Okay, Cassie. Thank you for being here. Good to see your face.
Good to see you too. Happy to be here. Looking forward to the dialogue.
Yeah. This will be fun. We've we've connected a couple times in advance of this. You are currently the head of procurement at Paylocity where you've been there for three years now. And I know a lot can happen in three years. We're gonna get into that. But one thing that I wanna dive into right away is it sounds like based off of, you know, our conversations is, your start at Paylocity was maybe a little bit rocky, if if I can kinda say it that way.
Yeah.
It was a bit rocky. So interesting beginning. So I had a great introduction to Paylocity. I was going through the interview process, met all the team. Everybody's excited.
And and and just to be and just to be clear, you were not being hired to start the function.
You were being I wasn't.
Kind of fix the function.
To fix the function and grow the function. And so I knew that there was a lot of change and churn that was happening in the organization, but I was really excited about the team that, you know, I had the opportunity to meet. And so I got the offer, talked to the VP, and they said, you know, good news. We're glad you're joining.
But, you know, a key leader resigned, and they won't be they won't be working.
And this is before you even started. Right?
Before I Right?
Before I who was supposed to report to you is is Absolutely.
And somebody I interviewed, had a great dialogue with, was excited on working with, and so that person exited. So, okay. Fine. That works. That happens. You know?
It just happens. Sure.
Yeah. You know, that's not a thing. So then I joined, started working, and then I'm, less than a month in, get another resignation, from really, you know, a key person, new their, you know, subject matter, was really great, was the go to the next go to person.
Were you taking it were you taking it personally at this point? That's the question.
No. But then I got another one.
So the the third the third one the third one I took personally.
So three people quit. One before you start, two within a like, what period of time are we talking?
Probably two and a half months.
Oh my gosh.
Two and a half months. And so, yeah, I think I took it a little, like, wait a minute. What's going on? But, you know, the the thing that I can say with each exit, they gave me some form of encouragement.
And they said, hey. Listen. This was kinda in in flight before you arrived. I think you're doing some good stuff, but you're a little too late, you know, on the train.
Right? We're going down that path. And so those are the people that exited. And then I had somebody that was on the team, that then said to me, I think you know, thankfully, I think they probably understood that I was a little stressed out.
And they were like, hey. Listen. I'm not going anywhere.
I'm, you know, committed and, you know, made an effort to reach out to me and make that statement, which I was super grateful for because from a week a great way to build a a relationship with your new boss.
That's really True.
And I I think it was just helpful. Right? And so then I then just really dived into leading, right, and focusing on this team. And the the fact is I knew that there was churn. I guess I didn't expect to experience it so soon, you know, while I'm new to the organization. I'm not sure how it works. And then kinda questioning, like, are they running for me?
Yeah. Well and I'm I'm sure you dived into that. So what what was kind of the consensus? Like, what why were people leaving?
Yeah. Some of it was about career growth. Some of it was about the state of procurement, needing to have the right level of leadership, really having clarity about direction, what tools we were using. It was big picture. Right? And it just didn't align to what, you know, those individuals wanted to see for themselves individually and for the organization.
And so there was really no time to solve for that for those people that exited. So then we spent time solving for the that for the people that were there. Right?
Yeah. Let's let's let's dig into that. What what did you do to kind of, like, stop the bleeding and and really, like because sometimes that can be a little bit of a domino effect. Right?
You know, someone leaves and someone else leaves. And, of course, you, Brandy, you're it's gonna be really hard for you to accomplish your task with, you know, no team. Right? So so kinda what did you do to get them to stay?
Yeah. So leaned into the team. That's what I'd I focused on the people. We spent a lot of time, you know, specifically, I would encourage this for, you know, new leaders or even if you're an existing team.
If you don't have a team charter, you should build one. You should spend the time understanding, like, what are the the kind of SWOT analysis, all the stuff that may not be sexy, but I do will say mission, vision, guiding principles, ways of working, how to engage, like, sure all of those things were clear because it was very clear for the folks that exited. Some of those things weren't. And then for the people that I wanted to keep, I wanted them to be excited about the process, and I wanted not to have an edict.
