The 10 commandments of business partnering

Does the business partner operating model exist in your organisation across Finance, Human Resources (HR), Information Systems (IS) and other functions?

Business partnering has developed over time as one of the interventions in ensuring in-house teams add value to internal stakeholders.

Today’s workplace has become characterised by many difficult meetings, challenging conversations ill-tempered exchanges, and there just isn’t time to nurse all of our stakeholders through all of the issues – not if we are expected to deliver business outcomes on time.

The business partner is now required to develop successful, strategic relationships with internal clients to drive business growth and achieve business outcomes, while juggling multiple priorities.

Be positioned to ramp up your business partnering capabilities and increase the chances of your business partnerships succeeding in the workplace with what we’ve termed the ten commandments of Business Partnering.

Our 10 Commandments of Business Partnering

1. Thou shall be proactive and not reactive: Help the organisation anticipate its future and steer it in the right business direction.

2. Thou shall get the participation of your partners in the major decision-making process: People are excited about what they help create.

3. Thou shall clarify the expectations of your stakeholders: Don’t be ignorant of what the other parties expect from you or about what is to be done.

4.Thou shall be a committed data gathering advocate and practitioner: Knowledgeable business partners (BPs) are able to translate current trends and policies into business strategies that support the realisation of organisational objectives. They obtain facts and marry them with abstracts to forge a way forward for their organisations.

5. Thou shall remain human: The business partners you deal with daily are human beings. Be authentic, sensitive, discerning of stakeholder expectations and studious of customer experiences.

6. Thou shall communicate: Clearly articulate and keep communication lines open between you and stakeholders….always!

7. Thou shall not assume but ask important questions.

8. Thou shall be Strategic in your thinking: Be forward looking and future focused but never forget to connect it to the ”here & now”.

9. Thou shall be value driven: Value-add to the business unit’s growth drivers is a key imperative of the BP role. Value is usually defined within the recipient’s context and the “receivers” yardstick.

10. Thou shall be committed to self development: Building your capability enhances your credibility.

You can kick-start better business partnering by applying these principles.

Ngozi Adebiyi is the lead consultant at OutsideIn HR, a firm that focuses on practical interventions that address the challenges of businesses today. The Firm also specialises in HR Business Partnering, Engagement & Retention with the goal of “Revolutionising HR in Nigeria