Helping "them" communicate with "us"

There is a general perception that Government and public sector bodies do not understand the commercial world.

But the reality (as in so many cases) is rather different. During our recent programme of commercial contract and negotiation workshops for the Department of Work and Pensions, I've met some incredibly competent, bright and switched-on people. They're creative, pragmatic and surprisingly willing to see the world from a commercial viewpoint.

One of the exercises in the workshop splits the delegates into two teams - essentially a supplier and a buyer - and pits them against each other in a negotiation role play. Although there were lots of groans about doing role play, the delegates quickly got into the spirit of the thing. And those playing the part of the supplier rapidly picked up the issues that would be of concern to a company offering products or services to a Government organisation, and negotiated their corner eloquently and effectively.

The purpose of this post is not to flatter our client (although they are lovely!). The point I wanted to draw from these observations is that even non-commercial teams have people within them capable of developing good commercial skills, to the great benefit of their organisations and suppliers alike. There is a tendency to see buyers of services and products (particularly public sector or technical buyers) as "them", a group of beings quite different to "us", the suppliers. But with a little encouragement, "they" can learn "our" language, enabling both supplier and client to communicate their requirements more effectively and build more productive commercial relationships.

Sending senior (i.e. very busy!) non-commercial staff for training in contracts and negotiation in a commercial environment was not an obvious move, but illustrates a great deal of common sense on the part of the DWP. And I think it will pay huge dividends in the way these folks interact with the commercial entities that support their work on a daily basis, and the value that the Department (and, ultimately, the tax payer) realises from the various commercial relationships it enters into.