On Becoming a Strategic Business Partner: Part 1
by Kevin Nourse, PhD on 09/07/10
In light of the global economic crisis our country has faced, there is more pressure than ever for internal support or infrastructure leaders, such as CFOs, to develop strategic business partner relationships with their internal customers. The strategic partnering model translates to a need for fundamental shifts in mindset and behavior for both senior leaders as well as leadership teams.
In this first of three parts article, I explore some core concepts associated with the strategic business partner role that many leaders in infrastructure roles are being expected to create. Next month I will focus on how the leadership team impacts the ability infrastructure organizations to fully embrace the strategic business partner mindset.
Let us start first with some useful definitions. The terms strategic and strategic business partner are often used, but inconsistently defined. One definition I find particularly relevant to the clients I work with was coined by writers Robinson and Robinson in their book Strategic Business Partner: work which is macro in focus, impacting the larger organization, long-term, linked to overall business goals and neutral with regard to the solution in its early stages. In addition, these writers suggest three levels of work: transactional (impacting individuals), tactical (impacting work groups) and strategic (impacting business units and/or whole organizations).
From Transactional to Strategic: Much To Be Done
While conventional wisdom suggests that most leaders in support functions are interested in becoming strategic business partners with line operations, evidence suggests there still much to be done. Jeremy Hope, in his book, Reinventing the CFO, argues that while most chief financial officers are interested in transforming their organizations to shift from being accounting specialists to strategic business partners, few have realized this dream. Researchers Robert Kaplan and David Norton, in a 2006 article in Harvard Business Review, described surveys that were conducted where “respondents reported that
two-thirds of the human resources and information technology organizations were not aligned with their organization's business unit and enterprise strategies.”
So what are some of the factors that prevent leaders from fully embracing and implementing a strategic approach to partnering? I will review two perspectives: leadership and team effectiveness.
Strategic Business Partnering: Developing the Leader
Efforts to transform internal support organizations into strategic partners with internal customers will fail if the senior leader does not make the shift and model the desired mindset and behavior. In my experience coaching senior leaders, I often see two barriers for leaders in making the transition from tactician to strategic partner.
First, the act of strategic partnering implies an awareness of the larger corporate reality and transcending one's own technical expertise. For some leaders, this is experienced as a bewildering sense of loss. The technical skills in finance, systems, or human resources that helped them advance to this point become less important than holding a larger agenda for overall organizational functioning. Evidence of embracing a larger corporate agenda is often embodied in the language that leaders use in their engagements with colleagues and their bosses. Several years ago I coached a chief information officer to help her improve her functioning as a leader. I interviewed her boss, several colleagues and all of her direct reports in order to prepare a 360-degree feedback report for this client. The feedback suggested that her colleagues perceived the CIO had transcended her role as a functional IT expert and was comfortable as a business leader. Several noted how she spoke the language of the business and how she had demonstrated CEO-like qualities in her decision-making process by considering variables beyond information technology.
Second, a number of my coaching clients struggle with the ability to self-manage their time because of their fixation on reacting to e-mail. While this behavior may have served them in lower-level supervisory positions, it often prevents them from truly embracing and enacting the strategic partner role. One strategy I use to raise awareness among these clients involves having them inventory how they spend their time for several days. We then assess the extent to which they are focused on what Stephen Covey refers to as quadrant 2 issues:
important but not urgent tasks. This frequently shifts their perspective and helps them see that their daily schedule is the ultimate test of their priorities.
While the development of strategic business partner mindsets and behaviors among senior leaders is crucial, it is not enough. Without alignment and support among the leader’s team, efforts to be seen as a trusted partner will fall short. The second part in this series will focus on the impact that leadership team effectiveness plays on the ability to fully embrace a strategic business partner model.
