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© 2026 Procurement Pivots®
Description
Honest conversations and fresh perspectives to help procurement professionals, wherever you are in your career. Navigate change, grow with confidence and shape a career on your terms.
Co-hosted by Donna Bowden (Procurement Career Coach, Founder of Narrate Your Career) and Laura Sellers (Executive & Leadership Coach, Founder of Coaching for Procurement) who bring a combined 20+ years of supporting procurement growth
36 Episodes
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Send a text Navigating Restructure in Procurement Series – Part 2 In Part 2 of our series on navigating restructure in procurement, Donna and Laura shift the focus to those who remain in the organisation after change has taken place. While redundancy often dominates the conversation, staying through a restructure comes with its own emotional, relational and professional challenges, many of which go unspoken. Internal change can shake confidence, disrupt team and stakeholder dynamics, alter re...
Send a text Navigating Restructure in Procurement – Series Part 1 In this new four part series, we explore the realities of navigating restructure in today’s procurement landscape. And in this first episode, we explore one of the most challenging experiences a procurement professional can face: being made redundant. Redundancy is never a simple moment. It brings waves of emotion, identity questions and uncertainty about what comes next. But it can also mark the beginning of a more aligned cha...
Send a text In this episode, Laura takes us behind the scenes of the team coaching work she has been delivering across procurement functions in the UK and internationally. While most leaders approach her with a specific challenge or goal in mind, the deeper work almost always centers around one thing: impact. Using her 7-Step P.R.O.C.U.R.E Framework, Laura walks through the practical and human elements that shape how a procurement team performs, collaborates and influences. Whether you are le...
Send a text In this episode, Donna and Laura revisit one of the most requested topics on the podcast: positioning, with a dedicated focus on external career moves. With the market shifting again and early signs of improvement for 2026, many procurement professionals are already considering whether this might be the year to explore a new role. The challenge is that the job market at senior level remains highly competitive, and the old approach of updating the CV and starting to apply is no lon...
Send a text Donna Bowden Interviews Laura Sellers This week, we continue our two-part mini-series where we turn the microphones on each other. After more than 30 episodes together, many listeners have asked a similar question. “How do the two of us support procurement professionals differently, and what does that look like in practice?” In last week’s episode, Laura interviewed Donna. This week, Donna interviews Laura. In this conversation, Laura shares the career journey that led her into ex...
Send a text Laura Sellers Interviews Donna Bowden This week, we are doing something a little different. After more than 25 episodes, one question has come up again and again from listeners. What do you both actually do and how do your coaching approaches differ? So for the next two episodes, we are interviewing each other. A small step outside our comfort zones, but an important one. Because so many procurement professionals are trying to understand what support they need and who to tur...
Send a text Part 4: Your Procurement Pivot Plan for 2026: A 4-Step Series to Set, Shape and Achieve Your Career Goals This is the final episode in our four-part January series designed to help you set yourself up for sustainable, meaningful success in 2026. If you haven’t yet listened to Episodes 26-28, we recommend starting there and working through the series in order. In Part 4, we explore a crucial ingredient in achieving any goal: getting the right support and resources behind you. Wheth...
Send a text Part 3 of Your Procurement Pivot Plan for 2026: A 4-Step Series to Set, Shape and Achieve Your Career Goals In this third episode of the series, Donna and Laura explore the obstacles that can appear when you start moving towards a meaningful career goal. Some challenges are external. Others come from your own thinking. What matters most is preparing yourself to navigate them so you do not lose momentum when things get difficult. This episode helps you anticipate what might get in ...
Send a text Part 2 of of Your Procurement Pivot Plan for 2026: A 4-Step Series to Set, Shape and Achieve Your Career Goals Welcome back to our January series designed to help you set and achieve a meaningful and sustainable career goal for 2026. This is Part 2 of a 4-step journey and we strongly recommend listening to these episodes in order, as each step builds on the last. If you have not yet listened to Episode 26, start there to define the goal you want to focus on. Today, we help you g...
