ACCA warns senior executives to “collaborate to thrive”
Association of Chartered Certified Accountants
A new guide from ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) aimed at the ‘C-suite’, examines the key drivers for successful collaboration in organisations.
Companies with better collaborative management capabilities achieve superior financial performance. ACCA’s new report, CFOs and the C-Suite – focusing on effective collaboration explores what lies at the heart of successful collaboration, the obstacles to overcome and offers a ‘road map’ of dos and don’ts for effective CFO collaboration.
Omid Tissier, ACCA’s senior manager said, “CFOs need to become collaborative leaders and this requires honing their ‘softer’ skills. From effective conflict management, to an entrepreneurial mind-set and advanced emotional intelligence, these are particular focus areas which will allow leaders to collaborate more effectively.”
In today’s highly competitive, fast changing and interconnected world, those working within the finance function have the opportunity to take a key leadership role in developing collaboration. But this isn’t without its challenges. CFOs and other senior executives must be mindful to pursue collaboration that goes beyond classical business partnering.
ACCA’s new guide paints a full picture of the collaboration landscape using structured interviews conducted with key C-Suite figures; CEOs, CFOs, chief human resources officers (CHROs), chief information officers (CIOs) and chief marketing officers (CMOs) from across the UK, Europe, Asia and the US. These are supported by conversations with academia, government and the private sector as well as a review of the literature currently available in the public domain.
Palma Michel, Co-Founder of Profuse29, mindful leadership advisor, executive coach and lead author of the report said, “The question is no longer whether companies, and specifically members of the C-suite, should collaborate internally as well as externally with customers and suppliers, but rather how. It’s important to collaborate in order to thrive and not just merely survive as a business and as leaders.
“Collaboration is not unfamiliar to business, however only a few companies/individuals manage to do it well. Understanding the need for it is not enough. Effective collaboration often requires a shift in culture, mind-set and behaviour to ensure its strategic value to the rest of the business.”
Omid Tissier added, “The C-suite interviews conducted for this report demonstrate that many of the challenges organisations face require effective enterprise-wide collaboration – and the CFO has a really big role to play, given the wide remit of the finance function.”
Download the full guide here.
