Key findings 2
Organisations widely recognise that they need to become more agile to better perform in today’s complex world. But agility is more than just an organisation’s ability to innovate, adapt to changing market conditions and make shrewd capital allocation decisions — it also relates to their growth mindset. The ability to learn, evolve, think differently and understand quickly is just as important for individuals as it is for businesses. As old systems and processes are superseded by new ways of working, we must learn to leave our legacy mindsets in the past.
'The constant need to fail fast and relearn in a complex world, and the frequent upgrade of our skills, plays to the strength of the lifelong learning philosophy of the finance professional. It highlights the ever-growing importance of CPD and education on the quest to finding out what we don’t know'.
CGMA Changing Competencies and Mindsets, June 2018
Respondents stated that workforce motivation to make or embrace change (20%) was the most critical success factor for finance transformation, followed by growth mindset (19%) and strong leadership (17%) (Figure 8). Talent management stood at only 7%, indicating an expectation that individuals are responsible for their own career management and attitude. This was reflected in our conversations with employers, some of whom had developed platforms to help employees identify competency gaps and plan desired career paths. This then forms a background for ‘career conversations’ with managers and mentors.
Figure 8
Technological developments will continue to be a key driver of change for the finance profession. Two-thirds of respondents (65%) agreed that finance teams deal well with complexity and are interested in learning new skills (Figure 9). However, only half believed that finance teams were agile, self-confident and able to deal with change. With one-fifth of employers considering readiness for change a critical success factor, this may present a problem.
Figure 9
'The role of leaders is partly to set an ambition to talk about why there’s a need for change, but not to broadcast it as if it’s going to be self-evident and everyone will just "get it". It has to be a conversation with employees, and you need to enrol them in idea generation, in bringing their own perspectives and ideas'.
Robert Bolton, Partner, Global People and Change Centre of Excellence, KPMG International
