Lessons from Mentoring a Junior Procurement Professional: How It Made Me Better

When I first agreed to mentor a junior procurement professional, I thought I was the one doing the teaching.

I expected to share knowledge, guide decisions and help someone else grow in their career.

What I didn’t expect was how much I would learn in the process.

Mentoring turned out to be one of the most eye-opening experiences of my professional journey not because I had all the answers, but because it forced me to rethink how I communicate, lead and approach procurement itself.

Understanding the Experience

Mentoring is often seen as a one-way transfer of knowledge. But in reality, it’s a two-way exchange.

While you guide someone else’s growth, you also gain fresh perspectives on your own habits, blind spots and assumptions.

From experience, mentoring doesn’t just develop others, it refines you. Here are some lessons I learned:

↗️ Lesson 1: I would explain sourcing strategies or negotiation approaches, only to realize I was using jargon or skipping important foundational steps.

Insight: Simplifying complex ideas improves your own clarity. If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t fully understand it.

↗️ Lesson 2: My mentee would ask “basic” questions about RFQs, supplier selection, or contract terms, things I hadn’t consciously explained in years.

Insight: Revisiting fundamentals strengthens your expertise. The basics are often where strong procurement practices are built.

↗️ Lesson 3: I found myself rushing explanations at first, only to realize the mentee needed time to process and ask follow-up questions.

Insight: Slow down. Listening more and speaking less often leads to better learning outcomes for both parties.

↗️ Lesson 4: Questions like “Why do we always follow this approval route?” made me reconsider whether some processes were truly necessary or just traditional habits.

Insight: Fresh perspectives can highlight inefficiencies you’ve stopped noticing. So stay open to questioning the “why” behind your processes.

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