Continuing education
One way procurement professionals can make their interactions with clients and other departments smoother is to learn about others' operations, either through additional education or even personnel swaps.
One thing that interests me as the instructor of a graduate-level introduction to public procurement course is a comment that most of the students who have never worked in a public procurement position make as they are finishing the course. Almost always they say something to the effect of, “Wow! I never realized that public procurement is such a complex, challenging and risky area of activity, or how critical professional, strategic procurement is to the...