Create a More Efficient Finance Team in Three Steps

A business’ success depends not only on its leaders, but also how well the internal teams work together. The finance team, in particular, has the important task of ensuring budgets align with strategic goals, while keeping an eye on the bottom line. With some team members working in the office, others remotely, and the occasional contract worker sprinkled in, creating an effective and efficient work environment can be a challenge. Fortunately, there are a few ways finance managers can keep their team engaged and working well together.

Start with these three steps to building a stronger finance team:

Step 1: Ensure All Members Understand Team (and Corporate) Goals

When was the last time your team had a discussion about goals? In order for a team to work together, team members must all be working toward common objectives. Set up a time to discuss the goals your team is looking to accomplish over the course of the next week, month, and year, and show how they integrate with the overall vision of the organization.

In his article, Leadership And Teamwork: The Secret Sauce To Business Success, Theodore Henderson discusses the role leaders play in ensuring each team member understands the importance of his or her role: “Good leaders understand how to aid each member in seeing just how the final product will be beneficial and what, precisely, their particular contribution is toward that end.”

By taking the time to walk through specifics, team members are better able to understand the individual roles they play and how they influence the overall success of the team and the company.

Step 2: Give Your Team Tools for Success

Once the goals are established and any areas of uncertainty are cleared, ensure your team has the tools they need to accomplish the plan. Implementing accounts payable and expense automation software, doesn’t just save time, it streamlines processes and increases visibility into spend, that would normally not be available. Tasks like month-end reporting that used to take many hours and sometimes two or three employees to complete can now be done within minutes, freeing up time to work on those strategic goals.

Systems such as Concur Invoice and Concur Expense work with a company’s current workflows, to enhance current processes and increase visibility. These solutions are cloud-based and mobile, which means even remote employees or those travelling for business can access much needed data from anywhere.

Step 3: Play to Team Members’ Strengths

In a recent interview for an Entrepreneur article,  Dom Price, the head of R&D at Atlassian, commented: “The future of productivity is all about unleashing the potential of your teams.” Each team member has a unique set of skills and perspective that they bring to the table. By playing up to these strengths, you can tap into each individuals potential, increasing their engagement at work and benefiting the team overall. This is especially important as the expectations of the finance team continue to change in the face of emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence

And, at the end of the day, when working to create a positive and unified team don’t overlook the importance of acknowledging team accomplishments. Something as simple as a “thank you” or “good job” goes a long way into creating a happy team environment.

Looking for a few more ideas for creating a stronger finance team? Watch our on-demand Proformative webinar: How small business teams grow their businesses, and get additional information and ideas for improving your finance team.