Professional services strategies: Why HR and Finance are a winning team
In this article, we examine how including input from managers in Finance and HR – not separately but as part of a focused joint effort – can bring some surprising new ideas to the table. Find out how.
If, like so many other professional services firms, your leadership team is making new strategic plans for the coming year, then perhaps now is the time for an alternative approach?
Project-based businesses are used to working in teams. Interacting with colleagues inside and outside of the firm is normal practice - but it is less common to see the Finance and HR functions working closely together. In the normal cut and thrust of day-to-day activities, these traditional back-office teams have a very different focus and usually work quite separately from each other, perhaps only regularly coming together at a senior level in leadership meetings alongside colleagues from other areas of the business.
Having experienced the upheaval and uncertainty of 2020, most businesses are looking at 2021 onwards with a fresh pair of eyes. It’s important to acknowledge that many of the foundations of business practice that could previously be relied upon as constants are perhaps no longer in place. The shift to remote working, for example, could now become a more permanent factor. As project-oriented business, you may find that your clients are changing their plans in ways that will impact their service providers. And sectors such as aviation and hospitality are seeing so much turbulence, the wider impact on their supply chains, outsourced services and mid- to long-term plans will be filtering through to many project-oriented firms.
A different way of thinking
What’s interesting is that this evolving business landscape is very well-suited to a different way of thinking. Simply tasking Finance to revise plans in a silo will only result in a one-dimensional business viewpoint. The perfect oppositive number is HR: and by bringing together the knowledge, experience and ideas from both of these two key areas, it is possible to create an entirely different joint perspective which draws on positive influences from each.
Take the issue of restructuring for example. Effective cost-saving ideas such as reducing headcount may look great in theory, but have unintended impacts on team capabilities or skills. Or what sounds like an ideal solution for merging departments might in reality incur unforeseen costs when relocating people or making their technology compatible for example. The potential stumbling blocks that halt the best-laid plans in their tracks can be avoided earlier, and replaced with more integrated and wider-ranging ideas, when more than one perspective is involved from the start. Combined insights can be extremely powerful.
Not just ideas but evidence
Evolving joint ideas as part of a working partnership between HR and Finance will require more than simply talking. Both departments have a wealth of data at their fingertips which, if used effectively, can provide new insights as well as a robust bank of evidence on which to collaborate and build. Being able to access the right data, merge it or delve below the surface, and extrapolate it to reveal the outcomes of multiple variables and scenarios – can all be extremely revealing and productive. Firms who invest in integrated systems will have an added advantage as all their data is then available in one place via a central dashboard. Here it is possible to use relevant applications to access Finance data, absence management, timesheets etc. which makes it instantly easy to see (for example) which resources are available, for how long, and how much budget is left in the project. It’s a much more effective way to make decisions backed-up with evidence.
The opportunities are exciting – even more so when the differing data contributions and interpretations from HR and Finance are pulled together.
Why not give it a try in your business?
For more ideas around how HR and Finance professionals in project-oriented businesses and professional services firm can move beyond processing and add more value, download our FREE guide. Use The Business Game: Reshaping your strategy to win to gain a unique insight into the power of a joint HR / Finance strategy for 2021.
