1.0 Introduction: Moving Forward with a People-Focused Strategy in Financial Changes

At myCFOng, we trust in human-led finance transformation to modernise business operations. Harnessing the potential of your workforce is vital in the digital age. Transform your finance team into strategic partners with the proper training and technology.

In modern business, financial operations are undergoing pivotal changes. Essential among these is the shift from traditional methods to a strategy centred on human involvement, called Human-Led Finance Transformation.

This approach necessitates focusing on people, their skills, and their adaptability to foster innovation, improve efficiency, and drive transformative change in the financial sector.

1.1 What is a Human-Led Finance Transformation?

Prioritising people in finance operations is crucial to a human-led finance transformation. New technology can help make changes, but the people who manage and adjust to these changes make a difference.

People are essential to a successful change in finance. Encourage open communication in the finance team to tackle complex financial problems.

1.2 The Benefits of Putting People First

Companies that choose a Human-Led Finance Transformation see many benefits. These include better efficiency, improved teamwork, and more robust decision-making. Empowering the workforce drives innovation and prepares companies for financial challenges.

Learn about Human-Led Finance Transformation and its benefits for your company’s culture. Learn about the impact of putting people first in finance. Whether you’re a finance professional or a business leader seeking transformation, this is true.

2.0 People Before Technology: A Fresh Approach to Human-Led Financial Transformation

Investing in technology is crucial for modern financial functions. However, the essential steps for successful transformations are people-oriented.

• Better Communication
• Building Teamwork
• Developing Skills
• Growing Relationships
• Setting Clear Roles

These can transform your finance function into a powerful business catalyst.

As we move towards a more digital age, conversations about financial changes tend to concentrate on technology. But financial change requires a people-first mindset. It’s time to switch our focus from tech and focused on people – the real core of any organisation.

2.0.1 Better Communication

Clear and regular communication is vital when implementing financial changes. It reduces confusion, lessens resistance, and carries everyone along.

Openly discussing the change fosters trust and respect. Staff can share concerns, seek clarity, and provide feedback. This makes the change process inclusive and beneficial for all.

2.0.2 Building Teamwork

Teamwork is essential for a successful people-first financial change. Collaboration across different departments ensures everyone is on the same page.

Working in diverse teams can lead to innovations that prepare organisations for financial challenges.

2.0.3 Developing Skills

Training and development programs can help staff adapt to change. They also improve efficiency and build confidence.

Investing in employee skills pays off by making your organisation more adaptable to changing needs in finance.

2.0.4 Growing Relationships

Strong relationships with stakeholders can make financial change more effective. For example, customer needs shape change, while good supplier relationships save money.

2.0.5 Setting Clear Roles

Clear roles are essential for a people-first approach to financial change. Everyone should know their role, expectations, and how they contribute to overall goals.

Clear roles promote accountability and speed up change, increasing its chances of success.

People, not tech, drive financial change. Communication, teamwork, skills development, relationship building, and role clarity are essential. Technology is a tool, but lasting change comes from those who use it.

3.0 Preparing Your Finance Team for the Future

With the evolution of the finance function, the demand for new skills has become apparent. We advocate a strategy for financial upskilling and reskilling that includes the following:

1. Designing an “always-on” learning environment that promotes skill sharing and application.
2. Establishing programs that improve technical and non-technical capabilities. This includes data-driven storytelling, communication, adaptability, and innovation.
3. Identifying and addressing skills needed for future financial transformations.

A human-led financial transformation involves continuous learning and growing technical and non-technical skills. It also consists in understanding what skills to have for future transformations.

3.1 Building a Continuous Learning Environment

A critical step in preparing your finance team for the future is to create a space that encourages constant learning. Here, everyone is always open to learning and using new skills.

• This space should value shared knowledge, where everyone can learn from each other’s experiences.
• It should also let employees try out the new skills they’ve learned in real-world situations. This helps to make their knowledge stronger.
• This learning environment should be flexible and able to change with the needs of the business and the finance world.