I wanted to build it together as a team. And that's what we did. And I think that made a really big difference because people could see the future and not necessarily be caught into, oh, I'm still I'm here, but I'm also supporting the people that left. Right?
You know? So that increases my workload. It just you know, managing that which was would have been a challenge if we weren't focused on one another and our delivery and what it is that we wanted to do as a procurement function as a whole.
Yeah. And I remember as we were kinda chatting about this, prior to this call, you were I love your focus on the people, obviously. It sounded like the team was doing the work. Right?
Things were getting done. Now the perception maybe from the the stakeholders maybe could have been improved, and we'll get to that in a second. But the team was doing the work, but it sounded like they were essentially burnt out. Some of the work that they were doing was not sustainable in the way that they were doing it.
Is did I understand you correctly? Maybe maybe dive into that a little bit more.
Yeah. No. It wasn't sustainable because it was manual. We weren't using tools at the time. So one of the things that I when I, joined, one of the first things that happened is that in emails, an email will pop up for a request and then someone would say mine.
And then, you know, another one pop up and another person would say mine.
And so So this is like you there's a board you people are claiming it almost.
Yeah.
You email, and they're they're using the word mine. And I'm like, what is happening? Like, what what do you mean mine? You know?
And so then I we have a meeting, and I say, hey. Hey, y'all. What what is that? You know?
And they're like, oh, that's our intake.
Oh, k. Oh, yeah.
Oh, okay.
I've seen I've seen different varieties of intakes.
That one is probably one of the more interesting ones I've seen for sure.
Yeah. Right. Right. Right. And the great thing is that the company was already talking about tools and systems, so I didn't have to go and, you know, make that argument.
So we removed the mind exercise. Right? And it was still through a manual kinda activity, but we, you know, we're clear about workloads and assignments and, you know, having somebody on point to manage that. You know?
So administratively, we supported that. And the other thing is I had a COE, like a center of excellence, a a manager. And so she was also new. So then she helped me kinda navigate that.
So we got in front of the manual work with which felt probably unending and felt very unsustainable. We built tools, integrated tools and then changed processes. One of the specific things that was a big drain was a particular relationship with stakeholders, like our risk teams. And there was kind of a tussle about how do we turn things around, what is the role of procurement, what is the role of legal and risk.
And so then we sat down, with those people and say, hey. What are the problems? Then we built a process. We talked about it internally to make sure our team was aligned, and then we presented that, to our legal team, which then changed a lot of the concern and relationships and made people feel really comfortable about problem solving and that we had a a plan in in in a in front of us, which was a big win.
No. I like that. And and just to kinda kinda recap something that's really sticking up to me, you came in.
Your people were leaving. Big concern for you. You focused on, okay, understanding the why.
You focused on the people, but, obviously, you also tied in the process and the technology, and you hear that a lot. Like, people process technology probably in that order. Right? And that's exactly what I'm hearing here.
Right? It's like, hey. Let's focus on the people. Let's make sure that they, you know, you know, happy, fulfilled, understand that, like, things are chain changing.
You have this charter, and you start to work on the processes, which are a little bit but then you got the business. You know? And luckily for you, they were kind of already focused about technology. But, you know, is that kind of that that, you know, Nate the the the the the, what's the word?
A collaborative nature of those three things that really kind of allowed you to make a pivot probably in a fairly short period of time.
Right? I think that's accurate. I think that's accurate. And I think it goes beyond you know, we all read the articles about the people process, you know, tools, systems.
Yeah. And it really does work, but you have to be very intentional about it, and super communicative about it. Like, you have to tell the story and get everybody in the why and all of that. So we spent a lot of time focused on that.
I love that. I love that. Well, let's get into, before we shift into, like, what stakeholders, you know, thought because, you know, the one of these ideas is, of this particular call is you were reinventing. And so we've already seen some of that reinvention, but a lot of that was kinda happening internally within the procurement team. And so we'll we'll we'll move into, in just a minute, into this, like, you know, what what did the stakeholders think. But before we get there, one thing that kinda stuck out to me is you had a a little bit of a unique team structure.
