Nurturing Talent to Promote Treasury Excellence

by Jan-Martin Nufer, Director Treasury & Funding, Borealis Group, Austria

Following Borealis’ success in winning the 2014 TMI Corporate Recognition Award for Innovation and Excellence in Treasury Transformation, we are delighted to continue the series of articles that outline some of the success factors in Borealis’ journey towards treasury excellence, featuring Jan-Martin Nufer, Director of Treasury & Funding.

One of the issues that comes up regularly in discussions with other treasurers is the difficulty in finding, attracting and retaining treasury talent. In some cases, potential candidates lack the right educational background, a problem that is exacerbated by the fact that there is no global standard in treasury qualifications. Another issue is more of a social phenomenon in that entrants to treasury are sometimes unrealistic in their career expectations. While people have clear ambitions, they are not necessarily willing to go through the necessary steps to achieving them. This article outlines some of the ways in which we, at Borealis, have tried to ensure that we attract, retain and motivate the treasury talent that will enable us to deliver excellence to the organisation.

[[[PAGE]]]

Creating equilibrium in the treasury team

There are inevitably two channels for building a strong treasury team: one, through external recruitment and second, via internal succession combined with talent development programmes and internal training. One of the tools we use is a formal process for succession planning. Every position in the team has an incumbent, and a list of people who would be ready to take on the position should it become vacant, either now or after further experience or coaching. At the same time, we recognise the importance of bringing new blood into the team to maintain a healthy balance and introduce new ideas and experience. This is achieved by internal cross-functional moves or external hires. In particular, the cross-fertilisation of ideas from colleagues coming from different business areas into treasury yielded great results. That this is not only feasible but actively fostered is a great asset in our company.

With a clear succession plan in place, we also focus on deepening the talent and experience within the team. This involves coaching, training and providing opportunities for team members to engage with projects that develop their experience, but it is also important to be realistic in matching skills with the responsibilities that we need team members to fulfil. In some cases, a person’s abilities or approach may be more suited to a different role within treasury or the wider organisation, or an external appointment.

A culture of collaboration

While developing skills is important, building a positive, consistent culture is also an essential element of talent management. For example, every member of the team should be able to build sound relationships with their peers, managers and external counterparties. This is not simply about negotiating contractual relationships, but demonstrating interpersonal skills to build trust and confidence, and behaving ethically. We base this on the strong framework of our company values: “respect, responsible, exceed and nimblicity” as well as our continuous improvement programme “winning through excellence”. For example, credit and collections is managed by treasury at Borealis. There is inevitably a professional natural tension between this function and our sales teams given that objectives can sometimes be in conflict. Consequently, it is particularly important to promote a collaborative culture, communicate proactively and focus on teamwork so that this tension remains creative and fruitful rather than destructive in order to ultimately serve our ultimate company goals in the best way possible.

We evaluate our success in achieving the positive culture for which we are striving though a bi-annual employee survey. We then use the results of this for a large number of initiatives, as well as our talent planning and engagement over the following two-year period. The results of the most recent survey, for example, underlined the importance of being able to manage their own career, hence topics like development, succession planning, including cross-functional skills development to help employees broaden their experience and therefore enhance their career potential.

In addition, one of the points that this dialogue highlighted was the need to balance the needs and aspirations of professionals who intend to build their career in treasury, and those who are developing treasury experience as part of a wider finance career. This also has important implications for the way that the team is structured. While it is unlikely to be appropriate to have all team leaders as part of a finance rotation, it is far more feasible to have one or two or to keep these as deliberate development positions for people joining from other functions who have less treasury experience.

Channelling diversity

The geographic organisation of treasury also has implications for treasury talent. At Borealis, our treasury is cross-functional, cross-cultural and cross-location. Consequently, my focus is on maintaining a common business culture, and to ensure clear, consistent and timely communication across the entire team, wherever they are located. Not only do we prioritise interpersonal skills and proactive dialogue amongst team members, but establishing a common technical platform has also been a vital means of ensuring that everyone shares access to the same data and considers themself to be part of a single team. With the right business culture and technology in place, the diversity that characterises our treasury team works to the advantage of the business, in that people of different cultural and professional backgrounds approach discussions and challenges in different ways, building a rich decision-making framework that is extremely valuable in a global organisation like Borealis.

One of the ways in which we encourage and foster this dialogue is through various layers of regular team meetings to bring people from different locations together, virtually or physically, including functional sub-groups and the whole treasury team. These meetings allow us to debate challenges that we are facing, share ideas, conduct teambuilding exercises and cascade information throughout the department. We have an open door policy so that people who are interested in topics for which they do not have direct responsibility can stay connected and build knowledge and awareness by attending. One of the most recent idea example developed by the team was a temporary training-on-the-job concept under the title “So you think you can credit”, allowing colleagues to work in our environment and understand it in more detail while supporting the workload. We also seek to promote collaboration between teams that work in close proximity so that they understand, and can help facilitate, each other’s roles, responsibilities and objectives. For example, we recently held a workshop on treasury, funding, credit and accounts payable that was a significant step in promoting dialogue across teams and increasing treasury’s exposure and influence in the wider business.

Performance measurement

In order to evaluate our success in developing talent across our treasury team, we measure individual and team performance. We evaluate individual performance using a variety of tools. For example, we monitor progress against objectives that are agreed as part of a regular appraisal and career development process, leverage human resources tools, and complete the so-called ‘finance competence matrix’. This matrix is assessed against each functional role, to ensure that we are supporting each employee in developing the skills that are required for the role, and at the right level or for the next career step. Furthermore, we use various feedback tools like 360 degree feedback, both formally and informally, to take into account perspectives from across the team and outside of our organisation, from our customers and business partners. Like many global organisations, we rank employee performance. This is often very difficult given that the culture of excellence that we espouse in our treasury function, and the high calibre of individuals we attract and are fortunate to have.

Treasury benchmarking

In addition, we benchmark the performance of our treasury function as a whole against both internal benchmarks and third party performance. Some metrics are purely financial, such as financing costs. We also measure the extent to which we are leveraging innovative financing, investment and cash management tools to create value within Borealis. Similarly, we measure the efficiency of our treasury operations, including both quantitative and qualitative measures. In addition, we engage regularly in informal dialogue with other treasurers to understand how they are addressing common challenges and creating value.

While it is relatively straightforward to measure our achievements when using quantitative metrics, qualitative performance is more difficult. Winning independent awards such as the TMI Corporate Award for Innovation and Excellence in Treasury Transformation, 2014 are a very valuable means of demonstrating success and emphasising internally the role that treasury plays in achieving Borealis’ strategic objectives. We also participate in independent surveys and studies from time to time, but we find that these occasionally become desktop exercises to benefit the survey sponsor rather than delivering tangible value to Borealis.

Promoting excellence

Identifying, attracting and retaining treasury talent is an ongoing challenge, but we recognise that it needs to remain a priority to achieve the strategic and operational excellence that we are striving for at Borealis. By doing so, we optimise treasury’s performance and our ability to contribute to wider group objectives, and create a positive, creative and enjoyable working environment for our treasury team, at all levels and in all locations. We want our team to be proud and excited to work with Borealis and taking a proactive approach to treasury talent management is an essential contributor to this.