Why It Took Me Ten Years To Become A Good Business Partner
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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Business partnering is the next stage in the evolution of the Finance Function. Increasingly, Finance professionals are being asked or expected to break the traditional boundaries of the Finance Function, and transition into a business partnering role.
This has real implications for the day-to-day work undertaken by those professionals. Business partnering doesn't come naturally for everyone, and we all need support at different stages of our careers.
Here, I'd like to share my own career journey in business partnering so far. I want to show you that you can add real value to organizations and, crucially, have a fulfilling working life - and there's no fixed way to do it.
My business partnering journey
In 2009, I was nearing the end of my time in a graduate program for Finance professionals. During the final module, the Group CFO of the company entered the room and told us all that the Finance Function was changing. We needed to be more impactful, he said; we needed to move from the trunk of the car into the passenger’s seat to become a co-driver.
It sounded great - but he didn't give any more information. We need to create more impact? Great! But how?
When I graduated from the program and entered business day-to-day, I was required to take on a business partnering role in a team. It involved daily and in-depth interactions with other people, a proactive mindset, and engaging with different parts of the business.
At the time, this was very awkward to me. It simply didn't fit my profile - in fact, at that stage in my life and career, simply picking up the phone to call someone was a challenge in itself.
This continued throughout the next part of my working life. It was now 2014, and still, nobody had really trained me in how to be a good business partner. The work made sense to me logically, but I was still struggling.
Getting energized
I soon realized that I wasn't finding work difficult because I wasn't good at it - instead, I was finding it difficult because I wasn't energized by it.
I would tell stories to myself to justify not going to meetings that might have been useful. I was making excuses for not fulfilling my potential.
In the previous articles in this series, we explored the importance of energy for Finance professionals and the difficulties that business partnering poses for people with some personality traits. I was certainly experiencing those difficulties. I'd had nobody to train me not only in the work but in the mindset required of a business partner. There were very few visible role models in the profession at that time, let alone in the company in which I worked. Without seeing "how it was done", I couldn't do it myself to the best of my abilities.
Getting training
That changed in 2017 when I joined a training program designed specifically for business partnering. It helped me to understand the trajectory of the Finance Function, and the different outlook that it requires of Finance professionals.
Most importantly, it surrounded me with people I could learn from - something I was sorely missing up to that point. I also found that when I was given training, I not only understood it but could also verbalize it. I could pass it on to others - and that's what I decided to do, later becoming the face of the training program itself.
The route to success
I gradually realized that I wasn't 'unsuited' to business partnering. As soon as I had received the guidance I needed, and had the opportunity to ask questions of people in similar roles, the energy came of its own accord. Suddenly, energized by my day-to-day work, I had the momentum and passion to progress and reach my potential.
As business partnering becomes the fundamental role for Finance, the development of competent and passionate Finance professionals has never been more important. There are three things I think that we can all do right now to make that happen:
- Ask questions: Whatever you're being asked to do, make sure you understand it and don't be afraid of looking silly for asking. If you're a business partner in training, demand this of your organization; if you're a leader, make sure that a culture of curiosity and questioning is embedded within the business.
- Find role models: This is perhaps the most important practical thing that both students and the profession can do. If you're a seasoned business partnering professional, then be that role model; if you're starting out on your journey, identify and connect with the role models around you.
- Build the support structure: Business partnering professionals need to be within an organizational structure that supports them and gives them the tools they require. We won't create a new generation of world-class business partners unless we focus on building processes that can help them succeed. If Finance is constantly doing the nuts-and-bolts work, Finance professionals will never thrive.
You won’t be able to succeed on your own but you can get far by implementing some of the learnings that I had on my journey. I wouldn’t wish for anyone to take ten years to reach the same point as me so if I could help you to cut it in half that would be fantastic! Where are you on your business partnering journey and what challenges are you finding the hardest to overcome? Share your story in the comments or send me a message and let me help you on your journey!
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This was the third article in my series "The personality of a business partner". You can read previous articles in the series below.
The Personality Traits Of A Business Partner
Does A Business Partner Need To Be Extrovert To Be Successful?
If you want to hear from other business partners talking about their career journey and energizes them about business partnering then check out some of the interviews below.
An Audit Officer's Journey Towards Becoming A Business Partner
One Accountants Untraditional Route Through The Business To Business Partnering
What This Accountant Learned From A Stint In The Business
How An FP&A Director Provided Line Of Sight To Millions Of Dollars
A Note To Self From The Future From A Soon To Be Business Partner
Fast-track Your Career Path To Business Partnering Through Mentorship
Interview Guidance To Would-Be Business Partners From A Senior FP&A Manager
What Is Your Sales Pitch To Land A Business Partner Role?
How A Technology-driven Approach Elevated This Accountant To Be A Business Partner
To learn more about how to become a business partner you can read my ten-article series "Becoming a business partner" below.
The Accountants Journey Towards Becoming A Business Partner Unlocked
Your Career Path From Chartered Accountant To Business Partner Defined
Why Delivering Results Is A Key Priority For Would-Be Business Partners
The Resume That Will Surely Land You A Business Partner Role
The Cover Letter That Lands You The Business Partner Interview
What Senior Finance Leaders Look For In Business Partners
What To Do On Your First Day As A Business Partner
The 100-day Plan For Successful Business Partner
Are There Second Chances In Business Partnering
The Senior Finance Leader As A Business Partner
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.
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 on the WHY, WHAT, and HOW of business partnering by putting it on a formula)
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 9,000 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 57.500+ followers.
Financial Management|Financial reporting|Financial Analysis|ICS set up and implementation|Accounting systems Implementation|Project Management|Brand Management|
3 年Thanks for Sharing your Journey, to me it comes both as an encouragement and also gives me a lot of questions in terms of the environment, depending on organizational structures and cultures many finance professionals find themselves having to work so hard to create value especially in a culture where information is not readily available or is shared on a need to Know basis I have had this question from the majority of mentees working in startups and also in organizations that are inclined to the traditional transactional finance professional What would be the way forward for such professionals and what would you advise Anders Liu-Lindberg
Professionalizing finances in growing businesses ?? Fractional CFO | FP&A | Podcast host | Financial Puzzle Solver | Have a financially healthy & sustainable business
3 年I’m starting to think of business partnering as internal consulting with emphasis on finances. It takes being able to look at a business from different perspectives - not just high vs detailed level, but also from perspectives from other fields (marketing, sales, ops, hr etc). And tying all of that into great stewardship of resources. As for my journey - it’s been a slow and steady evolution of not just my skills but also general curiosity about the world and business overall. Besides the general (and standard) training of finance and accounting, there was no guide to follow and develop it, unfortunately. It was all self-taught by experiences I’ve had.
Director - LMS Advisory, Advising SME's on Growth, Strategic Planning, Maximising Profit & Cashflow. Financial enabler. AI/Tech enthusiast | LMS | KeepMyBooks | WihseFP |Cerebiz |
3 年Your post reiterated to me The importance of mentoring, guidance and leadership to bring the next generation to new heights. Without clear direction we can all be rudderless , in work and life Anders Liu-Lindberg
Finance Business Partner | Writer | Geek
3 年Thanks for sharing your career story! It only confirms that business partnering is a voyage, as with most things in life. I'd also add once performance appraisals are done right and you're open to learning, only serves as sources for business partners to excel above status quo.