And so let let's dive into, like, really quickly at a high level, what did your team look like from, you know, how you were structured?
Yeah. So when I joined, we had category managers.
We had a new center of excellence manager.
And then later on down the line, we added procurement operations lead once we put a tool in place. And I think the category management, being really clear about what it is we're delivering, what's your portfolio, how you deliver against that, and then having this COE is really critical because we also in the COE, just recently, we added a a data scientist.
Interesting.
Yeah. Let's just dig into the COE data scientist. I I I I don't know. I think it's really cool.
Procurement data scientist. I would love to have someone like that on my team. But, yeah, talk to me a little more because COE can mean a lot of different things. I think in some ways, it's a buzz term.
Like, what what did that mean? And, like, what what did that team, individual group, whatever it was, like, what did they do for the procurement organization for the business?
Yeah. No. And so I this is like a fast track conversation. Right? So I I wanna offer that out the gate, I hadn't done hadn't worked with the COE in a previous role.
So even me as a leader, I was struggling with, well, how do we use this? Right? Like, you know, how does it really work? But so the the the focus is having somebody that's looking at processes, tools, systems, and data.
If you were delivering the day to day work, your ability to see trends, to see problems, to identify communications, like, it's really very difficult to do. And so that is what the COE's charter, if you will, is.
It is in alignment and support with the day to day delivery on the, you know, category management, sourcing, all of that stuff. Right? Every all the stuff that we know about is another eye that helps me make sure what this if people are complaining and saying, oh, your cycle times are horrible. You know, like, the engagement with procurement is a is is trash, you know, as a example.
Right? I now have a team that can look at the data and say, is that anecdotal? Is that really a complaint that's happening just in sales and marketing? Or do we see it in product and tech?
And do we see it, you know, in HR? And then we can look at the data and say, hey, listen. Actually, we are trash. You know?
We aren't really delivering.
And then we can look at the cycle times. We can look at our outputs. And that I personally haven't had that level of focus, and it makes an absolute difference in how I think about the work and how my my team thinks about the work because it is more data driven as opposed to substance subjective and anecdotal, which is often the battle we are in as procurement functions. It's kinda the person that's screaming the loudest, and this data view allows us to validate and then work on and focus on the right things.
Yeah. That's really interesting. I think a lot of times, you know, given the customer service nature of the procurement, at least internally, Yeah. It it can be hard to separate what is perception, what is reality, and data can help you kind of bridge that gap. So you had you had someone, a procurement data scientist, who was who was really digging digging into that. What what else was in their kind of day to day job description?
Yeah.
Just recently, we, are actually working with some of our HR functions that are having questions about spend and some of the compliance pieces that they have to manage on, you know, who's in our environment from a indirect, independent contractor perspective. They came to our team and said, hey. How can you help us with the, p to p system and the data that exists to help us determine if we are meeting our compliance gaps?
Specifically, the reason why it's important is because it's based on the spin. It's based on our contracts. It's based on the things that come through the procurement function. But this partnership and this view around data is also tied to compliance and the support, that could exist with other functions that then offers another value add from a procurement lens that doesn't fall under the traditional take you through a contract or go through a sourcing event. And, honestly, that wasn't a use case that, you know, I thought of. It just is evolving because data solves problems and tell stories.
No. That's so cool. And it's fun to see the comments pop up here too in the chat. You know?
I don't know Michelle. She said, you know, mine reminds me of kinda pop up in baseball. That's a fun analogy. But then Nancy Cook Walker, you know, said, love to hear that you guys have a have a procurement COE.
So that's like I said, it's not something I see that often, but I I can see it being extremely valuable, especially in this in this kind of world that we live in right now with with AI and stuff like that. You know, having good data to kind of go off of can be extremely, extremely, valuable.
