Everyone Can Adopt A Business Partnering Mindset

Looking at the term Business Partnering in a global context you don’t really get a straightforward view on how this is implemented in companies around the world. You can find several open “Finance Business Partner” positions although they are mostly centered around the UK. If you look for open “FP&A Business Partner” positions though you don’t find even one. So, this begs the question when it comes to FP&A. Is Business Partnering a job role or purely a mindset? Since you can’t find any open roles the answer is simply that it’s more a mindset than a job role (at least for now). Therefore, it would seem important that we look at what is the mindset of a business partner. 

The key attributes of a business partner mindset 

There’s not one version of the truth and you can always argue to include different ones than what you see below but typically these would be the most important ones. 

• Purpose-driven meaning that they are driven by more than just a paycheck at the end of the month. This is essential because a business partner’s primary role is to ensure the success of others. (S)he can never be a success in his or her own right.
• Act as if company money is their own money meaning that in all their decision they would ask themselves: “Would I actually do this if I had to pay myself?” This question is important not only when it comes to spending company money but certainly also when it comes to the company’s product(s). Assuming it’s for normal consumers the business partner would also ask: “Would I buy this product myself?”
• They see it – they own it meaning that if something goes wrong they would not point fingers at someone else but rather take responsibility in front of their stakeholders to get it fixed. Likewise, they wouldn’t just point out issues with performance. Instead, they would offer suggestions as to how to improve performance and ensure it gets done.
• They think “Customer First” meaning that they always think of their internal stakeholders or the company’s customers before they think of themselves. Like above, a business partner is only successful if their stakeholders are successful which typically goes hand in hand with happily paying customers.
• They are role models meaning that everyone else in Finance or the whole company for that matter looks up to them and follow them regardless if the business partner has a formal leadership role or not.

In summary, you really want people on your team that has this mindset as they are critical to the long-term success of your FP&A team and the company overall. 

Couldn’t anyone adopt this mindset? 

Yes, that’s the beauty of it. This is not reserved for FP&A, Finance or anyone else. This is a mindset that everyone can adopt but there’s no reason why the FP&A team couldn’t take charge of driving this mindset not least with the other colleagues in Finance. To make it even more tangible for you let’s look at a few situations where you should drive this mindset. 

• The management team is going on an off-site and you make sure tickets are booked at an optimal time, you get a group discount at the hotel and that the venue is optimized to ensure ideal conditions for the off-site wasting minimal time on logistics.
• You’re in a meeting with some of your important stakeholders and they’re discussing how a change in processes recently are making their jobs more difficult. You remind them why the change was made because it’s without a doubt making the customers happier and improves profitability.
• You’re at a strategy meeting and people are discussing a lot of different ideas for how to regain market share by creating a lot of new products and going into different markets etc. You make them pause for a while and think back at the purpose of the company and its mission statement. This helps the team regain focus and spend the time discussing initiatives that could really make a difference.

In conclusion, if everyone thinks and acts like a business partner, there’s a lot of money “lying on the street” ready to be picked up. Just think about what a difference that would make for the whole finance department and FP&A no less to make a positive impact on company performance? 

If you by now have read the full series on “FP&A Business Partnering In A Global Context” you will not only know what it is, but also how you can implement it in your FP&A function, how you can use it to improve company performance, what tools you can use to partner with your stakeholders, and what it takes to develop a business understanding. Finally, you have learned about how to get closer to the business and what a true business partner mindset is. Now you’re ready to begin your journey of becoming a trusted business partner to your most important stakeholders. I can assure you that they are waiting for you with open arms so what are you waiting for?

This is the sixth and final article in the series "Business Partnering for the FP&A team" which was originally published at prevero.com. You can read previous articles in the series below.

What Is FP&A Business Partnering?

How To Implement Business Partnering In FP&A

How To Improve Company Performance With FP&A Business Partnering

Here's How FP&A Can Partner With The Business

Does Your FP&A Team Understand The Business?

I encourage you to take a tour of my past articles on finance transformation, finance business partnering and not least “Introducing The Finance Transformation Nine Box” which is really the starting point for the transformation. You should join our Finance Business Partner Forum which is part of the Business Partnering Institute's online community where we will continue to discuss this topic and you can click here to follow me on Twitter.

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How To Become A Finance Business Partner

Financial Analyst vs. Finance Business Partner

You’re A Finance Business Partner, Now What?

Building A Team Of Finance Business Partners

Anders Liu-Lindberg is the Head of Global Finance Program Management Office at Maersk and I have more than 10 years of experience working with Finance at Maersk both in Denmark and abroad. My main goal at Maersk is to create a world-class finance function not least when it comes to Business Partnering. I am also the co-founder of the Business Partnering Institute and owner of the largest group dedicated to Finance Business Partnering on LinkedIn with more than 6,000 members. I am the co-author of the book “Skab V?rdi Som Finansiel Forretningspartner” and a long-time Finance Blogger with 23.000+ followers.