IAFEI Quarterly - 34th Issue

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(conscious or unconscious), are oen prevenng some
organizaons and some leaders to really reach the full
potenal of their environments.
Talent management is a big part of what determines
the success of a transformaon and unfortunately it
is rarely part of the business case and of the business
transformaons road map.
Talent management in a shared service center is one
of the biggest items to be considered as part of change
management because it is directly linked to two pivotal
elements of operaons: stability and adaptability.
Businesses have to plan and to invest in leadership
development, in communicaon, in defining career
paths. This is not to be underesmated. All those
investments will shape the culture you want to create.
This way of managing talent should be a « way of
working », embedded in the organizaon.
Talent management requires planning, development
opportunies, challenges and strategic placement. In
this domain Shared Service Centers are not different
than many industries. While the subject of governance
is oen looked at in great detail in the context of
contractual agreement or Statement of Work, the
subject of talent management, career path, and
new competencies are very oen not scoped or are
underesmated when you are developing an internal
shared service center or planning to contract with an
outsourcing provider.
You, as business and finance leaders have a huge role to
play. I remember some of my clients coming and vising
the shared service center, spending me with people,
discussing one on one career opportunies, aspiraons
and ambions. I remember some inving the teams to
an important business review in the headquarter, asking
for their perspecve, fostering an environment of trust
and transparency. And I remember others not invesng
the me and interest to those type of quesons. I let
you guess which one were successful and which one
were not.
What made a shared service center successful today
will not (be enough to) make it successful tomorrow.
Twenty years ago, when I worked on my first finance
transformaon project, it was all about technology,
opmizaon and simplificaon. In a way things have
not changed that much in nature. We sll speak about
technology, opmizaon and simplificaon. The key
differences I see are (1) an acceleraon of technological
evoluon and (2) and increased level of complexity
emerging from the processes a Shared Service Center
can offer.
- As finance leaders you will have to manage and
challenge Shared Service Center to the next level.
Leadership traits such as communicaon, connecon,
collaboraon and creavity will be more and more
essenal.
- You will need to take into consideraon the ability
for Shared Service Centers to develop processes that
encompass the characteriscs of a VUCA world (B.
Johansen defines VUCA: Volality - Uncertainty -
Complexity - Ambiguity). An Accounts Payable Process
done in a shared service center today will leverage
technology to become flawless tomorrow. The needs in
term of skills will be around tech people who will not
only maintain a system or support a system but who will
constantly need to understand how to re-invent it, who
will be able to manage the digizaon and integrate it in
applicaons that will come to market faster.
- With this comes also for you the possibility to challenge
shared service center to include in their scope more and
more complex soluons or to parcipate more acvely
in the solving of complex process issues you can have
‘in house’. Many outsourcing providers have great
reengineering consultancy services.
- Lastly, managing more complex processes means that
your ability to create / foster an environment where
issues can be discussed openly will be essenal. It is not
a queson of ‘the Shared Service Center’ versus ‘the
Customer Organizaon’. In that ma$er I believe that the
quality of the output you get from such organizaon is
proporonate to the ability to foster trust, transparency
and to solve openly complex and sensive issues.
The bridge between businesses and their shared service
centers (off shore or outsourced) in term of talent
management and « ways of working » must be nurtured.
It is crucial for the success of Business Transformaon
and for the ability for the industry to adapt to new
challenges ahead.
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