3.1.1 Growing Both Technical and Non-Technical Skills

Finance is about more than just working with numbers. It now includes things like strategic decision-making, communication, and storytelling. That’s why it’s so important to have programs that help grow technical and non-technical skills.

• Advanced analytics, AI, and machine learning can streamline processes. They also improve data accuracy and enhance financial planning for finance professionals.

• Communication, adaptability, creativity, and data storytelling are essential skills for finance professionals. They bridge the gap between detailed data and critical decisions.

3.1.2 Understanding The Requirements for Future Transformations

Staying ahead of the game is a big part of preparing your finance team for the future. This means adapting to current changes and identifying and preparing for future ones.

• To do this, businesses should often check the skills gaps in their finance team. They should consider where industry trends and tech advancements are heading.

• Identifying these skills early allows businesses to train and develop proactively. This ensures that their finance teams are ready for the changes today and prepared for the future.

This approach creates stable, high-performing teams equipped to adapt to changing business needs. Experience shows that firms with robust upskilling programs have 27% lower turnover. This directly impacts productivity and retraining times.

4.0 Harnessing the Full Potential of Your Workforce

Maximising your technology investments hinges on unlocking the full potential of your people. Strive to enhance work significance and efficiency. Do this by fostering employee innovation and applying new skills.

Here are four strategies that we apply to achieve this:

• Empower your workforce to identify business challenges and create solutions.
• Simplify work processes using automation, digital social hubs, and chat tools.
• Flatten organisational silos to foster trust and collaboration.
• Create capacity for employees to learn and drive transformations.

4.0.1 Helping Your Team Shine

Those on your business’s front lines often see its problems and possibilities first-hand. Encourage these employees to be part of the solution by identifying issues and finding ways to fix them. This can create an innovative environment for practical and effective solutions. Remember, in a human-led finance transformation, everyone’s role matters.

4.0.2 Making Work Easier

With modern technology, you can make work processes more straightforward and more efficient. Automation can handle repetitive tasks, freeing your team to focus on more strategic work. Tools like digital social hubs and chat platforms make talking and working easier. This boosts productivity and team spirit. These tools can set the stage for successful transformations in finance.

4.0.3 Breaking Down Barriers

A workplace that values collaboration is critical for a human-led finance transformation. By tearing down walls within the company, you build trust and teamwork across different departments. Promote projects that require cooperation across different areas. This improves information flow and brings together other skills and viewpoints. This leads to well-rounded and robust solutions.

4.0.4 Encouraging Learning

Keeping up with the fast pace of finance today requires a strong focus on continuous learning and development. Make sure your employees have the chance to learn new skills and drive change. This could involve constant learning programs, mentorships, or structured training. A flexible, creative, and up-to-date team with the latest skills is a priceless asset in a human-led finance transformation.

By using these strategies, companies can tap into the power of their team. This makes them critical players in finance transformations. Remember, transforming successfully isn’t just about new tech; it’s about the people who use that tech to make positive change.

5.0 Positioning Finance as a Strategic Business Partner

Establishing the finance function as a strategic business partner is a top priority for many CFOs. The finance team should actively contribute to the business strategy.

Here’s how we facilitate this:

• 1. Assessing roles and competencies for your finance unit’s future size and scale.
• 2. Encouraging finance and operational expertise and the creation of hybrid roles.

The finance job in a company is changing. It’s not just about numbers anymore. Finance must change from a behind-the-scenes role to a critical business partner. We must consider how big the finance team will be to do this. We must also create functions combining finance and business know-how.

5.0.1 Looking at Future Roles and Skills

To drive meaningful change in finance, aligning the finance team’s skills with future requirements is crucial.

• By predicting how extensive future finance tasks will be, you can determine how big your finance team needs to be. This ensures you have the correct number of people for the job. This is critical to the efficiency of doing things.

• Also, by looking at the skills in your team, you can see what you’re good at and missing. This can help guide training and hiring, ensuring your finance team is ready for any future changes in finance.

