To Succeed With Business Partnering You Need A Role Model

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Think back to a time where you have learned the most. Was it at school? Was it from reading a book? Or was it from seeing an experienced person do what you wanted to learn firsthand? Most likely, it was seeing it done in real life. It is no different with business partnering. Working with an experienced business partner in action gives so much inspiration to how you can do it yourself. It is role models like these we sorely need for Finance to succeed with business partnering! 

Many companies apply a 70/20/10 strategy when it comes to learning. 70% on the job training, 20% from reading and online training, and the last 10% from classroom training. However, often they lack a proper structure for how to realize the on-the-job training. 

They ask you to do the job and expect you to learn and become better, ideally with some feedback and guidance from your leader. This is ineffective at best and we believe there is a different path to effective learning. Enter a role model that your team members can learn from by seeing how it is done. 

To us succeeding with business partnering requires the following…

If you do not have a role model on your team or in your company, you can only move so and so fast on your business partnering journey. It will take longer to learn how to do it successfully and you will make more mistakes. No one knows this better than Anders who took ten years to learn how to succeed with business partnering. 

A role model can be anyone in the team (individual contributor), a team leader (direct leader), or a more senior leader. What is important is that aspiring business partners can experience this person in action and learn from them. 

How to activate the role models in your company? 

People are not born role models but rather made over time. However, you likely already have some of them in your company but you also to teach them how to be role models for your efforts to succeed with business partnering. This requires that the potential role model… 

• …is aware of the impact of what she is role modeling
• …creates time for dialogue, reflection, and debriefing
• …makes a conscious effort to articulate what she is doing while doing it 

In this way, you can make it clear to role models what their responsibilities are and probe into if they would like to take active responsibility. It is indeed an assignment to be a role model and it works in some ways like a mentor/mentee relationship. The difference is that a mentee often does not see the mentor in action. The role model is supposed to be seen in action. 

Here are some ways that you can activate role models in your company

If you do not have any suitable internal candidates, you can also consider hiring from the outside. The key point is that you bring in people with demonstrated success as business partners and know how to transfer that knowledge. 

If you lack role models in your organization, recruit from the outside

If you do not have obvious role models in your organization, we recommend getting someone one team – preferably for a permanent position. Many companies, however, struggle to attract high calibre-candidates, and in this case, it is a good alternative to go for an interim business partner solution. 

At BPI, we help elevate teams by “lending out” interim business partners to your organization. They are experienced business partners with a proven track record trained in the BPI toolbox and way of working. 

We have developed a process for how a typical engagement work, which can also inspire permanent hires for how to onboard effectively. 

Start-up and stabilize 

First, the interim resource must understand the current situation and secure stable operations. This means ensuring that the job of the vacant role gets done. After all that is why an interim resource was hired in the first place. At the same time, the interim resource will observe how other team members work and engage with business stakeholders. Based on the observations and experience of the interim resource a set of success criteria for the assignment will be developed. 

Implement and optimize 

Now it is time to start elevating the impact of the team. This is done by using a hands-on and easy to use toolbox and sharing how they are used with the rest of the team. Improvements will be visible from week to week as process changes are implemented as agreed. In addition, on-the-job training will be carried out by the interim resource to the other team members. 

Handover and evaluate 

Towards the end of the assignment, a new hire has likely joined, and a handover will take place. The interim resource will ensure that the team leader and team members take ownership of the implemented improvements ensuring a sustainable change has happened. Moreover, the interim resource will make a list of potential actions for making further improvements. In that way, the leader understands where she is on the business partnering journey and how to progress it further. 

Now it is time you look around in your team and the wider finance function. Do you have any role models in your company? Are they aware of their responsibility as role models? How do you see visible results from their role modeling? If you can articulate good answers to all these questions you likely have a good role model setup already. If not, then perhaps now is a good time to start a role modeling program. They can clearly elevate the impact of the team and help your company deliver better business results by extension.

Business Partnering Institute has interim business partners available to start helping you today. You can reach us at [email protected] or get directly in touch with Anders on +45 2926 6410.

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This was the sixteenth article in the series "Business Partnering On A Formula". You can read past articles in the series below.

This Is How We Succeed With Business Partnering

Business Partnering On A Formula

This Is How Business Partners Have Impact And Drive Value Creation

Here's Why You Want A Business Partner At The Table

Decision ≠ Action - But What Can Finance Do About It?

How Do Business Partners Generate Insights?

A Business Partner Is Like A Mechanic, Always Looking To Optimize The Engine Room

Performance Management Done Right Is A Gold Mine Of Insight

Here Is How Finance Can Grow The Business

If Only It Was Enough For Finance To Be Right

Successful Business Partners Do Not Hang Around In The Finance Department

How Business Partners Get To The Point... Fast

Business Partners Must "Train Like They Fight" To Succeed

The Business Partnering Readiness Checklist

If you want to become a better business partner you should consider taking our online course "Business Partnering Explained - Value Creation Unlocked" to get a better handle on the role. It's accredited for 5.5 CPD hours.

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.

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 the co-founder, COO (Chief Operating Officer), and CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) at the Business Partnering Institute and owner of the largest group dedicated to Finance Business Partnering on LinkedIn with more than 8,500 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 45.000+ followers.