Progression for everyone

Stuck in the past

Back in March I flew out to India for the first time.

It was genuinely one of the most enlightening experiences of my career. Quantico had a team of people out there for a few years, but with covid, I'd never actually managed to get out there to see everyone.

I thought I knew the team from hundreds of hours of video calls, but nothing quite matches the experience of meeting everyone face to face and getting to know them personally. I was totally blown away by how talented and passionate everyone in the team was.?

But, our first session - a 'challenge everything' workshop designed to tease out everything they didn't like about how our team was run - and I was hit with a question I had absolutely no response for.

"Dan, I love the business" Sunita [not real name] said "but I've been at the top of the FinOps Associate skills ladder for over a year now, how come I can't progress to FinOps Manager?"

I was stumped.

How did we get here?? Let's dive in?

The Dirty Little Secret

It all begins with offshoring.?

Offshoring is the dirty little secret of consulting and accounting firms. Globalisation (and tech) meant you could get a team of highly-skilled, low-paid people to do all the boring things you didn’t want to.?

For them, offshoring was all about cost savings. The work was boring and the people doing it were undervalued. But… and this is the secret… it didn’t matter because they were half way across the world. Every large corporate did it - at PwC it was called GADM.?

I’m embarrassed to admit but when we started Quantico, we did things a little like everyone else.?

We put people in the UK (our FinOps Managers and Leads) into the offices of exciting startups. But our FinOps Associates - based in India - were kept behind the scenes making things run smoothly. Sounds a lot like offshoring doesn’t it…?

The shift to remote-first

We had been brainwashed into thinking that the distance and time-zone challenges meant that we were stuck with the offshoring model - the way it had always been done.

But then there was a global pandemic.

Following the pandemic, working ‘norms’ went out the window. Flexible working hours and locations were no longer a ‘perk’, just the way things are done.

Businesses realised that great work can actually happen when you’re not in the same office, or even on the same continent. This mindset shift (and a slew of new tech platforms) opened up a whole new way to work with colleagues who live in the same city as you, and those who live half a world away.?

Suddenly we had an opportunity to re-think how we worked and to really perfect working globally.

Not shipping off boring tasks. Just working with the best and brightest people you can possibly find - wherever you can find them. Not as a separate, lesser part of your business but fully integrated into your team.

Talent is precious, don’t waste it

Now, bringing a global workforce together is no easy thing to solve. But it can be done. And trust me, when it works, it works really well.

First, you’ve got to invest - and keep reinvesting - in systems to make it work. You can’t just throw people and tasks together, you’ve got to work everyday to ensure you’ve got the right tools and practices in place (things like Notion, learning buddies, virtual socials) so everyone can do their best work.?

Then, you’ve got to obsess over getting the best out of your people. It’s not just brining the best people into the team, it’s ensuring that everyone in the team has a progression pathway, learning & development time and a real drive to progress their careers.?

Which leads us right to Sunita’s question. Why couldn’t she become a FinOps Manager?

Why indeed.

An international role

So, we’ve doubled-down on helping our team develop and progress their careers. And we’ve opened up our FinOps Manager role to anyone who meets our (admittedly incredibly tough criteria) - we call it the International FinOps Manager.

This means we can help even more talented, motivated and passionate people to love what they do, wherever they happen to be. And they get to have a real impact on some of the most exciting businesses in the world - startups.?

As you know, we are proud to have transparent salaries and pricing structures that work for our team and our partners. We benchmark our salaries and pay competitively but we’re happy to pass that saving on to our partners for the opportunity to work with them.

This means not only do you get incredible talent in your team, it’s also just ￡380/day.

It’s a no brainer.

What’s next

I’ve been so proud to see how well the trial of this new position has worked. The feedback has been incredible. The talent we’ve found in India for our International FinOps Manager role is amazing. And it gives the perfect opportunity for Sunita and the rest of our current team in India to continue to develop at Quantico and progress into the role.?

Though we’ve started this in India, it is by no means the only place we are on the lookout for talent.

We’re on a mission to ensure that everyone, wherever they are, gets access to work that fulfils their potential. It’s better for them and it’s much, much better for the businesses they work in.

If you want to be a part of the movement, or know more, get in touch with me here .