5.0.2 Encouraging Roles That Mix Finance and Business Expertise

Another essential step in making finance a key business partner is creating roles that mix finance smarts with business understanding.

• These roles can help make better decisions. This is because they can connect financial information with business knowledge. This can help set budgets, predict future performance, and plan strategy.

• Pushing for these mixed-skill roles can also make communication between the finance team and other parts of the business better. This helps everyone understand each other and work together, which causes changes in finance led by more successful people.

To finish, making finance a key business partner involves planning for future needs and pushing for a mix of skills. By doing this, companies can make the most of their finance teams. This ensures they play a big part in growing and changing the business.

6.0 Case Studies: Advancing Human-Led Financial Transformations with a People-First Strategy

Businesses are quickly changing, and many realise the need to put people first. This article shares two examples of how focusing on people first can bring success to financial changes. These examples show how impressive the results of a Human-Led Finance Transformation can be.

Company A: Choosing People Over Technology

Company A, an international tech company, planned to change its financial approach. Instead of focusing on technology, they chose to focus on their people.

Problem: Company A faced tricky financial tasks that slowed their work. Their finance team stuck to the old ways of doing things and needed more knowledge about finances and operations.

Solution: Company A chose a people-first approach to change its financial strategy. They looked again at their finance team’s roles and skills. They created new positions that combined finance and operations knowledge. This helped make their work smoother and gave their finance team more power.

Outcome: This new way of doing things greatly improved their financial work. The finance team became a vital part of the company’s decision-making, helping the company grow.

Company B: Making Changes by Giving Power to Employees

Company B, a top manufacturing company, saw the need to change its financial approach to keep up with business changes.

Problem: Company B was dealing with separated departments. This led to bad communication and poor decision-making.

Solution: Company B put their employees at the centre of their financial change. They broke down walls between departments and encouraged teams to work together. By creating a trustful environment, they turned their finance team into strategic partners.

Outcome: This way of doing things led to better teamwork and decision-making across departments. The finance team played a more significant part in planning for the future, helping the company grow.

These examples show the effectiveness of prioritising people. By focusing on employees during change, companies can successfully implement and sustain those changes. Making a financial change involves more than just adopting new technology. It also empowers the individuals who utilise that technology to improve processes.

7.0 Wrapping Up: Moving Ahead with Human-Led Finance Transformations

Human-Led Finance Transformation is more than just a famous phrase in business. It’s a new way of looking at how finance works in a company. This approach puts people first and believes in the power of the workforce to bring about successful changes in finance. It is about:

• Uncovering People’s Talents
• Building Teamwork
• Encouraging Ongoing Learning
• Making Lasting Changes

In conclusion, Human-Led Finance Transformation is an approach that puts people at the centre of change. It recognises that people are the real drivers and sustainers of transformation. This people-first approach promises effective financial changes. It also delivers a robust, flexible finance team ready to face future challenges.

Invest in transforming your finance function to align with your business strategy. This can increase productivity, innovation, and collaboration. MyCFOng can help your business harness the power of finance transformations. We do this by prioritising a human-led and technology-enhanced approach.

About the Author

Ajibola Jinadu is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). He is also a Fellow and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria. He obtained his Bachelor of Science in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brookes University, UK.

His professional experience includes an 8-year stint with Deloitte and 7 years as a CFO. He has collaborated with executive management to implement financial strategies. This helped in increasing the company’s flexibility and responsiveness to market changes.

Ajibola regularly contributes various business and finance publications on his website, myCFOng. He primarily writes about small business management and financial strategies. He is also a sought-after speaker at industry conferences. Ajibola often discusses agility and flexibility in small businesses’ financial planning.

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Disclaimer

This article intends to provide general information and does not constitute financial advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the article belong solely to the author.

The content in this article is not a substitute for professional advice. Always seek the advice of a qualified professional or your independent financial advisor. This is for any questions regarding your financial situation or specific financial issues.