- Graham Buck
- Columnist, Treasury Management International
Treasury mentoring schemes offer diverse benefits – both for the mentor and the mentee, as well as the wider organisation. Here, TMI explores the mentoring opportunities on offer within and without the corporate four walls. We also outline what it takes to be a top-class treasury mentor – and a successful mentee.
An old adage claims that when starting a new job there is nothing to surpass ‘being thrown in at the deep end.’ Yet when gaining experience, nobody wants to feel out of their depth in the workplace.
That’s a salient point at a time when the duties and responsibilities of the corporate treasurer are steadily broadening, with ESG issues now firmly established on the agenda. Fortunately, the value of mentoring schemes to help career progression is increasingly being recognised. Treasury mentoring is further helped by the UK’s Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT), which launched its Mentor Me scheme in 2015. The Irish Association of Corporate Treasurers (IACT) has followed suit, introducing its first programme in October 2018.
Erich Stark
Head of Corporate Treasury Solutions, PwC Austria
Similar initiatives are also gaining ground in Europe. Vienna-based Erich Stark, Head of Corporate Treasury Solutions, PwC Austria, is a member of the Austrian Corporate Treasury Association’s (ACTA) recently established working group for treasury training, education and development. This is led by Anila Llagami, CFO of Austrian healthcare group AME International. Among its first initiatives is an ACTA treasury mentorship programme, which is now under development and scheduled to be launched later this year.
These activities are responding to a real need, as Stark believes that while corporates increasingly encourage a real mentorship culture there is less evidence of many offering their own treasury mentoring schemes in-house, possibly because “in many cases treasury functions are rather lean.” However, in addition to the participants benefitting, mentoring schemes are also good for the company, he suggests.
“From the business’ side, the main benefit of mentoring is having great employees – or rather people who can reach the next stages of their individual development more quickly and are likely to realise even more of their inherent overall potential,” continues Stark. And because they feel like a team member within a company where they can advance in their personal and career development, they are more likely to stay there.
Kemi Bolarin
Head of Treasury – Europe, GXO
For Kemi Bolarin, Head of Treasury – Europe at logistics group GXO, establishing a constructive one-to-one relationship lies at the heart of mentoring and is the central benefit for the mentee, who is seeking to gain the perspectives coming from a higher level.
“It definitely helps if they can have a conversation that is both transparent and honest, and the relationship provides a safe place in which views can be aired,” she suggests. “The business ultimately benefits from offering a mentorship programme and the exchange of thoughts that it makes possible.”
How to be a Great Mentor: Four Fundamental Steps
What are the basic qualities required for a successful treasury mentor? GXO’s Kemi Bolarin, says that it’s a question that she regularly asks, to remind herself of the essentials. “First, the mentor-mentee relationship is one in which trust and mutual respect are essential,” she suggests. “Both the giving and earning of respect creates a good foundation.”
Second is the need to be authentic. Bolarin makes regular visits away from her workplace to educate and inspire the next generation. “It’s something that I aim for whenever I go out to primary and secondary schools to share my treasury experiences. Each of us has our own unique story to tell.”
Third is the need to remember that mentoring is all about aspiration. Bolarin says that while the mentor is sharing his/her expertise and technical capabilities, they should be mindful of the fact that each individual has their own specific aspirations. “So, it shouldn’t focus too much at what point you [the mentor] have reached in your career – instead, set the mentee some realistic expectations. Get into a dialogue with them and use it to pick up on what their own aspirations are.”
Fourth is the need for the mentor to be considerate. “Our feedback should always be constructive. Don’t patronise the mentee and make sure both of you understand the career milestones that you have set for them.”
Growing ideas
Corporate treasurers often reveal that while their career path eventually led to the treasury department, they initially started out in a quite different role. “I’d say that’s still often the case, but maybe to a lesser degree than 10 or 20 years ago,” continues Bolarin. “Treasury still isn’t that well known outside of corporates, so my task when I go into a school is to ‘plant the seed’ and explain a role that they may know nothing or little about.
“In some cases, the basics of treasury can be provided via an internship or apprenticeship, meaning that it is still regarded as an add-on to a basic qualification.” It can also mean that the typical mentee is often not a new graduate, but rather someone who is already some years into their career and pondering their next move.”
Stark believes that the success of mentoring comes down to what the mentee is looking for or believes they can benefit from the most. “In some cases, having substantial hands-on experience – even focused within treasury – can best be of use, whereas in other cases cross-over experience outside of treasury could be even more beneficial for the mentee,” he suggests. There is ‘no one-size-fits-all’ mentor-mentee set-up or relationship, much as each treasury function is unique, even though natural core elements, overall goals and activities are similar.
“On the mentor’s side, a willingness to share both success stories and failures with the mentee is essential, as is being adaptive to their specific personality and needs. Of course, a mentee must also be willing to be open to the interaction and exchange to get maximum benefit. And the relationship – and interaction – must always be on an equal footing, no matter how wide the difference in age, seniority or hierarchy might be.”
Giving back experience
The UK’s ACT describes Mentor Me as providing “an opportunity for members to benefit from the experience of others by being mentored by another member, or to give back to others and share experiences by acting as a mentor.” The element of “giving back” means that often it is older members, either newly retired or nearing retirement, who volunteer their services, says Louise Tatham, the ACT’s Head of Professional Development.