And and one thing just one thing I'll add is that because I thought about it and just like, you know, with you're battling with resources, maybe everybody can't, you know, have a COE person, right, or have a data scientist. There's a data team in your organization. And so, you know, they have expertise and capability, and it might be worthy to reach out to them just to have a conversation about, hey. There's data in our environment. I'm not really leveraging it. Can you give me some best practice or some direction so that I can drive that? You know, so that so you can leverage the concept where maybe you don't have the the body or the head count in your environment.
No. That that makes a lot of expense, you know, especially for some of the, you know, smaller groups out there who are are extremely but it sounds like the the ROI is certainly there. I I love the concept. Love that you shared it.
Okay. So just kind of, like, you know, backtracking a little bit because you focused on the people. We dug into your team structure a little bit.
When you joined, you know, we talked about how you, you know, weren't hired to start a function. You were hired to scale, grow, fix a little bit. Yeah.
What was the reputation of, you know, procurement when you when you walked into that?
I think it's the order taker. It's probably the the best descriptor.
That's a strategic term, by the way, order taker.
So on on the one hand, you have procurement data scientist, which sounds like an awesome title, and then the other one, you have procurement order taker. Yeah. That's so much. Right?
And and and and by the way, like, if, like, if the company sees you as order takers, that's probably going to affect everything from how they interact with you to how much they pay you. Does that make sense? Like, why would you pay someone Yeah. An order taker?
But how much they pay you and then, you know, do you need more order takers? That's the other thing. Like, you know, it also impacts head count and then, you know, the value of it, your delivery. So, yeah, I think one of the the I think the really big call out is when I joined, we were in super duper growth mode.
Right? And so it was, you know, solve these issues. Hey. And primarily, like, in product and tech.
Like, you have an issue. You wanna be able to, you know, drive, you know, development and grow the product. Well, if I'm an engineer and I've been given that as a deliverable, I'm just gonna go out and talk to whoever I wanna to so that I can kinda get those things done. Right?
And so then you come to procurement, and procurement is just hey. It's not the bleeding here. Right? Like, there's no big challenge.
No look at cost. No look at is this the right provider. No look at did we take this to market?
And so it was that. Right? We weren't having those types of conversations. We were getting the deal at the very end, and then it was a very short window and just make sure it's not bleeding and there's no big issues.
Just move them through. And then given volume, you can be really busy doing that. Right? And look up, and it's the end of the quarter.
Yeah. Well, it's it's really interesting that you say that because in my experience, there are, you know, different types of people in in how they see procurement. Obviously, occasionally, you have a champion, which is great. They love procurement.
They understand procurement. Awesome. But a lot of times, the the others, especially in the world of tech, which, you know, procurement is still relatively new to, you know, the industry in general. But you have the the people who don't really know what procurement is, and and so there's some education that needs to occur.
But they're kinda coming into it with, like, a, oh, enlighten me. Help me understand. I'm open to the concept maybe. I just need to understand how to work with you.
And then there's the people, the stakeholders who think that they know what procurement is, and they have this perception of, oh, you are a back end function. You're a tactical order taker. You're a you're a you're a purchaser that we're gonna bring you in. And I I think it's important to differentiate between those two because they probably need to be addressed slightly differently.
And and I think the harder one are the people that maybe already have this conception of procurement even if it's a if it's it's an incorrect one. Right?
Yeah. Yeah. No. I think I yeah. That's Nancy. Hey, Nancy.
Spot on. I think that is completely spot on. I think you have a perception of, you know, either I don't know what you do or I do. And I think the point is, does it add value?
And can I just do it faster? Right? And I think that was what we were kind of in the middle of. Right?
And then as every procurement professional knows, when things slow down, when you have to assess your spend more, if you have to be more like, that's when, you know, procurement can completely and totally shine.
And I think that is one of the opportunities that we created in moving us from this kind of tactical take your orders to, okay. Now I'm gonna look at your portfolio, and then I'm gonna go to you and say, hey. Listen. Guess what?
We've been doing these POCs and you've just been signing up on these POCs and then you we haven't negotiated. If we like it, these are the things that it looks like for you. And we tackle those types of things to say, hey, I'm just gonna help you build the model before you decide if you like it or not. So that once you go and you complete your POC, you then have t's and c's and all of the things and all of the particulars so you are not held up anymore.
