CFO - CHRO - CIO - CMO: Do You See Yourself as True Business Partners?

The transformation of support functions (HR, IT, Finance, etc.) into true business partners has been a recurring topic for quite some time. However, despite discussions and good intentions, we still observe in practice that even today, it is not so simple.
Not simple, because it requires a combination of several factors for things to fall into place:

• An organizational model and roles adapted to this vision

• Skills and a “business partner” mindset

• Processes and governance that facilitate collaboration

• ... but above all, mutual trust and credibility.

This is probably the most challenging aspect to establish.

Finding the Balance Between Two Essential Roles

Support functions play a key role within organizations, which can be summarized into two complementary dimensions:

• A service role: Supporting business lines in achieving their goals efficiently.

• A guardian role: Ensuring compliance with regulations, protecting the company, and maintaining a coherent vision for the entire organization.

This applies to ALL support functions. A few examples:

HR:

• Service: Recruiting, training, etc., to benefit business lines.

• Guardian: Acting as the guardian of labor laws, compensation structures, etc.

IT:

• Service: Delivering projects and responding to business requests.

• Guardian: Maintaining a coherent IT architecture and ensuring cybersecurity.

Finance:

• Service: Finding financing solutions for business projects.

• Guardian: Ensuring the company’s financial health and regulatory compliance.

Communications:

• Service: Enabling decentralized communication.

• Guardian: Maintaining and protecting the organization’s brand consistency.

One might be tempted to reduce the business partner role to a mere service role. That would be a mistake.
A truly business-oriented support function is one that finds the right balance between these two roles. This requires making trade-offs: speed vs. rigor, autonomy vs. control, customization vs. standardization, etc.

• If we focus too much on the guardian role, imposing rules without creating value for business lines, we lose credibility.

• If we focus too much on the service role and neglect the guardian responsibility, trust erodes quickly.

  
  

As leaders of support functions, you must fully embrace both aspects of your mission to build lasting trust and credibility within your organization.

This is the foundation of your business partner status. These two roles should be clearly reflected in your organizational model and translated into the expectations you set for your teams.