“If I had more time, I’d learn more”

Ninian Wilson on why businesses should value people development

“Would you let someone drive a car for you if they didn’t have a driving licence? You just wouldn’t do that, right?”

That’s how Ninian Wilson, Global Supply Chain Director at Vodafone and CEO of Vodafone Procure & Connect, responds when asked why training is essential.

“There’s a great quote based on a discussion between a CEO and CFO,” he says. “The CFO says: ‘What happens if we train our staff and they leave?’ To which the CEO replies: ‘What happens if we don’t and they stay?’ Essentially, you’re worse off if you don’t do it.”

“We understand the direct connection between supplier collaboration and customer outcomes.”

Ninian Wilson, Global Supply Chain Director at Vodafone and CEO of Vodafone Procure & Connect

Training, Wilson explains, is not only a driver of performance but also a key factor in retention. “If you neglect it, people will eventually leave anyway.”

Here he talks to State of Flux about Vodafone’s support for people development, and how it works in the procurement and connectivity company he leads.

Mastering complexity

Vodafone has been undergoing a strategic shift as a business under the direction of Margherita Della Valle, who became CEO in 2023. The company is now focusing on operations in Europe and growth in emerging markets, particularly in Africa.

Vodafone Procure & Connect, which is headed by Wilson, operates as a standalone entity within the wider Vodafone organisation. It serves as a trusted supply chain and connectivity partner to some of the world’s largest businesses, managing €21 billion in annual procurement spend and more than £1.5 billion in roaming and voice trading, covering how it manages and negotiates international voice and call services.

Vodafone Procure & Connect employs more than 200 sourcing professionals and is supported by dedicated finance, HR and legal teams. All strategic operations are based and orchestrated from its Luxembourg HQ. It also has individuals based within the various operating companies.

In addition to heading up sourcing activity for all of Vodafone, Procure & Connect also supports external customers, particularly around network capabilities and indirect services.

The power of procurement: how supplier partnerships drive customer delight

While many companies overlook the potential of workforce development, it can be a powerful lever for competitive advantage.

A key area of focus for Vodafone Procure & Connect is SRM training. This equips employees to unlock greater value from supplier relationships. The investment reflects the company’s understanding of the direct connection between supplier collaboration and customer outcomes.

Vodafone places high importance on its net promoter scores (NPS), a key metric that reflects customer loyalty and satisfaction by measuring how likely customers are to recommend its products or services. These insights help businesses to understand customer sentiment and serve as a strategic compass for predicting future growth and guiding improvement investments.

Wilson explains how supplier partnerships play a direct role in shaping those outcomes. “Take our WiFi offerings as an example,” he says. “The better the capability, the better experience the customer has and that leads to a lower churn rate. So a better signal results in fewer lost customers.”

Procure & Connect uses NPS insights to assess levels of satisfaction and areas for improvement and collaborates with suppliers and partners to resolve issues that impact customer satisfaction. The goal isn’t just to meet expectations, it’s to exceed them.

“When we look at those scores,” Wilson adds, “we’re aiming for customer delight, not just customer satisfaction. A delighted customer becomes an advocate.”

Ultimately, Wilson sees a direct connection between supplier performance and customer satisfaction. “The quality of our products and services is rooted in the strength of our supplier partnerships. When those relationships thrive, so does the customer’s experience.”

“The quality of our products and services is rooted in the strength of our supplier partnerships.”

Employees at Vodafone often juggle dual roles, supporting internal Vodafone stakeholders and external customers. While the expertise required remains the same, the approach differs.

“You can challenge specifications more easily internally,” Wilson explains. “Externally, you need to be more thoughtful.”

It makes for some very complicated, interlinked strategic relationships, including those with household names such as Google and Microsoft, for whom Vodafone is both a customer and a supplier.

Wilson says that State of Flux SRM training, which it already offers employees, helps them navigate these partnerships because the way of working internally is subtly different to when you’re working for a customer.

“The training refreshes how individuals act, behave and work on strategic relationships. Those that are truly strategic are where you move from partners, sell to partners and jointly go to market with partners, and/or ask what a process is, what are the goals, and are there new things we will need to learn together to get there?”

And that is a process, he says.

Future ready

“We work with our HR colleagues to ring-fence some of that training capability so that we can allocate it to the priorities and future priorities of the function.”

Eighteen months ago, for instance, the company decided to build a central European logistics hub to take back a process that had previously been outsourced. That required ensuring that colleagues had capabilities around logistics and physical supply chain operations.

Vodafone linked up with Cranfield University to ensure staff had the know-how to deal with that new model. In preparation for the hub’s launch, the training programme has been running for around a year.

Elsewhere, Procure & Connect is running some dedicated training workshops around the implementation of AI within the supply chain and connectivity functions. It wanted to give staff time and space to experiment and become familiar with what AI can do, how it can be used, what is possible and, crucially too, what its limitations are. Failing to keep up to date with such an important and fast-growing area, such as AI, would present a risk to the business, says Wilson.

“All will be game-changing; there’s no question about it. So, we’ve got a responsibility to help our people get the training and development they need to position them, and us, for the future.”

“In some areas,” he says, “leaders need to accept that patience is required because the return on investment may not be immediately apparent. While some tactical training for skills such as negotiation may show immediate results and can be measured in monetary terms, SRM training may take a bit longer and is harder to measure. However, you still need to develop your team, whether results are immediate or not.”

Continuous development culture

In addition to offering staff opportunities to work-shadow senior leaders, and switch to other ‘ecosystems’ within the function, employees have access to an online training portal, Grow with Vodafone, that provides a rich choice of extra learning.

Growth with Vodafone includes everything from mandatory annual compliance-based tests and corporate training, to courses from the European Institute of Purchasing Management. Employees can also design their own training paths.

The company also tries to define a level of training and provide the chance for people to do it. “Businesses need to try to figure out how they give people time to learn,” he says.

Vodafone dedicates specific time for employees to further their personal growth and learning by offering employees time away from regular meetings to focus on activities that enhance their skills and knowledge.

“That’s when I explore tools like Microsoft Copilot or dive into online training,” says Wilson. “Development isn’t just for colleagues, it’s for everyone, and everyone is expected to take ownership of their own learning.”

He says he’s always pleased to see his leadership team engage in learning and share insights with their teams, since it helps to create an environment where continual learning is encouraged.

“A few years ago, we had a fantastic reverse mentoring programme led by our HR community,” he recalls. “They paired senior leaders with people who are part of the digital native generation, sharing with more senior members of the team how they see digital and the opportunities it affords. We called them ‘digital ninjas’, which I thought was great.”

For Wilson, the case for training is clear.

“I’m kind of a Ted Lasso-type,” he laughs. “I want people to be the best they can be, at work and in life. That means giving them time to grow.”

“Time is the rarest commodity,” he adds. “If I had more time, I’d learn more. You need discipline, desire and support. What time is protected, it shows the organisation values development, and we absolutely do.”

Why Vodafone Invests in People to Strengthen Supplier Partnerships