Over the last 20 years, the term Business Partnering has become more common in Finance functions around the world.
What a Finance Business Partner is Not
In many cases it’s an aspirational title, rather than a role a finance professional plays.
Because all too often, to give the illusion that Finance are partnering with the operational areas of an organisation – some organisations simply changing the job title of “Colin from Accounts”1 to business partner and pretend that “Colin” is now “partnering”.
When in fact “Colin” simply carries on doing the job “Colin’s” always done, which is doing the month end reporting.
What is a Finance Business Partner
Finance Business partners are finance professionals who bridge the gap between the operational aspects of an organisation and Finance.
That’s the theory anyway, so is there anything else to consider?
Finance Business Partners should be trusted advisors to help business areas make better use of financial information to drive better business outcomes.
Finance Business Partners are in a unique position within an organisation, working across all areas, but in doing so, they should not lose sight of the fact that fundamentally Finance is a service function to the organisation.
So Finance and Finance Business Partners exist primarily to support and collaborate with other parts of the organisation.
So what makes for a great business partner?
A business Partner is a combination of 3 things:
- Finance skills
- Business knowledge
- Behaviour skills
One common mistake I see is selecting people strong in one sphere, without any attention to their ability in other areas.
And another common mistake I see is selecting people who are very friendly or outgoing, on the assumption that they will connect with customers, but often they lack credibility, which is a major component of trust.
Former Harvard Professor David Maister [https://davidmaister.com] created the Trust equation:
Trustworthiness = (Credibility x Reliability x Intimacy)/Self-Orientation
The Trust equation is a way to think about the components of trust. It’s not really a mathematical formula, although you could potentially use it to measure trust over time through surveys.
Put another way, trust happens when the person you’re partnering with understands that there’s an issue and that you’re the right person to deal with it.
Some organisations have tried to boost credibility by putting the word strategic in front of Business Partner and funnily enough, doing the same thing and expecting the different results, is not going to work.
Titles don’t work. Actions and behaviours do.
References:
- “Colin From Accounts” [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18228732] Is a TV comedy show – pun intended. ↩︎