Send a text Part 1 of Your Procurement Pivot Plan for 2026: A 4-Step Series to Set, Shape and Achieve Your Career Goals This January, we are doing something different. For the first time on the Procurement Pivots Podcast, we are releasing a guided 4-part series designed to help you set and achieve meaningful and sustainable career goals for 2026. Unlike our usual episodes, we recommend listening to these four in order because each part builds on the last. By the end of the series, you w...
Send a text As we wrap up 2025, we’re closing the year with something a little different. This episode is an honest and uplifting reflection on the year just gone. We look back at the moments that shaped us, the lessons that surprised us, and the themes that consistently showed up in our work with procurement professionals across the industry. Whether your year felt full of progress, full of challenge, or a mix of both, this episode is designed to give you space to pause, notice the positives...
Send a text Welcome to Episode 24 of the Procurement Pivots Podcast. In this final episode of our PIVOTS series, we take a step back and bring you a summary of everything we have covered so far. After more than twenty episodes exploring the themes that show up most often in procurement careers, we reflect on the patterns, lessons and insights that have emerged across all of our conversations. When we launched this podcast, our aim was simple. We wanted to create a practical and honest resourc...
Send a text What triggers you in your procurement career? In this episode, we explore a topic that quietly shapes confidence, decision making and momentum for so many procurement professionals. Triggers are the moments or situations that spark an emotional or behavioural response before you have even had the chance to think. Some are external, like restructures, job market pressures, stakeholder dynamics or even what you see online. Others are internal, such as perfectionism, stress responses...
Send a text What do you do when you feel stuck in your procurement career and cannot quite work out why? In this episode, we explore the wide range of obstacles that hold procurement professionals back, from the organisational challenges you face, to the people dynamics you navigate, to the internal blockers that quietly influence your confidence, motivation and momentum. Obstacles show up in many forms. Restructures can change your path overnight. Difficult stakeholders can drain your energy...
Send a text What does vision really mean in a procurement career, and why does it matter more today than ever? In this episode, we explore how having a clear, intentional vision can transform not only your personal career trajectory but also the effectiveness and growth of your procurement function. Vision isn’t wishful thinking. It is a strategic anchor that guides your decisions, builds your confidence and shapes how you show up as a professional and a leader. We talk honestly about why vis...
Send a text Influence is one of the most essential and misunderstood skills in procurement. In this episode, we unpack what it really means to influence effectively in your procurement career. Not manipulation, not power play, but the kind of influence that builds trust, credibility and long-term results. We talk about why influence starts with mindset, not methods, and why understanding your own relationship with influence matters more than any quick-win technique. We cover: • What tru...
Send a text What does it really take to create a procurement career that feels right for you, not one that just happens to you? In this episode, we explore what “planning for success” means, not as a rigid checklist but as an intentional practice that helps you shape your career on your terms. Too often, procurement professionals focus on delivering for everyone else, their teams, stakeholders, and organisations, without pausing to plan what they actually want next. We cover: Why being intent...
Send a text How well are you storytelling in your procurement career? In this episode, we explore how storytelling has become one of the most powerful and underrated skills in a procurement professional’s toolkit. Whether you are influencing stakeholders, leading a team or positioning yourself for your next move, your ability to communicate your story can make all the difference. We cover: Why storytelling is a vital leadership and communication skill in procurementThe difference between desc...
Send a text What if the network you need to move forward in your procurement career is already there, and you’re simply not using it? In this Truth episode, we talk openly about the role of networking in procurement careers. Not the uncomfortable, transactional, awkward version of networking many people imagine, but the real version: building meaningful relationships that support your growth, your visibility and your opportunities. We cover: Why many procurement professionals network brillian...
Send a text What happens when everything just feels too much? In this episode, we tackle a feeling that almost every procurement professional experiences at some point in their career: overwhelm. From the constant demands of stakeholders to ever-growing workloads and shifting expectations, it’s easy to feel like you’re running just to stand still. We explore: Why overwhelm isn’t failure but a signal that something needs to changeHow to decode what’s really driving your feelings of overloadThe...
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