FBP Newsletter #39: Great Business Partnering Takes Time

Hello and welcome...?to our weekly newsletter, where we share 3 things weekly to help you become a great FBP.

This week those 3 things are:

-?Great Business Partnering Takes Time

-?Influencing with?Consistency

-?FBP Accelerator Program - starts 9th November

*** And don't forget our FBP Bootcamp that runs once a month.....sign up here totally FREE! ***

Great Business Partnering Takes Time

Most people who know me well know I love my sport - and particularly my AFL.

And so this last weekend was one of my favourite of the year wtih the seasons?decider?- the AFL Grand Final.

And each year it is becoming even more obvious the?best decisions made in these tense sporting contests are often done by those who have been around a while.

And developing your finance business partnering skills is no different. These things don't happen overnight, they require practice, and building piece by piece. Which takes time.

For those looking at becoming great at it - I would focus on two things.

The first is understanding your business and the activities that go on in it. This requires getting away from your desk and observing the business, and then connecting it to the financial outcomes you see on your screen at your desk.

And yes, that can only be done getting away from your desk. And doing it regularly so you experience your organisations products, operations and customers.

The second takes even longer. And that is building up your relationships and connections with people so that people will let you into their world. This comes through personal interaction and often having discussions about non work related items.

And it takes even longer to build. Its little bit by little bit with the aim being that the other person feels comfortable enough with you that they will bring you into their world, answer your questions and share information with you in a timely manner.

Both of these things take time and consistency. Which is why just hiring a finance business partner won't solve your issues immediately.?It requires time to understand the organisation and build strong relationships so they can operate quickly, effectively and non finance feel safe around them.

This is why it is such a hard role to fill.

My suggestion for anyone hiring a finance business partner. Promote from within with a strong senior mentor to support them. The above two issues will be well ahead of bringing an external in to do it.

And?is why Pendlebury and Sidebottom were so valuable to Collingwood at the end of Saturdays grand final (back to? my AFL story) after nearly 700 games between them. They both know what to do, when to do it and their calm heads help everyone around them.

PS: Congratulations Collingwood on your victory. I am not a Collingwood fan, and?seeing them win ruined my day!?

How Commitment Helps You Influence

In last weeks newlsetter I talked about myself and theFBPteam too much and we missed the final factor in influencing from Robert Cialdinis classic book....?

Commitment and Consistency

This one relates to people having a strong desire to be consistent to things they have committed to.

Doing what we say we are going to do helps build trust and reliability, which is important in most societies.

Similarly doing something small helps get people to buy into something big

Its why we provide samples - and yes its why I run a free bootcamp every month.

If you come along and see what we provide and you like it, you are likely to turn to us when you?want to develop your business partnering skills more quickly.

And in finance we can leverage this in many situations.

Get someone to commit to a small process change before asking for the big one.

Get someone to commit to a long deadline before giving them an earlier one.

A little rather than a lot.

And always repeat back to them what you have heard them say and confirm it with them

That commitment ensures they will be consistent with it in the future.

FBP Accelerator: Essentials

We have limited places left for our final public program of the year our?FBP Accelerator: Essentials

So if you are looking for a place to sharpen those business partnering skills, signup for 16 hours of CPD.

What's included:

- Lifetime Access to our 7 Day FBP Kickstart on demand video library; value $549

- 5 x 2 hour workshops hosted by myself; value priceless.

- 16 hours of CPD

Workshop 1:?The Principles of FBP

Unlock the approach, style and changes you need to make as a finance professional to succeed with business partnering.

When: Tuesday 9th November 8am-10am Sydney Time

9pm-11pm London Time

4pm-6pm New York Time

Workshop 2:?Freeing up for FBP

Nobody in finance has time for anything these days. Learn the secrets of prioritisation, automation and delegation so you can free up your time to work on what matters

When:?Tuesday 16th November 8am-10am Sydney Time

9pm-11pm London Time

4pm-6pm New York Time

Workshop 3:?Numbers & Visualisation

Finance Professionals often provide tables of numbers, complete data sets and visualisations with too much on. Great FBPs show the best bits and use visualisation sparingly

When:?Tuesday 23rd November 8am-10am Sydney Time

9pm-11pm London Time

4pm-6pm New York Time

Workshop 4:?Implementing Insights

Non finance don't speak about financial outcomes they speak about other things. We will get you speaking the commercial language of your business partners in a way that helps them action the insight from all of your data.??

When:?Tuesday 30th November 8am-10am Sydney Time

9pm-11pm London Time

4pm-6pm New York Time

Workshop 5:?Relationships and Influence

You can not influence if people don't trust you. Great Relationships gets you the information you need, your questions answered and sometimes you even get stuff you didn't ask for. Which speeds everything up.?

When:?Tuesday 7th December 8am-10am Sydney Time

9pm-11pm London Time

4pm-6pm New York Time

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This will be a truly global cohort with learnings from vastly different groups being shared.

If you are interested in this for you or team members sign up here

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Finance Business Partnering is all we do at?theFBPteam by helping fix the biggest issues finance faces in an organisation......

?? Non Finance has a poor perception of finance

?? We don't understand the business and have poor relationships

?? We communicate poorly and are unable to influence decisions

And you solve it through your business partnering skills - and why is that important

Because once the Robots arrive, the only thing left will be Business Partnering.

If you are ready for?theFBPteam to transform your finance team then click my ?? and get access to my regular posts or DM me directly for a free consultation