From Hot Potato To Hidden Asset: Transforming Your Impossible Category

"I don't think influence is possible for me in my role. My stakeholders are just too controlling, they won’t let me in. And it’s always been this way in this category.”

I’ve been doing a fair bit of Procurement team coaching recently and this was the raw admission from a Category Manager in one of these sessions.

They'd been assigned the "hot potato" category…you know the one. The stakeholder relationship so challenging that it gets passed around until it lands with someone who can't say no, or it gets handed to a newcomer. Talk about a baptism of fire!

I massively relate to this. I once stepped into a role that a senior leader cheerfully described to me as "all the s*** that nobody wants." At the time, I thought they were joking. They weren't. in the first few weeks of working in the role, I was thanked regularly for continuing to turn up to work. They knew the struggle I faced in getting people on board. But we got there eventually (many twists and turns along the way). I appreciated their humour by the way – they were incredibly supportive and always advocated for me when I wasn’t in the room.

The Hot Potato Reality

Most Procurement teams have at least one: a category that makes people shudder (or switch off) when it comes up in team meetings. The stakeholder relationships that somehow never quite fit anyone else's portfolio, that get reassigned because they're "too complex," "too political," or "too powerful" to handle.

The departments who want to control every sourcing decision and supplier relationship. The department heads who bypass Procurement processes entirely.

And there you are - assigned to manage what feels less like strategic category management and more like stakeholder damage control.

The Isolation Trap

Here's what I often see happen next: 

Your teammates are building supplier partnerships, developing category strategies, influencing stakeholders toward better outcomes. Meanwhile, you're managing relationships where every conversation feels like justifying Procurement's existence.

While your colleagues talk about collaborative stakeholder sessions and successful spend analytics presentations, you're dealing with stakeholders who want you to "just get the contract done" and question why they need a Category Manager at all.

You can't relate to their experience, and they can't relate to yours.

Your teammates share wins from strategic category reviews and supplier innovation sessions. You're thinking, "My stakeholders would never sit through that - they barely tolerate our monthly check-ins."

You start questioning whether this role, this company, or even Procurement, is for you.

Why This Matters Beyond Just Career Confusion

This hot potato isolation goes beyond being uncomfortable - it fundamentally undermines Procurement team effectiveness:

• Your professional confidence erodes as you start believing real category management isn't possible in your context
• Team knowledge sharing breaks down because your experiences feel irrelevant to theirs and vice versa
• Strategic opportunities are missed because hot potato categories often represent significant spend or risk
• The entire team's strategic capability stagnates because Category Managers are working in silos.

The Hidden Opportunity in Hot Potato Categories

But here's a reframe that changes everything:

Your hot potato category is the advanced training ground...not the worst category.

That controlling executive who wants to micromanage everything you do? You're learning how to maintain strategic thinking under intense scrutiny.

That department head who bypasses processes? You're developing skills in rebuilding trust and demonstrating value to skeptical audiences.

These aren't consolation prizes - they're advanced procurement competencies that every Category Manager will eventually need.

Three Strategies to Transform Your Hot Potato Experience

1. Document Your Influence Experiments

Keep track of what you try with difficult stakeholders - what works, what fails, and why. This isn't just for you; it's creating a playbook for when your teammates face similar challenges (and in turn it will develop your leadership skills).

2. Create Peer Coaching Sessions

Share your stakeholder challenges with your team - not for sympathy, but for collaborative problem-solving. Often, techniques that work with "easy" stakeholders can be adapted for difficult ones.

3. Reframe Your Role Internally

You're not the Category Manager who got stuck with the impossible assignment. You're the Category Manager developing the advanced stakeholder management skills that will make you invaluable.

For Procurement Leaders: Supporting Your Hot Potato Category Manager

If you're leading a team where someone is handling the challenging categories, here's how you can help them thrive rather than just survive:

Acknowledge the reality. Don't pretend their stakeholder challenges are the same as everyone else's. Recognise that they're dealing with a fundamentally different level of difficulty and that this requires different support. Acknowledging that goes a long way with your team member.

Develop coaching skills (your own and that of your team member) Hot potato categories require advanced influence and coaching capabilities. Provide training in stakeholder influence, difficult conversation navigation, and conflict resolution. They're essential tools for their success – not just nice-to-have soft skills. Invest in your own coaching skills to support them in their growth and resilience.

Regularly remind them of their value to the team. They're developing resilience, advanced negotiation skills, and the ability to work with resistant stakeholders. Make sure they understand how these capabilities benefit the entire team's development.

Create learning opportunities for the broader team. Use their experiences as case studies to help other team members build their own difficult stakeholder management skills. This transforms their challenges into team development opportunities.

Don't let them carry it alone. Check in regularly, not just about their project status, but about how they're managing the relationship dynamics. Sometimes they need to debrief, strategise, or simply be reminded that the stakeholder difficulty isn't a reflection of their capabilities.

Influencing Up the Chain

Here's where your leadership really matters: Don't just support your Category Manager - actively influence the broader organisational dynamics that create these hot potato situations.

Reframe the narrative with senior leadership. Instead of accepting that certain categories are "impossible," help your leadership team understand that these relationships indicate systemic issues that need addressing, not personnel to be shuffled around.

Advocate for your team member's professional development. When senior leaders see someone "handling the difficult stuff," they often pigeonhole them into always being the person who gets the tough assignments. Push back. Highlight their strategic capabilities, not just their crisis management skills.

Create visibility for their strategic wins. Hot potato categories can involve high-stakes, high-visibility outcomes. Make sure when your Category Manager achieves results in these challenging environments, the broader organisation understands the skill and strategic thinking required.

Protect their career trajectory. Ensure they're not forever typecast as the person who "handles the difficult relationships." Create opportunities for them to work on strategic, collaborative projects where their advanced influence skills can shine in more positive contexts.

The Mindset Shift

Every Category Manager will eventually face stakeholders who are difficult, controlling, or sceptical of Procurement's value. The difference is that you're learning these skills now, in real-time and these skills will serve you in the long-term.

Stop seeing your hot potato category as evidence you're not cut out for strategic Procurement. Start seeing it as proof you can do strategic Procurement in the toughest conditions.

How Coaching For Procurement Ltd Can Help

Coaching For Procurement Ltd offers a full suite of coaching solutions designed to empower and support Procurement leaders and their teams; from Procurement team coaching through to ILM qualifications using the unique P.R.O.C.U.R.E® coaching methodology and frameworks, as well as 1:1 coaching. We work together on your inner game at these pivotal moments of your Procurement journey.

If you would like to explore how my coaching programmes can help you to have a greater impact as a Procurement leader, please reach out to find out more: www.coachingforprocurement.co.uk/contact-me