You have the right level of protections and you can move forward. And then I can point back to the POC that was problematic, that didn't have enough understanding within the finance function, risk, and all those types of things. And those were the little things we started to do where we identified how can I add value in a way that you're not thinking about these things because you're the engineer? That's just not your job.
It's mine, and let me help you drive that. And those were the kind of pushes that we did to make people have kind of those moments.
Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. It would you say that that's reflective of the type you know, it's been three plus years that you've been pay Paylocity. You started out as, you know, perception of order takers. Would you say that would you say that the perception of procurement at Paylocity has changed, to where to it's reflective of what you just described?
I think so. I think so. And and, you know, another example of that and so I'll be real, you know, transparent. Is it everywhere? No. That's just, you know, that's just not realistic.
But we continue to chip at it. But they're for me, the big lever, is it the areas that have large spend, that have, you know, critical engagements? Are they talking to us first? Do they see us as partners? And at the end of this particular fiscal year, our sales and marketing team came to us well before they needed the work, well in advance, and wanted to pull a whole lot of work forward, which required, you know, engagements, organization, just all of those things. They came to us first, you know, after having the conversation with finance. Three years ago, that wouldn't have happened.
They just would have kinda gone off and done it, but they saw value in what we were doing and felt like, strategically, it made sense to engage the procurement function because there was a value add.
That wasn't true before.
And I have to imagine reinventing and changing your image was a long drive something you're still chipping away at people coming to the organization. But, like, what are a couple things that you did to kind of drive that? I mean, once again, I'm not trying to simplify it because I'm sure it would be a complex question.
What what are a couple ideas get, you know Absolutely.
One thing we did was we implemented what we call procurement business reviews, not quarterly business reviews that you do with, your suppliers or your vendors. It was internal where I talk about the portfolio for product and tech, the renewals that are coming forward, the active things that we're working on, and then I ask you about your road map, not just for the next, you know, month. I'm asking you for the next year. Sometimes you have it, sometimes you don't.
And then in those conversations, one, I'm telling you what I'm delivering against today, like, the day to day, keep the lights on type of stuff. And then I'm asking you about, well, what do you wanna do in the future, and how do you want, to engage with the supplier? Not how do you want procurement to help you so that we can take it through the contract and we can read no. No.
Like, what is it that you need from that supplier, and is it the right one? What conversations are you having? And we can support you in there well in advance of, you know, contract signature, which is a big distinction.
Because a lot of people still, like I said, order takers, they just feel like, oh, okay. Well, I just talked to you at the end. And we're like, no. No. No. You talked to me in the beginning, and you actually talked to me before you actually have figured it out. We can help you with that.
And those meetings is, I think, a vehicle. The reason that they are vehicle is because we included the stakeholder, the business. We included legal. We include risk.
We included finance. And so we included all these people that are seen as roadblocks, in this discussion so that we then are really on this kinda unified ground, which before that, it was emails and chat. You know what mean? You were kinda piecing together these things, and it wasn't this longer view.
Yeah. You know what you know what came to mind is, you know, you I love that. I love this idea of, like, business reviews. Being proactive can make such a big difference. Bringing some of that data from your data scientists, I'm sure, like, helpful as well.
Very good point.
You know, you you get these, like, you get these, like, requests, you know, from your stakeholders. And and I don't think many procurement people would say, yep. I'm an order taker, or at least they don't wanna be. But I I think that sometimes we're doing order taking, and and maybe we don't fully realize it, but, actually, it kinda feels good. Does that make sense? Like I I don't know if that resonates at all with you.
Yeah. So, yeah, that is my tactical dopamine feel. Yeah. That, you know, the procurement the word for it.
Yeah. The dopamine effect because it does feel good. Because the stakeholder that, you know, really needs something that is screaming the loudest or, you know, is just more proactive in following up. Like, I can check that off the list.
That's done. Right? The supplier that needs something done, it's you know, I need a, you know, PO cut. I need the contract closed, and it's all for this particular transaction in that moment.
