WORLD ACADEMY OF INFORMATICS AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCES
ISSN : 2278-1315
skills) into the role of finance partner (people and leadership
Figure 1: Competencies and skills under pinning the
skills), to focus on the values and synergies of business
Broad finance roles
goals.
Haskel and Westlake talk about the importance of ‘systemic
innovators’, which allow organizational information flows,
and facilitate ‘serendipitous interactions’ across a business:
Such innovators are not inventors of single, isolated
inventions. Rather, their role is to coordinate the synergies
that successfully bring such an innovation to market.
Are these innovators the finance partners of the future? With
their end-to-end view of a business, in future will they be
found developing and deploying solutions for an
organization? With all these scenarios, the key skills base of
finance professionals is moving into the expert, problem-
solving arena, and adopting competencies involved in
influencing and change management.
The automation paradox
When thinking about the impact that process robotics will
have on the finance function, the ‘automation paradox’
needs to be considered. As systems become more
automated, humans lose some of their skills within the
system. This results in more automation. However, when
faced with an unusual situation that requires a switch to
manual control, an organization may no longer have the
skills to deal with atypical conditions. An example from the
world of the stock markets and trading floors is the use of
computers and algorithms to increase the speed of decision-
making. With automated decision-making between firms,
malfunctioning algorithms have created trading flash
crashes. The automation paradox is therefore something to
be aware of when considering competencies and mindsets of
the future.
FROM
KNOWLEDGE
INTERPRETATION
COLLECTION
TO
The role of the finance professional is shifting from one of
knowledge collection and creation, to instead interpreting
meaning and curating the information outputs produced by
software solutions. As the finance function emerges from
working in isolation to collaborating with others in the
organization, this shift will intensify as the required skills
change. For the finance professional, the changing role and
mandate of finance, the impact of technology and the
changing shape of the finance function each have
implications for their required skills, competencies and
mindsets going forward.
An example of this can be seen in the changing nature of
the broad roles within finance, explored in our
‘Emerging theme:
1: The changing role and mandate of finance’. Here, the
broad roles of the finance function are moving from left to
right, beneath the umbrella terms of ‘reporting’,
‘questioning’, ‘developing solutions’ and ‘deploying
solutions’.
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This journey will also impact the skills required of the finance
professional, moving them from technical and analytical, to
problem-solving and change management skills (Figure 1).
MINDSETS AND LEARNING
There exists an entire neuroscience research community that’s
focused on mindsets. This community is studying how brains
learn, and trying to understand the possible levels of future
intelligence malleability. Results in this field have revealed
that the adoption of certain mindsets can drive greater
motivation and achievement.
The work of Dr Carol Dweck has defined two mindsets – a
fixed mindset and a growth mindset. A fixed mindset is one
where intelligence is considered static and ‘qualities are
carved in stone’, which ‘creates an urgency to prove yourself
over and over’. A person with a fixed mindset is likely to
avoid challenges, give up easily when faced with obstacles
and ignore useful feedback.
A growth mindset, on the other hand, is where ‘intelligence
can be developed and leads to a desire to learn’. It is about ‘a
zest for teaching and learning, an openness to giving and
receiving feedback, and an ability to confront and surmount
obstacles’. As technology increasingly disrupts the world in
which we work, the ability to continually learn, unlearn and
relearn, while operating at speed and scale, is a key challenge
for the finance professional. Author Matthew Syed explains:
In a complex world, the only way to learn is from our
mistakes, failures and errors – in science, in business, in
technology, in politics. It’s a process that applies to the
evolution of our species, the dynamism of our economies and
the growth that we either enjoy or thwart in our own lives.
A growth mindset is also linked to our own curiosity and our
ability to continue to question long-held assumptions. Thiel,
in Zero to One, talks about the case for secrets in a world
where we believe all the great questions have been solved. For
the finance professional, these ‘secrets’ are the creation and
preservation of organizational value. Thiel explains: The
actual truth is that there are many more secrets left to find, but
they will yield only to relentless searches. There is more to do
in science, medicine, engineering, and in technology of all
kinds… But we will never learn any of these secrets unless we
demand to know them and force ourselves to look
.
LEARN, UNLEARN AND RELEARN
Technological advancements are constantly changing the
skills and knowledge that organizations value. The skills and
knowledge valued today have a rapidly decreasing shelf life.
ENDEAVOR 2019 | WAIMS ACADMIC PRESS
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