Forget Numbers, Start Building People Relationships

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This article is co-written by Will Barnes and Anders Liu-Lindberg

Relationship development is one of today’s superpowers. Done correctly it can unlock potential, open opportunities and developments we never thought possible. Done incorrectly it can damage and fracture a person’s or organizations image, creditability and integrity. This being the case, why do some many of us fail to do anything to develop this superpower?

This is particularly important for FP&A in their role of being business partners who provide insights across multiple information platforms and channels, against the context of organizational goals and objectives, changes to external market dynamics, and increasing stakeholder expectations around data and information. 

What are the missing ingredients?

So what does FP&A professionals of tomorrow need to consider when becoming a true superhero of relationship development?  Through our experience and from looking across successful people and organizations (and ones that weren’t quite as successful) we see this as coming down to three core elements: 

• Building a foundation of trust 
• Using emotional intelligence (intelligently) 
• Delivering to the level of other’s expectations (and not to the level of your training) 

Building a foundation of trust

The roles of a typical FP&A professional crosses across multiple elements of an organization’s supply chain, organizational structure and across functions and teams. They depend on information, feedback and organizational insights to consider what this means now, and how to use this information to make better decisions and plans. 

This cannot be done without building a strong layer of trust. But what does trust mean? For us, it comes down to 4 simple letters: C.R.I.S or in other words the Trust Equation. 

• Credibility: Demonstrate the skills and experience of being a business partner through the words spoken to provide insights, wisdom and suggestions to others. 
• Reliability: Do what you say you are going to do. Align your words to your actions. 
• Intimacy: Provide safety and security to others so that they entrust your role as a business partner and feel comfortable to provide sensitive information, challenge and support actions and roles being undertaken. 
• Self-orientation: Focus on the people you are partnering with, be self-aware and care about the important things to them and their roles. 

Being aware of these areas provides a framework to ensure we start and develop a business partnering relationship in the right way.

EQ is the new gold standard

However, keeping the relationship on track and using positive influence also comes down to Emotional Intelligence skills. Using emotional intelligence (intelligently). For many, Daniel Goleman was the forefather of the term and frameworks that support the current buzz words around emotional intelligence. In acting as a business partner, having skills and developing emotional intelligence is key in understanding differing perspectives and opinions, providing insight and challenge, and knowing the right time to push and pull individuals. 

While many have strong emotional intelligence skills as part of their DNA, those of you that wish to develop this superpower intelligently need to focus on 4 key areas: 

1. Self-awareness: Being emotionally self-aware and recognizing when your actions, decisions or words are based on an emotional response or not. 
2. Self-management: Maintaining a positive outlook, being adaptable, maintaining a focus on achievement and a stance of emotional balance are key in managing yourself, and providing an image in your role of a business partner as the go to knowledgeable and right pair of hands to get things done. 
3. Social awareness: A key perspective of a business partner is to provide the broader perspective to their partners based on their organizational knowledge and insights. Also, act in a way which seeks to understand and appreciate the perspective and contexts of your partners, team and wider sphere of stakeholders to provide and ensure effective communication, decision making and conduct of actions at the most appropriate time. 
4. Relationship management: One of the key aspects of an effective business partner is to use their skills, experience and insights to coach and mentor those around them. Use your skills to help others better understand your role, the link between the numbers and day to day operations, and what the goals and external market dynamics mean for the organization or a given project. Support others to be a more rounded, informed and effective executives within the organization. 

Delivering to the level of other’s expectations

FP&A professionals are no different than the rest of us finance professionals. We all look for opportunities to show others how smart and well trained we are. We are proud of all the long hours and focus it took to get to where we are (and why we shouldn’t).

However, does this desire act as the most helpful tactic when wanting to influence and build a relationship with others?

One the final elements to ensuring your role as a business Partner is to understand and align the work performance and insights provided to the expected levels of those partnered with, customers and other stakeholders within the organization. To achieve this, is it key for FP&A to understand each individual role, their goals and motivations to ensure expectations are established correctly and managed appropriately.

Your relationships determine your level of success in the future

Combined these elements provide a strong base for developing strong relationships and as an FP&A professional, and to ultimately developing yet another superpower as a finance professional of the future.

Without strong relationships with business stakeholders and other departments within Finance, FP&A professionals will fail to develop the relationships they need to deliver on their purpose and drive the right strategic choices in the company. No relationship? No one will listen. It’s that simple so regardless of the relationships you have today you need to start building stronger ones for the future.

Almost any relationship can be salvaged, and new ones can always be formed. So how are you going to start building those relationships? Hopefully the guidance we’ve provided here will give you a boost to succeed right away! If you have any good stories about how you created a strong relationship we would like to hear them too. Just reach out and we’ll find a way to feature them. Now let’s start building some real superpowers!

This was the second article in the series "Here's To The New Look FP&A Professional". You can the previous article(s) below.

Here's To The New Look FP&A Professional

You can read a lot more articles about FP&A, Business Partnering, and Finance Transformation below. It all start's with “Introducing The Finance Transformation Nine Box” where you set the ambition for your transformation. You should join the 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.

4 Steps For Business Partners To Make An Immediate Impact (part of an eight-article series where I share lessons from the business partner trenches)

Why Did You Become A Business Partner - Ranu Sharma

Your Journey To Successful Business Partnering Explained

How To Create Value Through Business Partnering

Everyone Can Adopt A Business Partnering Mindset (part of a six-article series about FP&A Business Partnering)

From Business Partner To Working Within The Business (part of an article series where I interview finance professionals about their careers in FP&A and Business Partnering)

Is Your Product Optimized For Value Creation? (part of a toolbox series where we look at what tools FP&A professionals should leverage to drive value creation)

How Business Partners Turn Analysis To Insight (part of case study series where I interview business partners about how they drive value creation using real cases)

The Future Of FP&A: Two Ways To Take The Reins

What Is The Accounting Profession Paradox?

What Defines A Finance Master?

The New Career Path For Finance Professionals

How Finance People Can Be More Successful

The CFOs Roadmap To Transforming Finance

How To Become A Finance Business Partner

Financial Analyst vs. Finance Business Partner

Finance Business Partner Is A Bullshit Job

How Business Partners Keep A Plan On Track

Anders Liu-Lindberg is a Senior Finance Business Partner at Maersk supporting our largest product and I have more than 10 years of experience working with Finance at Maersk both in Denmark and abroad. 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 almost 8,000 members. My main goal at Maersk is to show how to be successful with business partnering and drive value creation as a trusted partner. I am the co-author of the book “Create Value as a Finance Business Partner” and a long-time Finance Blogger with 38.000+ followers.