking and Misaligned Incentives
The Pattern
“Stop being tactical only. Start to increase the forward looking strategic perspective”
“Prioritizing between own strategy work and initiatives/requirements coming from rest of organization or world”
“Stop involvement in P2P only”
“Unnecessary administration and double work”
Leaders described being trapped in short-term tactical horizons when they know long-term strategic work is needed. They’re asked to optimize quarterly spend while neglecting supplier relationship development, process system investments, and market intelligence that would create sustainable value.
Why This Matters
The survey reveals that 55% are evolving toward cross-functional collaboration models. And 41% toward process-driven approaches – but these transformations require long-term investment. When organizations demand immediate results while also demanding transformation, they get neither.
The Social Construction Insight
Organizational time horizons aren’t objective facts – they’re socially constructed through the practices we enact. When procurement engages primarily in quarterly cost reduction initiatives, short-term reactive sourcing, and annual contract renewals, these practices construct a short-term organizational reality. Time horizons are created by what we measure, discuss, and reward. Leaders want to start long-term strategic work not just because it’s “better,” but because engaging in long-term practices would reconstruct procurement’s temporal identity. From tactical responder to strategic architect. The practices we engage in today construct the future we inhabit tomorrow.
The Glass Half Full Perspective
Here’s what’s genuinely encouraging about these responses: Leaders are remarkably aligned on what’s not working. There’s no confusion about the barriers – the diagnosis is clear and consistent. This creates an opportunity.
When asked what they’d stop, leaders aren’t complaining about inherent procurement challenges or market conditions beyond their control. They’re identifying organizational design problems that are, in principle, solvable:
- Firefighting can be reduced through better process design and preventive systems
- Meeting overhead can be cut through clearer decision rights and communication protocols
- Manual work can be automated with focused technology investment
- False control can be replaced with trust-based accountability
- Short-term pressure can be balanced with strategic metrics
The fact that leaders see these problems so clearly suggests they also see the solutions. The challenge isn’t intellectual – it’s organizational and behavioral.
What This Means for Transformation
If you’re a procurement leader reading these patterns and nodding in recognition, you’re not alone. The majority of your peers face identical friction. But here’s the critical question: Are you waiting for organizational reality to change? Or are you actively constructing a new reality through different practices?
Social constructionism tells us that organizational change doesn’t come from new strategies or org charts. It comes from different daily practices that reconstruct professional identity and relationships:
Practices That Construct New Realities:
- Automate one painful process
Removing manual work doesn’t just save time – it removes identity-shaping practices that construct procurement as administrative. Prove that different work creates different identity. - Replace one meeting with collaborative problem-solving
Don’t just kill the meeting. Replace it with a practice that constructs partnership rather than gatekeeping. Track how the relationship shifts. - Protect strategic work time
Blocking time for long-term projects isn’t scheduling – it’s enacting a different temporal identity. Measure how this practice reconstructs what “procurement work” means. - Change how you talk about the work
Language constructs reality. Stop saying “we need to reduce cost” and start saying “we’re building resilient supplier ecosystems.” Notice how the narrative shift changes what becomes possible.
These aren’t just efficiency improvements – they’re identity reconstruction projects. Each practice change is an act of constructing a different procurement reality. And when leaders collectively articulate what they’d stop, as they did in this survey, they’re already beginning that reconstruction process. Naming creates reality.
Connecting to Part 2: What to START Doing
The leaders who described what they’d stop didn’t stop there. They also articulated what they’d start – and those responses reveal a profession ready to step into its strategic potential.
Continue to Part 2: “What Leaders Would Start Doing Tomorrow” to see the positive vision for procurement’s future.
Key Survey Findings Referenced:
- 62% cite resource overload as a top bottleneck
- 30% experience constant crisis management
- 36% face collaboration friction with other functions
- 47% face pressure to automate and reduce cost
- 42% report budget and headcount freezes
- 55% evolving toward cross-functional collaboration
- 41% shifting to process-driven approaches
This analysis is part of the CPO Outlook 2025 report, based on insights from 58 procurement leaders across 47 Nordic companies. Conducted September-November 2025.
Continue the Conversation with EBG | Network
Professional identity is constructed through interaction. For 15 years, EBG | Network has created spaces where procurement professionals come together to practice strategic thinking, build meaningful relationships, and collectively construct procurement’s future.
This isn’t just networking – it’s identity work. Through peer dialogue, workshop participation, and collaborative learning, procurement professionals enact the strategic identity they’re becoming.
Join the Community:
- Attend CPO Outlook and EBG | Xperience events where new practices can be practiced and legitimized
- Participate in roundtable discussions exploring strategic procurement challenges
- Connect with Nordic peers who are on the same transformation journey
- Access insights and research that inform your strategic decisions
The insight from 15 years ago remains true today: organizational change happens through different forms of interaction. When procurement professionals gather to learn, share, and build together, they construct the future of the profession.
Contact: anna(at)ebgnetwork.com
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