Both the finance sector and the world at large are experiencing a rapid period of change. New regulations and financial policies constantly emerge as economic issues evolve and different political groups become powerful. At the same time, financial roles are growing with the introduction of new technologies like AI and automation.
In this environment, finance employees need more than the right mathematical, accounting, and data analysis skills. They also need to be resilient and agile.
Agile finance teams harness the inevitability of change in the finance sector, adapt quickly to changing dynamics, and learn rapidly from mistakes. They facilitate rapid growth and innovation while ensuring businesses can thrive in the face of new challenges.
Here, we’ll explore the benefits of agility in the finance sector and how you can hire, develop, and optimise your agile team.
Defining Agility in Finance Employee Skills and Mindset
The term “agile” is commonly associated with the software landscape. Software companies have used “agile methodologies” for years to rapidly iterate, develop, and release new products. However, agility isn’t just valuable in software.
Agile teams are defined by key characteristics that can be valuable in every sector, such as adaptability, resilience, a commitment to consistent learning, and a proactive approach to problem-solving. These traits and “soft skills” are vital in the finance industry.
Agile finance employees know how to respond effectively to emerging challenges from budget management, new regulations, and economic uncertainty. They focus on “continuous improvement”, learning from their mistakes, and finding new ways to optimise their performance with different skills and processes.
The “agile mindset” in finance is similar to the “growth mindset”, which prioritises proactive problem-solving, actively seeking feedback from colleagues, and reframing failures and learning opportunities. This shift from rigidity to flexibility and non-stop development means finance professionals can better support their employers in an industry defined by constant transformation.
The Importance of Agile Finance Teams
The current finance sector has made agility a must-have characteristic for modern finance professionals. Economic shifts, political transformations, and technology advancements are constantly reshaping the space. Employees who can’t adapt quickly not only increase your company’s chances of falling behind the competition, but they also increase your company’s risk of being left behind.
Failure to evolve rapidly in the finance sector can also put you at risk of regulatory fines, lost consumer trust, and revenue issues.
Alternatively, agile teams:
Respond Quickly to Market Changes
Agile employees commit to constant evolution. They can recalibrate their approach to various crucial tasks to adjust to emerging trends, such as shifts in consumer behaviour, unexpected regulatory changes, or fluctuations in economic conditions.
They can also analyse market changes rapidly, proactively uncovering opportunities to improve budget management and increase revenue. One study found that companies with agile finance teams were likelier to report positive revenue growth than their peers.
Improve Planning and Forecasting
Since agile finance teams collect feedback and data regularly to inform their decision-making strategies, they’re much better at “predicting” what their company will need in the future. They don’t rely on static assumptions and inflexible models to guide their work. Instead, they use real-time data and experimentation to facilitate better decision-making.
This approach allows companies to stay one step ahead of market shifts and their competitors while reducing the risk of costly mistakes. Agile teams can even help companies create better customer offerings and services based on predictions about behavioural trends.
Improve Company Culture
Embracing agility for your finance team is an excellent way to improve your company’s culture and enhance employee engagement. Agile finance requires teams to develop critical soft skills like communication and collaboration and rewards employees with increased autonomy and opportunities to innovate.
McKinsey found that employee engagement increased by 30% in agile organisations. This could mean developing agile employees helps you to retain more of your top talent, access greater productivity, and even attract new staff to your business.
Challenges in the UK Finance Sector
Aside from giving companies access to the benefits mentioned above, cultivating agile finance teams is becoming increasingly important for businesses facing new challenges in the UK finance sector. This industry has become increasingly complex in recent years.
UK companies are still struggling to recover from the uncertainty and turbulence caused by Brexit, and they’re now preparing for a stream of changes that a new Labour government could implement. At the same time, regulatory changes are happening rapidly in the finance sector, particularly in certain areas, such as Environmental, Social, and Governance reporting.
Plus, technological disruption presents both an opportunity and a challenge for finance companies. While advancements in artificial intelligence, automation and blockchain can boost business efficiency and performance, they also present new hurdles to overcome, from cybersecurity risks and data governance to ethical concerns.
These factors are pushing companies in the finance sector to prioritise agility, resilience, and flexibility when building their finance teams.
Building an Agile Finance Team: 3 Core Steps
Building and nurturing an agile finance team isn’t something companies can do overnight. It requires a multi-faceted strategy that will affect everything from how you hire new team members to the development strategies you use and the culture you build.
Step 1: Hiring Agile Candidates
The first step in building an agile finance team is rethinking how you evaluate candidates throughout the hiring journey. Rather than just focusing on technical skills and credentials, hiring teams should look for evidence of their employees’ agile attributes.
This could mean implementing psychometric testing and personality testing strategies to identify traits like resilience and proactivity in potential team members. It could also involve using behavioural interview questions for deeper insights into how candidates have responded to previous challenges and evolutions in other roles.
It’s also worth paying close attention to how each candidate approaches their development by attending conferences, working with mentors, or taking online courses.
Step 2: Building Agility with Training
While training team members to be “agile” is harder than equipping them with new technical skills, companies can use certain training methodologies to foster agility. For instance, companies can focus on soft skill training, looking for ways to improve their employees’ emotional intelligence, resilience, and collaboration skills.
Businesses can implement ever-changing training programs based on industry trends, such as the rise of artificial intelligence. Alternatively, they can encourage team members to attend events and conferences to learn more about new financial regulations or ESG standards.
It might even be useful to provide employees with training that shows them how to use agile methodologies. For instance, techniques like Scrum, in agile software, can be applied to finance. Scrum leverages defined roles and time-boxed iterations called sprints. This method can help finance teams prioritise tasks and adjust their work strategies incrementally.
Step 3: Creating an agile company culture
Finally, agility can be difficult for some finance teams to embrace because it prioritises fast-paced, experimental work, often leading to mistakes. The key to success for businesses who want to enable agility in their finance team is ensuring team members feel comfortable taking risks.
Creating a culture where open communication and collaboration are encouraged, and feedback is regularly shared without “blame” can help foster agile work. Ensure your team members feel comfortable sharing ideas and experimenting with different strategies. Reward employees who show a commitment to continuous improvement and innovation.
Encourage business leaders to model agile behaviours by actively seeking input from team members and communicating transparently about business changes. You can even implement agile methodologies like regular team sprints and iterative feedback loops to ensure all team members feel connected and involved in the workplace.
Embrace Agility for your Finance Team
Agile isn’t just a crucial term in the software landscape anymore. As the finance sector continues to evolve at an incredible pace, it’s becoming increasingly important for professionals in this industry to demonstrate agility and resilience.
Building and nurturing an agile finance team can help your company stay one step ahead of complex market challenges and changes, paving the way for rapid growth. With an agile team, you can innovate faster, address problems more effectively, and increase revenue.
If you need help recruiting an agile finance team, contact Rebus Recruitment today to learn how we can help you find candidates with the best traits for your business.
Thanks
Rachel
About Rebus Financial Recruitment
Rebus Financial Recruitment provides a specialist and focused recruitment service to its customers, ranging from various organisations, including SMEs, to large PLCs.
We strive to offer both the client and candidate a seamless recruitment experience. Using our expertise, we understand employer and employee needs and match them perfectly.
To learn more, contact one of our team members today or call us at 01282 930930.