Louise Tatham
Head of Professional Development, ACT
“Before we officially launched Mentor Me, we contacted our Fellows to ask them to be mentors so that we had a pool of talent ready for when the mentees started to use the scheme,” she recalls. “We were delighted by the response from members, who saw this as an effective way to pass on their knowledge and also contribute something to the profession.” It also permits a “bespoke match” to be developed when a mentee is, for example, seeking to learn more about working in a specific sector – or in a specific location – such as Hong Kong.
To the benefits of mentoring outlined above, Tatham adds that of active listening. As she remarks: “We are often distracted, by emails, by our phone or by someone talking in the office. But by filtering out the noise around us and taking the time to find the right way to meet we can fully concentrate on our objectives.
“When we actively listen, we concentrate on what the other person is saying. And when we do talk, we must be honest and transparent – if we’re not we will only be cheating ourselves and we may not get the optimum outcome. Exchanging thoughts and ideas is important – that’s the point of mentoring – but the mentor should act as a guide; ultimately it is up to the mentee to make their own decisions and turn them into action.”
In-house versus external
While workplace mentoring schemes have their strengths, looking further afield for a mentor can offer more. “The advantage of working with a company mentor is that they will understand how the business works,” suggests Tatham. “The advantage of going with a separate mentoring scheme, such as the professional body mentoring scheme, is that you can be matched with a mentor in another company who will have shared experiences but a different viewpoint.
“Sometimes people are worried about how they may come across if they have an in-company mentor – they don’t want their questions to sound silly or unprofessional – and although this isn’t the case, they may feel happier talking to someone outside the company.”
Katrina Leese
Head of Treasury, Stagecoach
Katrina Leese, who trained as a chartered accountant with KPMG, joined transport group Stagecoach in 2000 in a finance role and is now Head of Treasury. She reports that the Mentor Me scheme offered her access to a distinct perspective. “I could have looked for a business mentor in-house but not a treasury-specific one, as we are a small treasury team, of which I am the head.
“Having an experienced treasury professional outside my organisation gave me [access to] someone who I could use as a sounding board in terms of both my career aspirations and my personal and professional objectives. I think most people looking for a treasury mentor would search outside their organisation and use their connections with the ACT or other professional bodies. That’s where external mentoring differs from on-the-job mentoring and training.
“With the right mentor, I was able to ask questions that would never sound silly and, as a result, I would gain confidence. I knew it was important to set up a structure for our meetings – both in terms of what we wanted to achieve but also in terms of when we would speak. So, we decided to meet every four to six weeks for an hour online.”
Leese says that they initially looked at which point exactly she had reached in her career – and where she aimed to be going forward. “My mentor helped me to consider my strengths and weaknesses and also assisted in updating my CV.”
Pritesh Vadolia
Head of Treasury – Risk, Tesco
In-house mentoring is, however, working well for Pritesh Vadolia, Tesco’s Head of Treasury - Risk, who has been with the supermarket group for 12 years and is both a mentor and a mentee. “My mentor is in the wider business as head of our Florence & Fred clothing division and provides me with a very different perspective,” he reports.
“In addition, while she is my go-to for advice on my long-term career, there are occasions when I can offer help in return on short-term goals. One example is when she mentioned managing costs across the business – I suggested that we could hedge and was able to advise.”
Stick to the schedule
Whether in-house or external, mentoring is now highly likely to take place online rather than in the office, thanks to the advent of technologies such as Zoom. Tatham adds that even before Covid-19 and the new era of working from home and social distancing, mentoring was often conducted without face-to-face meetings, via online or phone calls. “The pandemic didn’t affect people’s ability to be mentored, although perhaps if individuals were working longer hours, they wouldn’t have been able to devote as much time to mentoring as they would have previously.”
Leese started working with her mentor in 2021 – well into the pandemic – and found it “hugely beneficial” to be able to use Microsoft Teams for meetings. “Pre-pandemic, this would probably have been just a phone call given our geographical locations, so it was great to have technology that enabled us to meet ‘in person’ even though it was virtually in terms of our meetings.”
Bolarin agrees. “It has become a cliché that the pandemic changed everything, but there were positives alongside the disruption. It changed our way of thinking and proved there were several options available for meeting up.”
Despite the relative ease of connecting virtually, one key to success in mentoring relationships is to establish a set time, which can be as little as one hour per month, when mentor and mentee meet – and to stick to it. “If you have this in place, even when times are busy, it will help you to at least check in with the mentor and think about what you want to achieve,” advises Tatham.
She also detects a shift in priorities over a turbulent couple of years. “The pandemic required everyone to perform effectively online amid added pressures such as fitting in childminding around work, sharing facilities with family and housemates, and using the kitchen or bedroom as an office. Relationships changed and required a broader range of business and behavioural skills.
“While mentoring has focused on personal career development and soft skills, the ‘new normal’ has had the positive effect of encouraging us to think more about other members of our team and whether we can help with their wellbeing.”
Stark adds that the growing speed and flexibility offered by technological change when setting up video calls offers a new set of possibilities for mentoring. “We are now living with more of a hybrid situation where ideally – both in our daily work and when mentoring – we can cherry-pick and choose to utilise the best of both worlds going forward.”
And the spread of ideas enabled by mentoring could help with new challenges such as escalating energy costs, concludes Vadolia. “It’s an issue that has gone straight to the CFO level and is demanding attention, so it’s good to find out how other companies are addressing a communal problem.”