Well, if I have my day to day activities, I'm checking the box, man. Like, I'm checking the box off of all of those things. Strategy is building. Strategy takes time.
Strategy is not you don't have an immediate dopamine positive reaction from that. And so it's super easy to get caught in the tactical because the tactical brings you the good vibe. Right? Like, you feel like you're moving the needle forward.
You know what? I I love that you say that because there's so much of this, like, oh, no. We would never do anything tactical. We wanna do strategic, but, actually, tactical feels good. Right?
It's great.
Strategic is like, oh, well, didn't we do that today? No. Tactical, like, check like, we like checking boxes. We like getting it done.
Right? It feels at the end of day, like, wow. I checked off. I cleared out these thirty emails from my inbox.
Like, that feels good. But this is where it comes back to, like and I love the title that you chose for, you know, your episode here, like, built to or no. What is it? Gosh.
I I lost it just right here in this moment. But it's it's help me out here.
It's What is it?
What is the title of this episode?
So funny. It is create. So you build to create, not just comply.
There we go. Not just comply. So comply, a lot of times where, hey. These are the rules that we're operating in.
These are you know, we're checking that box at tactical. Like, a lot of procurement functions are, hey. This is the, you know, procurement philosophy. This is our this is our playbook that we do.
But, you know, that's not just what we're here for. We are here to, you know, create. We are we are here to build, and that is the more strategic side of the thing. But we have to recognize that sometimes we kinda like like doing the tactical stuff.
We do because it gives us an immediate return. And the strategic, it just you don't see the return immediately. Right? Like, it you have to have a series of, you know, procurement business reviews. You have to talk to the stakeholder. You have to then identify, well, hell, what's the the organizational goals and am I full you know, fully tied to that? That's super cerebral.
That's super you know, it requires a lot of care and feeding and a lot of effort, and that's just not as sexy and fun because of the demands of your day to day. So I think the biggest thing is you have to stay focused on the strategic. And that's not I'm not suggesting that's an easy thing to do, but I think there's a value add in it because all of these little kind of tactical things then tie to procurement's value, the fact that they're seen as strategic. Like, you know, like, do they see us as strategic, and do they say, hey.
I have a road map that, you know, I wanna deliver again. So I'm we're starting the the new year. Right? And then you know, does the P and T function think, you know what?
I need to go partner with procurement because I know I'm gonna have to do a a, b, and c, and I don't wanna do this in a bubble. But if I'm just seen as a technical function, you're not gonna come and talk to me about those things.
Yeah. You know? So that it it shifts the output for sure.
Definitely shifts shifts the output.
Cassie, I wanna I wanna end with one last question. While you're kinda thinking about it, you know, the question will be something, you know, something like, what's one thing you want the the the, you know, the, you know, listeners to kinda take away as we kinda wrap this up? I did see one comment before we go there of, you know, do we, you know, use, you know, AI in procurement? I I worry that that's like a a a long I mean Yeah.
To me, the straightforward answer is yes. Like, you know, streamline this supplier discovery, analyze spend data, you know, surface negotiation opportunities faster. I have to imagine your data scientist is using it. I mean, it's it's built into the tools that we're using.
I know a tropic, you know, it's phenomenal to just be astropic of you know, we we saw with a customer the other day. If they said something like, you know, hey. Can you summarize some of the savings results that we've had over the past few months? So I I I don't wanna go completely down that rabbit hole even though I I'm a huge believer in AI.
I I believe it's not just more information. It's, like, quality, output.
So I'll let you weigh in on that. But then, you know, I guess my last question would be, like, what do you want, you know, in the last minute or two here? What do you want the listeners to take away one or two things of, hey. I I hope they remember this.
Yeah. So, yes, we are thoughtful about AI. I will be really, you know, transparent in the sense of we are intentional because I work, you know, for HCM. Right?
You know? So how we think about AI and its implications and data, that's just a heavy, responsibility that we have as an organization. And so, really, in our next fiscal or, you know, wrapping our our goals, How we use AI in the most responsible and valuable way is really what we're building out now. Right?
