As fabulous financial modellers, it can be equally helpful to consider how to partner effectively with your non-financial colleagues in your organisation to share your brilliance & help them drive improved performance. Our unique 9 Cs FBP Formula® helps you with just that – nail these & you’ll be an even more awesome value-adding finance professional!
1. Connect & Collaborate
The PARTNER element of the Finance Business PARTNER role!
You can be the best financial modeller in the world, but unless you can connect with others in your organisation & collaborate with them effectively, the world will never know how good you are! Did you know many non-finance professionals find us “scary” and “intimidating”?! Consider the reasons behind that & what you can do to be that approachable, trusted finance professional.
2. Communicate Financial Information Simply & Effectively
A real skill!
Try this: if you were NOT allowed to mention a single number in your discussion/meeting/presentation/report, how would you explain what the numbers were showing this month? It’s in this thought process that you find the story behind your numbers. Which means the rest of the world can understand what you’re saying, woohoo!!
3. Clear Strategic Thinker
In your role, you need to be clearly aligned with the strategic priorities of your organisation. Otherwise, what are you aiming at every day? How does this task you’re working on right this second contribute to achieving those strategic priorities? Are you focusing your efforts on the right things?
4. Commercial Acumen
Ah, the BUSINESS element of the Finance BUSINESS Partner role! Dig deep to truly understand the business environment in which you operate and the wider industry, including customers, competitors & suppliers. And demonstrate this knowledge. A CGMA research report found one of the biggest complaints of Operational Managers was ‘Finance don’t understand the business’. Demonstrate that you do & that furthermore, you can help them.
5. Change Agent & Challenge the Status Quo
Who’d love to change ‘the way things are done around here’? Usually LOTS of people! Your data, your numbers, your information, your models can show a different way. No matter how compelling this new approach might be, that change management piece is essential to ensure you take others on the journey with you so they feel safe & confident in doing things differently.
6. Computer: Digital Mindset
So much of what you do as modellers! Having that digital mindset, i.e. using what you have really well, finding ways to automate, to systematise, to make life quicker & easier for you & fellow colleagues – win, win, win!
7. Curiosity, Creative & Can-do Attitude
A career in Finance is not about being an order-taker, it’s about being curious (some people call it nosey!) about everything: learning more about your company, your industry, the people you work with & support, what they need from you (which might be different to what you currently give them) and so on.
And it’s fun to be creative with solutions, often achieved by, you guessed it, working collaboratively with others.
A can-do attitude couldn’t be more important – knowing why you’re doing what you do & the difference it makes, even when the going gets tough. Maintain that can-do attitude and self-motivation.
8. Calm, Confident & in Control
Do endless deadlines, constantly changing priorities & the request for more immediately sound familiar to you? Remaining calm, confident & in control earns you trust & the right to sit at the decision-making table, according to the PWC research report into finance business partnering. Know your preferred ways to stay resilient.
9. Competent Finance Professional
The FINANCE element of the FINANCE Business Partner role! This is the magic you bring to the table – your finance expertise and knowledge. Stay brushed up on everything you need to excel in your career 😊
Enjoy the journey of being an incredible world-class finance professional who can partner with ease with the business!
Written by:
Andi Lonnen
CEO (Chief Energising Officer!) & Founder of FBP Academy®
Visit: https://www.fbpacademy.com/ for loads of free FBP resources
Email: andi.lonnen@financetrainingacademy.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiNbSbf6SAKxFlmcxvxVwLg for weekly FBP Inspiration
Twitter: @FBP_Academy
