How can you build a strong relationship with your finance team?

Building a solid bond with your finance team is like cultivating a close friendship. Understand their roles, communicate openly, and collaborate on shared goals. Express gratitude, value their expertise, and make decisions together. Be transparent, celebrating successes, learning from challenges, and investing in team-building. It's not just a professional relationship; it's a supportive partnership that grows through shared experiences and genuine care.

Building a robust relationship with the finance team is crucial for seamless collaboration and achieving collective goals. From my experience, transparency is the cornerstone of a strong partnership. Regular and open communication fosters a shared understanding of objectives, challenges, and strategic priorities. This involves not only conveying information but actively seeking input and insights from the finance team, recognizing their expertise as invaluable. Establishing common goals aligns both teams towards a unified vision, emphasizing the interconnectedness of financial decisions with broader business objectives.

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1. Establish Open and Transparent Communication: Foster a culture of open and transparent communication with your finance team. 2. Understand Their Role and Challenges: Take the time to understand the roles and responsibilities of your finance team members. 3. Collaborate on Goal Setting: Involve your finance team in the goal-setting process. Seek their input and insights when establishing financial targets and objectives. 4. Provide Adequate Resources and Support: Ensure that your finance team has the necessary resources, tools, and training to perform their roles effectively. 5. Acknowledge and Appreciate Their Contributions: Recognize and appreciate the hard work and contributions of your finance team.

Relationship with finance is crucial to give an exceptional client experience. Every finance department would have different expectations but I think a few of these are fundamentals: - Projections - Your projections will help them project the business's health to the management. work on a plan and formula to handle this well. Channels - Pick the right channel to talk, often it is a good idea to keep a group email id for finance team, so that it is picked up by someone instantly. Communication - It is important to give a clear comms but what can you do to make it happen, Give them context, account name with CRM link, Impact, etc. Book of Business update - Help them with the most recent book of business, removing churned accounts.

Speak clearly, maintain an even tone, and make eye contact. Keep your body language relaxed and open. Wrap up with a summary and then stop. Summarize your response and then stop talking, even if it leaves a silence in the room.

Schedule regular collaborative meetings with the finance team. These meetings provide an opportunity for in-depth discussions, clarifications, and the exchange of ideas, fostering a stronger understanding of each other's perspectives. Provide timely updates on any changes or developments that may impact the financial landscape of your department. This includes changes in project timelines, resource allocations, or shifts in strategic priorities.

Make sure goals are discussed openly up front and that everyone is on the same page. After the expectations have been set then you need to be daily monitoring the progress and then hold weekly meetings to check-in and make sure everyone is on task and make adjustments as needed. The team needs to have regular open discussions if any issues arise or if they feel the goals need to be altered.

The idiomatic expression "to learn from one's expertise" means to acquire knowledge or skills through personal experience, observation and practice. To work in an environment which will me to share my expertise with others and to learn from the expertise of others.

Proactively seek collaboration with the finance team on strategic initiatives. Involve them early in the planning stages to leverage their financial insights, allowing for more informed decision-making. Seek guidance from the finance team when developing departmental budgets. Their expertise can help you create realistic and achievable financial plans that align with organizational objectives. Consider forming cross-functional project teams that include members from both your team and the finance department. This promotes knowledge sharing, encourages diverse perspectives, and enhances the overall quality of decision-making.

The power of the room is a great concept to adopt and utilize. Within your team there are top performers who have best practices that they can share with others to make them successful as well. Knowledge is power so sharing that with your piers is a great way to improve the whole and make everyone better.

Sales and Finance are often perceived as opposites in the dynamics of enabling a deal esp when the sales process gets a little complicated. It should actually be complementary forces within a business. While sometimes the sales team would be driven to every means possible to secure the order, finance team helps us see how to safeguard the company's interest, to do a check and balance. It is sales' responsibility to provide acute insights and observations to finance team, collaborating to assess risks and strike the balance to enable the deal. A harmonious synergy between these two teams is important for sustainable biz growth.

Recognize your inherent value and worth by accepting yourself completely while focusing on building your self-worth from there. Acceptance includes being kind to yourself, allowing yourself to be vulnerable and human and to treat yourself with compassion.

Acknowledge the contributions of the finance team publicly, whether in team meetings, company-wide communications, or during special events. Highlighting their achievements reinforces their importance within the organization. Support the professional development of your finance team by providing opportunities for training, certifications, or attending industry conferences. Investing in their skills enhances their capabilities and adds value to the entire organization. Foster a positive workplace culture that values collaboration, respect, and appreciation. A positive culture contributes to employee satisfaction and overall team morale.

Finance is a vast and very intricate function that has three main perspectives; facing the past (accounting), the future (FP&A), and a third one concerned with the present (transactional)- so it is important that you know your finance team and their focus area and how that intersects with your duties and deliverables. I always appreciate a cross functional interaction that showed an understanding of these three perspectives while ensuring total separation - most problems I faced were because someone tried to intermingle these perspectives just to cause unnecessary pressure and sometimes redundancies in reporting that could have been avoided should the requester knew where his finance contact is mostly focused.

Make sure your team knows that they are valuable and that you care about them as people and are not only focused on monetary returns only. Give email shout outs or talk about top performers during meetings to give them recognition in front of their fellow peers. Celebrate the small victories as well as the big ones and make it a part of the culture.

Basically, constructive conflict is when you and another person resolve your disagreement in such a way as to build trust and respect for each other. It also means that you actually deal with the conflict, rather than suppress or avoid it. Tips For Dealing With Conflict.

To build a strong relationship with your finance team, prioritize open and transparent communication. Clearly define roles and responsibilities to establish a sense of purpose and clarity. Foster a collaborative environment by involving the team in goal-setting processes, ensuring alignment with broader organizational objectives. Finally, provide opportunities for professional development, recognize their contributions, and encourage cross-functional collaboration to strengthen teamwork and mutual understanding.

Conflict is not always a bad thing. Some conflict is necessary to make sure that everyone’s opinions are being heard and they are not just being bobble heads. It doesn’t mean that everyone will agree but it’s important that they all feel heard and there is an open forum for discussion and then the best decision for the whole is the one that is selected.

Try to understand the root causes of the conflict. This may involve exploring different expectations, communication breakdowns, or misunderstandings. A deeper understanding can guide you toward more effective solutions. Shift the focus from blame to solutions. Encourage collaborative problem-solving, where both parties work together to find a resolution that addresses the underlying issues. After a resolution has been reached, follow up to ensure that both parties are satisfied with the outcome and that the agreed-upon actions are being implemented. This helps in reinforcing a positive and solution-oriented approach.

Encourage both teams to embrace new technologies, industry best practices, and innovative solutions. This can lead to more efficient processes, better decision-making, and enhanced collaboration. Moreover, creating opportunities for cross-functional teams and projects can break down silos between departments. When individuals from different areas work together towards a common goal, it not only promotes collaboration but also allows for the exchange of knowledge and perspectives.