How we can blend creativity with caution across the finance department

The finance department is known for saying no – but often with good reason. It might be no to projects, technologies, or trying a new service, but whatever the ask, they hold the purse strings and have the power. However, every part of managing an organisation is a fine balance. We need the practical rationalisers as much as we need the creative innovators. If the finance team started saying yes to everything and releasing budgets across the business, there would soon be no business left.

But are the two personality types more linked than we think? Surely the real value for a business comes from uniting these skillsets together and creating a blended culture that can understand the risks associated with a certain project, while also empowering creative thinking.

The power of the finance professional

The finance department’s perception as the most risk averse function across the business also makes it the most powerful. The skillset required from this area is massive – teams must be able to understand the long-term direction of the business and keep every department working towards this, on budget, and hitting the necessary targets to drive growth.

The finance function often faces challenges in uniting the company towards one goal – such as outdated technology slowing them down; siloes across the business; and having to constantly discourage people from chasing the latest shiny new tech, instead focusing on laying out clear parameters for success for each project.

It's a difficult job, with many different requirements to manage and evaluate – along with many stakeholders – but again, this reinforces the finance function as one of the most powerful teams across the business.

This is where encouraging the movement of finance professionals across the organisation can have a positive impact. As an example of this, we've had our CFO transition into the CIO role. The transferable skills from CFO to CIO lie in understanding the value of information and being able to strategically implement change to deliver that value into the business.

Uniting the skills of finance, understanding of the business and having technical understanding elevates the position of CIO. And recognising the true potential of the finance professional has been central to this decision.

Finance and innovation – a match made in heaven

It's clear that connecting the power of the finance professional to the wider business is vital to growth and success. Finance teams also have the potential to be the most innovative – as unlikely as this may sound given their perception as blockers of innovation.

People often forget that creativity and innovation isn’t about sticking your finger in the air and seeing what lands. Creativity can come just as much from analytics and that killer insight, and this is where finance thrives.

But empowering finance professionals to harness their creativity involves a mindset shift. We need the finance team to be cautious, but given creativity is about trial and error, they also need to become familiar with allowing failure. Creativity can only exist if it is given the freedom and flexibility to thrive, and this is where the finance function must become open to failure for the business to succeed.

The last few years have shown there is no “new normal” and that we’re constantly in a state of flux, both in the UK and on a macro geopolitical scale. There is always going to be a certain amount of uncertainty that finance professionals need to navigate, but factoring failure into a long-term business strategy can help manage this trial-and-error mentality. So, finance professionals feel like the business is on track, while still allowing for a healthy amount of innovation.

Business is all about balance

Companies that are either overly creative or overly risk averse may struggle in today’s economic climate. Businesses need a careful balance of both to not only survive but thrive. This involves identifying the skillsets across the business to get the job done, as opposed to pigeonholing talent to a specific function – or the perception of that function.

Ironically, the department seen as the most risk averse has all the skills needed to drive creativity. But finance teams need to be empowered to create an environment where they can safely test projects, be open to failure, and build from there.