Like, you know, can I help you write an email? You know, like, sure. That kind of thing. Right?
But, you know, how do we how does it help us make decisions that are smarter and faster, and more, user friendly?
Because everybody doesn't have the same level of data dexterity. You know, the the digital dexterity. So that's the other thing that we're being mindful of. The thing that I wanna be really clear about is that, yes, we use AI, but are we all using AI in the same manner?
Because if we're not on my team, then we're not going to get the same type of output because somebody's using it in this way and somebody's using it that way. So that's what we're focused on right now is being clear about how we use it so that we can get the full benefit of it. So that's my I I think in a couple of months, I'll have a different answer, and I'll have more use cases, and I'll have all of that. But we're really thinking about foundationally how we're gonna be leveraging it in the most, you know, smartest way.
Yeah. And I have to imagine you're gonna have a little bit of a leg up having a COE and someone who can kind of, like, take that and and and push it across, you know, the the organization.
But I also I also have to like, it it goes very much with this whole tactical to, you know, strategic function because I I do think it'll it'll be able to take some of these more manual unfortunately, some of those dopamine hits will go away, and and the ads gonna get those dopamine hits.
You know? But that that should free up time and also make us more effective at doing some of that strategic work because it's it's it's kinda having that, you know, assistant, that that agent that's gonna help us kind of, you know, build that stronger foundation. So, yeah, I I I saw that come up, and and, gosh, it's a it's a topic that could be reserved for a whole episode and should be reserved for a whole episode in and of itself. But I'm excited to, you know, come back in the three in a few months and see kinda how that's panning out. So let's take let's take it home, Cassie.
This has been an awesome conversation.
Once again, you've reinvented. You know, as I understand, it sounds like, you know, procurement is once again, it's not there. I don't know where there is, but, like, you've made so much progress. You're in a really good spot of of you know, you you've really invented procurement at Paylocity. You've got your team to buy in. I I hear wonderful things, by the way, about who report to you or have reported to you, that sort of a concept.
So, yeah, what what are what's a what's a takeaway or two that you you you definitely want the listeners to remember about the the episode with Cassie?
Yeah. I mean, I think the my biggest thing is really the importance of strategic mindset.
Transitioning from kinda this tactical view and this tactical mindset to to to a strategic one is just not easy.
And so you can you know, we can have this session all day. It's not easy work. It's really challenging. It is truly a journey. And as the leader and the the function leader, it is your responsibility to, you know, tell that to yourself, tell it to your, your direct reports, to anybody that is listening about how we have to adjust our constant focus and effort that we are shifting into this, you know, strategic view. And so what that means is you have to set the foundation.
You have to be clear about, you know, thinking about I can have a tactical transaction and still have a strategic view in how I think about it, how I approach it, how I engage. And that is just a shift. Right? And it's based on your organization, based on your specifics, but you cannot forget that it is a ongoing thing.
It is it's never ending. You're not gonna get there. Like, I've made it. You know?
It doesn't it's not gonna work that way. But the only way that you're gonna continually be able to add value is to shift your mindset and shift this the mindset of your direct reports and the folks that you work with.
Oh, I love that. And I love the shed of mindset of we're out there. I I think I got fairly close to there. At one point in an organization, I thought, wow. This is boring.
Like, get me back to that, you know Yeah.
That journey. Right? Because here we are. We're built to create just like you said in your in your episode.
Not just not just and that's why I felt like I'm doing. I'm like, I'm just, at this point, operating. So, Cassie, thank you so much. I remember sitting down with you for the first time in January and just thinking, oh my gosh.
Like, this is going to be a really good conversation, and it was. And and so I'm glad we got to finish it today. Thank you so much for for being here.
Yeah. Thanks for the invitation. It's been, you know, a great ride. The this those short time that we've known that I think we've grown and known and learned a lot from one another, and that I think is the whole point with procurement and engaging with folks. So it's pretty exciting. So thanks for the invite.
K. We'll talk soon. Thanks, everyone.
