The Marketing Procurement Podcast

4. Tips to close 2020 with purpose & set intentions for 2021

December 24, 2020
The Marketing Procurement Podcast
4. Tips to close 2020 with purpose & set intentions for 2021
Show Notes Transcript

2020 has been a challenging year at many level. Many of us realized there are things we take for granted and should rather cherish: Health, Family, Freedom of movement.
In this special context, closing this year purposefully is key.

This episode offer simple and actionable tips on how to wrap-up the year purposefully.

It will help you explore business, people and relationships. Let’s summarize key business achievements, highlight and promote the most important ones. Let’s assess Marketing Procurement organizational health using mutual surveys and giving/receiving feedback. Let’s also reach out to critical stakeholders in the Marketing organization to confirm that the right priorities are addressed with resources sufficiency.

It’s a powerful exercise to conduct at year end. It also helps setting intentions for 2021 checking alignment of priorities and plans with Marketing stakeholders. 
It also provides some pragmatic ideas and solutions that everyone can start testing in the last 2 weeks of the year.

I wish you and your family a Happy holiday season and a Healthy 2021.
Rate (5 stars) on Apple Podcasts, Review & Subscribe. Feel Free to invite others to join our Marketing Procurement Community.

Take care of yourself and take care of each other.
MAGID SOUHAMI LINKEDIN - https://www.linkedin.com/in/magid-souhami/ 

TIPS TO CLOSE 2020 WITH PURPOSE & SET INTENTIONS FOR 2021

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TEASER

I'd like to encourage everyone to take a bit of time to self reflect, at the end of the calendar year 2020 and think about things that are most important for you or your team. Usually, I break it down into three business people, and relationships

GENERIC

I'm Magid Souhami, a homegrown marketing procurement leader who turns president of a global business. Marketing procurement has gone mainstream but remains and unchartered misunderstood and sometimes undervalued. So this podcast aims at better codifying marketing procurement.

INTRODUCTION

Hello, marketing procurement family, 2020 has been a very special year for all of us, in many ways, I don't want us to wrap up the year talking about COVID, again, but I know it's on top of everyone's mind so I hope that wherever you are, you and your family, colleagues are safe and will be so for the year to come too. The good thing about the crisis is that it helps all of us to focus on priorities, whether it's family, relationships, our own health. It puts things into perspective and helps with priority settings. In the same way, I'd like to encourage everyone to take a bit of time to self reflect, at the end of the calendar year 2020 and think about things that are most important for you or your team. 

BUSINESS, PEOPLE & RELATIONSHIP

Usually, I break it down into three: business, people, and relationship. In short, business is about thinking about procurement KPIs and targets and the delta versus the marketing KPIs and target. People: Think about the organizational survey at the end of the year, getting feedback and giving feedback from your team, and also from your stakeholder, most importantly, an action plan coming out of it with specific owner deadlines and progress check is a really healthy way to close the year. It also helps with relationships within the team, marketing procurement covers a lot of categories, making sure that everybody has a clear understanding of who does what and what are the other team members doing, and what is their priorities. Also, across key stakeholders, with agencies and suppliers. So when you think about relationship, don't only think about internal ones, but also, most importantly the external ones, looking back at the year 2020 through the lenses of business, people, and relationships may help your boil it down to the essential.

REFLECT ON YOUR KEY ACHIEVEMENTS

If I ask you to summarise, to the shareholders of your company. What would be your elevator pitch, what do you want them to know of how marketing procurement is making a difference to the business. Let me share a few tips here. I know everyone is busy trying to close a rather unusual year and challenging one. So let's make this exercise, simple, do it on your commute, do it in your morning routine in your head, or over lunch break or coffee break. 

Compare your Elevator Pitch and your team vision

First, check how your elevator pitch compares to your team vision and mission, and goals, it's really easy to drift in a volatile environment and start chasing many urgencies. So, if you already have a clear direction established for yourself or your team are you on track ? or you drifted, and you have to adjust. 

Identify your biggest achievements/contributions of the year

I always like to write up key achievements and contributions, then highlight the ones that stand out, and why it's not only a matter of visibility for your team which is important but also good work, brings more work. So, there is a bit of advertising that comes along with marketing procurement delivering many things, and sometimes not sharing it enough. 

Advertise your key achievements

Lastly, I like to call the torture test, take your key achievements of the year, the one that you and your team are most proud of and share them with your marketing stakeholders, there are potentially two main reactions: marketing procurement works on stuff that does not matter for me, or marketing procurement helps drive or accelerate marketing deliveries and priorities. To summarise the exercise is pretty straightforward. You check how your 2020 year compares to your team vision, mission, and goals, you write up the key achievements and contributions of your team and organization. And lastly, you share those with your key internal stakeholders, or external stakeholders with your agencies to check whether you're on point. If marketing procurement is working on things that matter to the marketing organization, and the business. 

SET INTENTIONS FOR 2021.

The other benefit of doing that exercise is, it's really powerful. It also helps in setting the right intentions for 2021. It helps to channel energies, aligning expectations, and checking resource efficiencies and priority alignment. Channeling energies because we all have 1 million things to do and in marketing procurement, you can easily get lost in many priorities. What matters the most. what to put on hold on what not to do. Aligning expectation is also important for the benefit of the organization, what marketing struggling, or we need help with. Lastly checking resources, our priorities will support it, both on the marketing and marketing procurement side. Is there enough resources, people do we have the right capabilities in place. Do we have the right seniority level, where it matters the most? Are clear roles and responsibilities drawn and understood? Is there clear ownership for every single major project that needs to be delivered in 2021, and that's the focus also spend outside the company to agencies and supplier, I insist on that often time, people get perfect alignment internally, but underestimate the importance of sharing externally with your agency partner, making them part of problem-solving and making them part of understanding business priorities. 

TIPS TO SET INTENTIONS FOR 2021

Joint Business Plan

The few tips I'd like to share with you as you set intentions for 2021 are utilizing tools and techniques like JBP Joint business plans. This is important, between marketing and marketing procurement, but also between, marketing, and marketing procurement, together with the key agencies. 

True Scorecarding

On the most important project, a technique called True Scorecarding may also help greatly. True Scorecarding makes sure that the KPIs and goals are truly understood and jointly owned and managed by a different group of stakeholders. 

Taskforces

It's also good to form sub-taskforces when it comes to delivering major initiatives, or that takes a cross-functional collaboration to do so, and then having clear metrics of roles and responsibilities in delivering those critical projects.

Action vs. Perfection

 I always had a motto that I like to share. Don't strive for perfection, but try to have perfect action. It's better to have an imperfect plan that is aligned, and that is in motion than just wasting time in trying to have the perfect plan and not executed upon it. In the ideal world of course both marketing and marketing procurement can use the same plan and have one align set of goals. I leave you with that. 

THANK YOU

I know 2021 has been a demanding year for everyone, but take time to pause, step back. Thank your team, thank your stakeholder thank your agencies. You are all in it together, and everything that was achieved in a context that was challenging in 2020 is only paving the way for a brighter future for everyone. 

CONCLUSION

So closing the year on this positive note. Let's try setting intentions for 2021 that is even more ambitious, and that will take you and your organization in marketing procurement to the next level. I wish you all a happy holiday season. My best wishes for the year to come.

GENERIC

Hey, marketing procurement family. Thank you for tuning in and listening to this episode, if you like it, give it five stars on Apple podcasts, we have another great episode coming up next week so remember to subscribe and feel free to invite others to join our marketing procurement community. I look forward to seeing you again next week. In the meantime, take care of yourself and take care of each other.