We were chatting at a recent Member’s Live event at the FBP Member’s Club. I’m not entirely sure how this came up, but we were talking about the pudding lady that I used to have at school!
Bear with me on this one! Back at school, I made friends with the lady who served the puddings, the desserts. And because I smiled and chatted to her, I always got bigger puddings than everybody else. And on a Friday, it was bread and butter pudding day with custard.
Oh my goodness! I absolutely loved that dish, it was my absolute favorite! And, because I’d made friends with the pudding lady, she always kept the biggest piece to one side especially for me!
Now translating that into the Finance Business Partner world, you might think there’s a bit of a stretch.
But actually, who do you need to partner with, to help you achieve your Finance Business Partnering goals, that’s what this is all about. That’s what that analogy is about.
It could be people in the tax department or external tax consultants that you need to build a stronger relationship with, so that they help you when you need it, and you help them when they need it.
Certainly, the tax department where I worked, I definitely made best friends with them, because I always felt so clueless about the latest tax legislation.
It could be something else – you might need to partner with someone who’s really strong on the latest IFRS regulations, or something like that.
But who do you need to partner with to be more effective in your role? Who do you need to build a stronger relationship with? I’m thinking outside of just your main stakeholders.
This, of course includes your stakeholders, the people you are actually partnering with, but who else? Think widely about who you need to build relationships with, so that you can work more effectively, more quickly, more swiftly, all those things to achieve your Finance Business Partnering goals.
If you’re achieving your business partnering goals, then that means it should be fully aligned with the organisation’s goals. That means you should be smashing it for the organization as well.
There you go! You got that from pudding lady conversation!
Wishing you every success on your own at Finance Business Partner growth journey this week. 😊
