Why Is Business Partnering So Important?

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:

- Why Is Business Partnering So Important?

- FBP v AI

-?Upcoming Programs and Client News

And don't forget, theFBPteam is here to help you develop a highly engaged and commercially?strong?finance team that other functions want to work with.... book in a call to see if we can help at...

www.calendly.com/andrewjepson

Why Is Business Partnering So Important?

When I first started working in a business unit I was a firm believer that the way I was going to get ahead was to build awesome reports, provide great commentary about what was happening and why and visualise information into dashboards so my stakeholders could distill it.

And if that didn't work - just create more reports, even more detailed commentary and produce more dashboards.

Once I nailed that though I was then left with "well what do I do now"

And it was then I realised my real value as a contributor to the organisation was not as someone who was reporting the numbers, but someone who could improve the numbers.

Which is where business partnering comes in.

Sure highlighting what's happened and why accruately has a place. Its effectively what finance is built off and gives us credibility. But in the future less of that will be done by humans in finance and more will be done by robots in finance.?

Which leaves every finance professional who works in an organisation with one choice.

Continue doing things the robots can replace me with. Or learn some other skills they can't replace.....and those skills are your business partnering skills.

Helping the other functions navigate through important decisions and the execution of them is where finance can bring it's real value.

And you are only able to do that if the other functions want to bring you into their world. Do they see you can add value through your core competency and do you do it in a way that is effective?

Often we focus on the first, whereas its the second that gets you a foot in the door with other functions. No matter how good your analysis is, if they don't enjoy working with you and trust you, all of the analysis in the world isn't going to shift them.

And so since 2016 I have dedicated the rest of my career to helping finance professionals do this FBP thing properly.?

And the reason it is so important......

Because Once The Robots Arrive, The Only Thing Left Will Be Business Partnering.

FBP versus AI

Clearly I am a big advocate of business partnering - which?might also suggest I am not an advocate of AI.

Which couldn't be further from the truth.

I think AI is massively useful and every person in finance should?upskill in?it as soon as possible, especially for the repeatable low risk tasks.?

I am also a big believer that one thing FBPs need to demonstrate above most things is critical thinking - which is why I have spent the last month or so digging deep into AI, ChatGPT and Co Pilot so I can leverage it for its good stuff.

And test it out for its limitations.

It's also where I think FBP has a big win over AI.

Picture this - you are starting the interview process for a new hire in your finance team.

The first candidate comes in and dazzles you with their CV, has an awesome attitude, hard working etc etc. Ticking all the boxes so far.

You then ask them to talk about their development opportunities or limitations. And they tell you:

- I can be prone to making mistakes, I won't tell you and so you will need to check everything

-? I often don't understand context and have strong biases?so my answers can be linear and one dimensional

- I lack human soft skills and won't make a decision for you

Would you hire them as an FBP?

Nope.

If you look at the literature and do the courses on AI they all say these things as its limitations. Can make mistakes, lacks understanding of context, no human skills. Don't try to make it laugh or get angry at it, it doesn't understand.

Do I want that in the finance team that is front facing and working with the rest of the organisation.?

Nope.?

In fact it probably highlights the same things non finance gets frustrated with when people in finance behave like this.

Accordingly I say let's keep AI in the back office somewhere where nobody can see it and hope it just does what I tell it to do (along with those finance professionals who behave like it)

Upcoming FBP Programs & Clients?

FBP Bootcamp -Tuesday 23rd July?

Our next Bootcamp is less than two weeks away. In 60 minutes we will introduce you to the things the great FBPs and teams are doing in this space and what benefits it can have for you in your career and your organisation.

More importantly we do a Q&A at the end where you can ask me anything and get some answers to things specifically for you

Signup for you or your team below by clicking on the link below

Recent Client?Wins?

Iconic Australian Financial Institution?

This week we kicked off our FBP Essentials program with one of Australia's most iconic banks.

Working with 25 of their high performers we will be running them through our Essentials programover the next few weeks.

The bad news - we got interrupted on Thursday when I got Covid and had to cancel the second session.?Four years its taken me to get this thing and the timing couldn't have been worse for this client.

Telecommunications Giant

Earlier in the year we ran a pilot of our program for one of Australia's largest telecommunications companys.

And next week we roll it out with the rest of their finance team with another three cohorts running concurrently.

We have also provided this team our 360 GAP Survey which highlighted the things they are good at, the things they are not so good at, and more importantly the gaps between what they think and what finance thinks.

A real eye opener for those involved to see not only what they thought confirmed, but also highlight some of the blindspots and develop easy ways to address them.

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?? I own and run the global finance training company theFBPteam

?? We don’t help finance teams report performance, we help them improve performance

?? Sign up to my newsletter FBP Made Easy (oh wait you have if you are reading this)

?? Or join our FREE monthly FBP Bootcamp

Because once the robots arrive, the only thing left will be business partnering