Building a successful finance team is about more than filling roles with qualified individuals and crossing your fingers.
You need to provide several things to enable your employees to feel like a team, rather than a group of people who happen to work in the same place.
Collaborative working is gaining momentum, and inevitably that means your team need to be happy and productive working together.
I’m not implying that you need team building sessions every day, or that you should be living in each other’s social pockets, but knitting together the bonds that make individuals feel part of something bigger takes skill and exceptional leadership.
Value Each Role
Everyone has a part to play, and each individual brings something to the table. We can’t all be the Financial Controller in the business, but everyone should be valued as playing a contributory role in achieving overall success.
If your Finance Assistant is thinking “Why am I even here?” they will soon check out mentally from their job and detach themselves from the team, or even start showing regular absenteeism.
Attaching value to all roles will not only enable the team to feel they are working together, but it will create a stable and supportive workplace environment in which individuals are more likely to stay for longer, thus reducing your rehire costs.
Communicate
Communication is pivotal in establishing your finance team – that means not just being transparent in your communication, but practising active listening with your team, and encouraging them to participate in two-way conversations.
Giving your team a voice will enable them to feel they are being listened to, to voice their concerns and idea, and be more likely to make suggestions which could lead to innovation.
Letting your team give you feedback will also enable them to stay engaged, attached to the outcome of decisions and feel ownership of projects. All of which will lead to better overall performance.
Build Trust
‘There’s no team without trust’.
These wise words are from Paul Santagata, Head of Industry at Google. Trust is pivotal in enabling your finance team to grow and flourish and work collaboratively towards joint goals.
Building trust requires a level of transparency. If you’ve ever worked in an office where whispers and private conversations abound, you’ll know how quickly it becomes an ‘us and them’ situation.
So, it’s imperative that you include all your team when providing information – even if it isn’t directly related to some individuals. Share the company goals and objectives and encourage everyone to take ownership in achieving them.
Set Goals
Strategic planning will enable your finance team to see where they are going – a clear pathway to achieving company goals allows everyone to a) see where their role fits into the bigger picture and b) instil a sense of value in helping to achieve that overall goal.
Just make sure that goals are achievable, and that you celebrate milestones along the way, to keep up team momentum and morale.
Celebrate Successes (and Failures)
It‘s crucial to celebrate as a group; to recognise individual wins and group achievements. That’s everything from breakthrough goals to the little things.
For example, a milestone goal may be to achieve three new clients in the current quarter, or it may be a longer-term bigger goal, such as moving to more substantial premises.
Whatever the goals, celebrate them together as a team and recognise the part everyone has played.
It’s also vital to see failures, which will happen, as a learning curve. Choosing to learn something when things don’t go to plan and using it to amend future plans will avoid your employees playing the blame game, which can undermine a team – fast.
Instead, take joint responsibly and use the situation to work out, as a team, your next steps.
Get to Know Each Other
The team that plays together stays together.
That doesn’t mean enforced drinking sprees or compulsory ‘fun’ events but less stressful events such as having a quarterly team lunch or a summer family and friends BBQ.
To bond together, individuals need to know a bit more about the person who sits next to them every day other than they are the Credit Controller.
Everyone has a life outside of work – maybe team members have similar interests (or interesting, diverse hobbies) What about family, travel, pets?
Getting to know team members helps everyone understand the rest of the team better; what makes them tick. This knowledge is also useful for understanding working styles and can help when difficult discussions need to be had or crucial decisions made.
Remember, individuals may take on a finance role initially for a salary and offer package, but they will only keep that role if they feel valued and part of a team.
Thanks,
Rachel
Contact Rebus Financial Recruitment or call us on 01282 930930 and let’s have a conversation to explore your options. With our help, you can achieve great things.
Thanks,
Rachel
About Rebus Financial Recruitment
Rebus Financial Recruitment provides a specialist and focused recruitment service to its customers, which historically range from a wide variety of organisations including SME’s to large PLCs.
We strive to offer both the client and candidate a seamless recruitment experience. Using our expertise, we get to the heart of employer and employee needs; and, in doing so, we match the two perfectly. To find out more, get in contact with one of our team today, or you can call us on 01282 930930.
