my last column<\/a>, I addressed the myth that it’s our job to \u2018partner the business\u2019. It creates an unhelpful ‘us\u00a0and\u00a0them’ situation, and we talked about what to do instead. Now for my second myth, we\u2019ll move onto the concept of \u201cchallenging the business\u201d.<\/p>\nMyth two: Our job is to challenge ‘the business’<\/h3>\n
Well, myth one already set up an\u00a0‘us and them’\u00a0situation. Us\u00a0(finance),\u00a0challenges\u00a0them (sales, marketing and operations), and guess how\u00a0they\u00a0react? Yep,\u00a0they\u00a0get defensive, and that’s the problem at its core.<\/p>\n
Sure, the\u00a0intentions\u00a0of a challenge are noble: to test ideas, improve outcomes and create change. Without challenge, we are passive and accepting. The problem is, however, that\u00a0challenge\u00a0creates almost immediate\u00a0resistance.<\/p>\n
The best way to move someone from not really caring about their latest idea to that same idea being the single best and most important idea of their entire life is to\u00a0challenge\u00a0it! So when we challenge marketing’s latest promotional campaign, they will reflexively defend their baby.<\/p>\n
And when people are defensive,\u00a0communication\u00a0is shut down, influence\u00a0is shut down and no matter how valid your challenge was, or how good your alternative is, they won’t hear you out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What did I learn when I became a sales director?<\/h3>\n
In sales, we want to influence and we tell each other\u00a0not\u00a0to challenge.
The last thing we want to do is challenge our customer, because we know it will create\u00a0resistance. And we know that if the other person feels challenged, we won’t be able to influence them.<\/p>\n
In finance, we want to influence and tell each other\u00a0to\u00a0challenge. <\/p>\n
Who do we listen to, then? The advice from other finance people? Or the professionally-trained sales people?<\/p>\n
So what do we do instead?<\/h3>\n
Rather than a challenging mindset, switch to a\u00a0helping\u00a0or\u00a0coaching\u00a0mindset. Start by finding something about their idea to\u00a0agree\u00a0on. You may not agree with the financial outcomes, but the\u00a0intention\u00a0behind the idea may well be sound.<\/p>\n
Agreeing breaks down the ‘us and them’, and positions you firmly on\u00a0their side. Now show them how you can\u00a0help\u00a0get a better financial outcome, so you can\u00a0help\u00a0them get their idea approved and over the line.<\/p>\n
So let’s say marketing want to invest in a new TV ad. Rather than say,\u00a0\u201dno\u00a0the ROI doesn’t meet the hurdle rate\u201d, go with something like: \u201cgreat idea,\u00a0how can we do it\u00a0and hit the hurdle rate\u00a0so we can get it\u00a0signed\u00a0off by the board?\u201d<\/p>\n
Final thought<\/h3>\n
Challenging creates\u00a0resistance\u00a0and closes people down. Your job as an FBP is not to point out all the\u00a0problems\u00a0in people’s ideas.<\/p>\n
It is not to say\u00a0no\u00a0to people because their ideas aren’t in the budget or don’t meet a hurdle rate. Your job is to\u00a0help\u00a0sales, marketing and operations to mould their ideas to give a financial outcome that everyone can say\u00a0yes\u00a0to.<\/p>\n
And if that’s not possible, your job is to coach sales, marketing and operations to\u00a0say no to themselves. <\/p>\n
If you want to be an FBP,\u00a0stop\u00a0challenging and saying no. Start finding legitimate and financially viable ways to say\u00a0yes.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Finance myths: Stop challenging, start coaching AccountingWEB’s FD columnist Andy Shambrook deconstructs ten\u00a0myths that continue to dog the finance profession. For the second myth, Andy explains why challenging people is the wrong approach. Every CFO or FD I ever worked for gave me some variation of the following advice: ‘challenge\u00a0the\u00a0business’\u00a0and ‘make recommendations’. And when I became an FD myself, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5747,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[25],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sloane.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3782"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sloane.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sloane.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sloane.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sloane.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sloane.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sloane.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sloane.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sloane.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sloane.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}