Lessons from 25 episodes

The Procurement Conversation published its 25th episode this week on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and I thought I'd have a look back over the key learnings from the past series of "Big Conversations".

We've also recently launched on YouTube with video editions as well.

Overall - there are some fantastic professionals out there, working to improve the profile and perception of Procurement across industry.

Business partnering and close alignment to stakeholders was a key theme, being innovative and creative to solve challenges of prioritising work with limited resources was another, and developing and retaining great people is a constant challenge for all leaders. I gained some great insights talking with great leaders on all these points.

Listen to series 2: CPO Conversations for more on this.

Some more specific lessons from the latest series are:

Jim Townsend - CPO procuretech secrets

Listen to Episode here

• Jim has been there and done it - and has some great lessons for any leader who is looking to implement tech (plus for the firms that create it as well)
• Procurement leaders have multiple priorities - tech must deliver something special and painful to be prioritised.
• Don't assume that the exec will not be interested in procurement tech - if there's a good business case then they will be.

A short clip from this episode:

What 2024 means for Procurement with Tom Mills

Listen to Episode here

• Bringing in non-Procurement people will move the profession on and are the future.
• Getting the balance right of much we focus on cost now versus ESG later.

Delivering Multi-million savings in your contingent workforce with Mark Coulson (MCIPS)

Listen to episode here

• Changes are coming to IR35 in April that will be a game changer for businesses in the UK
• Many companies have taken a blanket approach which sees them paying much more than they need to for the same resource in the majority of cases.
• Spend has also gone offshore to avoid the risk or to management consultancies which increases spend.
• Depending on your level of contractor spend, the opportunity in reviewing this category is massive.

Procurement Super Skills with Barry Holmes

Listen to episode here

• Soft skills - or "Super Skills" are a multiplier that increase the effectiveness of your technical skills, delivering greater output for the same effort
• They are easy to learn and will have a tremendous affect on your career progression and are even more relevant as you get further along into leadership roles.
• Skills complement each other - your ability to solve problems will be supported by your ability to communicate, be data minded, have a great network and be creative.

The Gender Problem with Mary Ann Sieghart , Sharon Morris and Laura Scarfe MCIPS Chartered

Listen to part 1 here

Listen to part 2 here

• Whilst equality has improved, women make up 25% of leadership positions in the UK and are paid 25% less than their male counterparts on average
• Mary Ann (part 2) talks about the societal role in promoting this inequality.
• The "Procurement Stereotype" that may see more male leaders hired than female
• Strategies organisations can implement to ensure equal access to career development opportunities for women in Procurement
• That women of colour are further discriminated against.

Dodgy Data with Natasha Brown and Susan Walsh

Listen to episode here

• AI is not necessarily the answer to solve bad data
• Soft skills are needed to influence data owners in other parts of the business to give procurement clean data
• Susan's key steps to cleaning bad data.

Talent Wars with Martin Smith and Ben Paynter

Listen to episode here

• Confusion over procurement job titles and job descriptions
• Which teams are getting hiring talent right and what are they doing?
• Are there many truly strategic teams out there or are many just talking a good game?

Make sure you listen, subscribe, rate and drop me a note if there's anything you would like to hear about.