How to assess if your FP&A team is fit-for-purpose
Anders Liu-Lindberg
Leading advisor to senior Finance and FP&A leaders on creating impact through business partnering | Interim | VP Finance | Business Finance
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As we transform FP&A we also need new capabilities to succeed. The essential roles within a high-performing, agile team have been redefined to reflect the changing environment and expectations of the finance function. It is no longer enough for staff to be assessed on their technical competence, but without the old benchmarks, how are leaders to determine if their team is fit for purpose?
This is not a new phenomenon. Finance leadership has had to deal with assessing a variety of skill sets over the years as best practices and technology have evolved and shifted. Now, though, change is accelerating, and with it the role of FP&A.
An FP&A leader will have a variety of technical competencies in their team, which is familiar territory for assessment. However, they also have a range of new key skills and personal competencies that must be assessed on an individual and equitable basis. How can you best serve the analysts, the statisticians, the narrators, and the partners as they seek to progress in their careers?
Assessment strategies for an agile FP&A team
As every accountant knows, establishing key performance indicators is the first step to measuring success. To properly assess the team these KPIs have to be determined. It’s a qualitative exercise. These are benchmarks without easy numbers. The key skills have to be defined and competency levels described in behavioral terms for proper assessment.
The next challenge is the assessment process itself, understanding a team member’s ability to perform and helping them to move forwards in their career.
One technique is to observe a small group of team members working together on a project. How each individual approaches the project demonstrates their strengths and weaknesses and the role they choose to take in the team. For example, what is their approach to problem-solving? Do they reach out to stakeholders, behaving as a narrator or partner, or do they seek to analyze and solve problems alone?
This observation alone will highlight skills that need to be developed, training that could help an individual’s career, or behaviors that need to be addressed. The next step is to work directly with the individual and understand their motivations, aspirations, and their own understanding of where they are on their journey.
This is a true 360 assessment of each team member that will help both you and them to understand their ability to perform as part of the FP&A team of the future and to create proper development plans to help them reach their full potential.
Transformational teams
We talk about the FP&A team of the future, but the future will be here before we know it. The added dimensions that give us new roles within the team, and the mentoring and coaching required of leadership, are already established in businesses where FP&A is responsible for driving the right strategic choices.
We’ve come a long way since electronic spreadsheets changed the role of management accounting forever and set us on the path to becoming financial planning and analysis professionals.?
A transformed and transformational team brings FP&A to the forefront as a business partner and C-suite peer. A well-structured, fairly assessed, and motivated team ensures continuity of decision-making support as the business grows.
Have you worked through the transformation of your own career and the FP&A function? What key benchmarks would you choose to assess interpersonal skills, behavior, and performance in different roles in the team? Let us know in the comments.
This was the fourth article in my new series "Building the FP&A team of the future". You can read the previous article(s) below.
While you await future articles you can read my previous series "The ten commandments of planning and forecasting" below.
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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.
Can't help falling in love FP&A?(the last article in my series about charting the course for a successful FP&A career)
Can we trust the machine for financial planning and analysis??(the last article in my series "Planning (as we know it) is dead")
The secret sauce of FP&A transformation?(the last article in the series "FP&A Transformation Talks")
How Finance should use its seat at the table?(the last article in the series "The Unfair Advantage of Finance")
The ultimate guide to decision-making for finance professionals?(the last article in a series about the decision-making process and how Finance should impact it)
The Mindset Change Checklist For Finance Professionals?(the last article in a series about the mindset change that finance and accounting professionals should make to become business partners)
It's Time To Decide If You Want To Be A Business Partner?(the last article in a series about the personality traits of business partners)
All Successful Business Partners Are "Leaders"?(the last article in the series about our new capability model)
Should We Keep Talking About Business Partnering??(part of a 17-article series where we deep-dive into the WHY, WHAT, and HOW of business partnering by putting it on a formula)
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 a case study series where I interview business partners about how they drive value creation using real cases)
Anders Liu-Lindberg?is the co-founder and a partner at?Business Partnering Institute?and the owner of the largest?group dedicated to Finance Business Partnering?on LinkedIn with more than 11,000 members. I have ten years of experience as a business partner at the global transport and logistics company?Maersk. I am the co-author of the book “Create Value as a Finance Business Partner” and a?long-time Finance Blogger?on LinkedIn with 115,000+ followers and 200,000+ subscribers to my blog. I am also an advisory board member at?Born Capital?where I help identify and grow the next big thing in?#CFOTech.?Finally, I'm a member of the board of directors at?PACE - Profitability Analytics Center of Excellence?where I support the development of new analytics frameworks that can improve profitability in companies around the world.
I teach Finance Teams how to use AI - Keynote speaker on AI for Finance (DM me if you need help)
1 年Knowing where you are and where you want to go is the first step to a greater FP&A function!