Governance, Risk Management and Compliance Sharpened Focus on Formal Certification

Talent Management In Finance

The business environment has been semi-kaleidoscopically colourful (Black and Red) over the past few years, thanks to sustained global economic liberalization, mounting VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) and ever- increasing competition. CEO’s focus on talent management has moved up. However, amongst Finance leaders, I find inadequate discussion about talent management. Here are a few imperatives that CFOs should be pre-occupied with for talent management.

Heightened need for individual resilience

The increasing emphasis on GRC- Governance, Risk Management and Compliance, has sharpened the focus on formal certification. The CFO usually ends up being the prime signatory for all certifications. He or she has to act as the conscious-keeper for the corporation. On occasions, that may involve standing up to the CEO/CMD- the very people whom the CFO reports to. All this calls for exceptional personal resilience in the CFO. There is a dire need for CFOs to invest in themselves so that they acquire due personal composure and keep the GRC flag flying high.

Need to focus on the core

There is increasing need for Finance functions to identify their core, non-transferable activities and while retaining such core, outsource the rest. This is because the logic of removing the non-essentials to focus on the core would release time for something more meaningful. That must be identified in advance. Traditionally, perhaps Finance did not think this way but it is now time for the function to own this area and drive action that liberates Finance from the rigmarole.

Reckoning influencing as a specialist skill for finance

Finance is usually an unenviable position as a staff function. It plays an expert role. It is expected to drive business and enable decisions that are sound from the financial perspective and has to control those very people they serve.

"Finance leaders should focus upon retention of desired talent, using sound principles such as Win-Win"

The clash between “service expectation” and “control requirement” is quite well known. It could be handled better by finance managers who are better at influencing. The finance talent is required to strike a golden mean between being highly service- oriented and therefore, being at the receiving end and being control oriented. To my knowledge and experience, influencing is easy when the Finance talent adds visible value to the business, create a “goodwill account” and deploy the goodwill towards controlling undesirable line behaviour.

Increased susceptibility of finance to the war for talent

The finance function is generally an industry-agnostic function. Therefore, finance talent could be deployed across the organization much more easily than line functions such as marketing or operations. This has heightened the criticality of war for talent in Finance. Finance leaders should focus upon retention of desired talent, using sound principles such as Win-Win. If they deploy this principle they would look at building employability in the finance team.