For this final blog in my seven-part series I’m circling back to the first one – Strategic Influencers -and asking you two crucial questions:

“Is your team a team of investors or maintainers?” That is, does your team partner with your internal clients to invest in their future or are they completing ‘work orders’ from the business?

If your answer is ‘maintainers’, you’ve got work to do as maintainers keep the wheels turning but investors move the business forward towards its goals in two ways:  by offering insights that shape outcomes and positioning your function as essential to growth, not just operational compliance.

The second question is “Which tent?”, as in are you and your team in the right rooms shaping decisions?

The key to becoming investors who advise ‘inside the tent’ is understanding the business.

Every time I run a persuasion and influencing workshop for corporate teams and invite senior clients from within the business, their feedback is

You’re experts, you’re responsive, you’re thorough BUT you don’t understand my business well enough.

Now, it’s a tall order to know the business as well as the business, however, there is a minimum understanding required to be influential. This includes speaking their language, grasping their pain points and gain points, and understanding how what you do makes their life easier and more successful. This can sometimes be hard to work out but it’s well worth the effort as it can transform you from good to great.

Great teams do the hard, smart work to find the bits of gold that satisfy the needs of the business and meet the demands put on you by your other stakeholders, whether it’s the CEO, Board, Audit and Risk Committee, or internal or external auditors or regulators.

If you would like to transform your team from good to great, please get in touch by replying to this email or reaching out via info@bryanwhitefield.com. One of my special skills is helping align the back office with the front office to accelerate organisational success. Name me a CEO or Board that would not want that!