There are many factors that influence a significant promotion in FP&A Business Partnering - be it into a manager role or large P&L responsibility. These can be formal education and certification, past performance, experience, etc.

However, what I have seen in the past, is that many people, despite checking all these boxes, still couldn't get ahead in their careers. This is due to a very subtle factor – Perceived Professional Maturity, or actually the lack of it.

What is Perceived Professional Maturity?

A significant promotion is often a gamble for the people who promote you. Because of this, on top of checking the tangible requirements for a bigger job, you need to make them feel comfortable with your potential move. They must be able to imagine you in that new role and feel comfortable with this. Actually, the whole company needs to be able to do this – no one wants to make a promotion that would raise questions or doubts from other teams.

That’s when Perceived Professional Maturity comes into play.

The keyword here is “Perceived” – you need to convince those around you that you have grown to a new level and you can handle bigger things. It is very much about how they read what you do and how you behave. 

What are the key components of Perceived Professional Maturity?

There are seven things that you need to keep in mind if you would like to move up the FP&A business partnering career ladder.

1. Communicate your thoughts effectively

It isn't easy to clearly and concisely communicate complex financial concepts. However, if you cannot do it, if your business counterparts do not understand you quickly and easily, you will never get their buy-in for a promotion:

Make sure that your audience understands the purpose of your message.

This starts right with the first sentence and is most important when communicating via email. The first lines of an email should explain “what kind of a message is this” – what its purpose is.

Is it to ask for a decision or approval? Then start, “John, I need your advice on which of the three below options to choose.” Or “Jack, I need your approval on the below marketing budget”. 

Is it to inform about a binding decision already taken? Then start, “Frank, see below the final outcome of our marketing spend analysis and the resulting guidelines for next year’s spend”. 

Is it just to share information? Then start, “Caroline, this is just to let you know about last month’s progress of our research teams”.

This is so powerful because the reader immediately knows what is expected of him. This defines his approach to the email. A first sentence explaining the purpose of the email helps so much to prioritise and plan. 

Time is money, so keep your message straight to the point. 

Top management and busy salespeople tend to read messages on their phones. Do not make them scroll down to get the point. 

If you are writing to provide an answer or inform about something, simply put the very essence in the first line or even in the title of the email. Do not start with explaining all the steps you took to get to the answer. No one really cares (if they trust you).

You can put details, explanations, and other additional information in further sections of your note but start with the punch line. Very often, that’s where people will stop reading!

Follow the “Think – Feel – Do” framework. This is a powerful tool to use in longer presentations for increased impact. In order to get your audience to react to your message, make sure you explicitly cover three aspects:

• “Think” (understand) – what do you want them to understand, what is the information you want to share. Make sure it is easy to understand.
• “Feel” (emotional reaction) – try to convey an emotional reaction to the message
• “Do” (call to action) – end with a clear call – what do you expect the audience to do

2. Keep calm during a storm

You need to behave in a calm, mature and professional way. You need to exude the appearance of having things under control.

This is especially important in a crisis situation (and you will have to handle more of them when you move up). When there is a sudden problem, don’t immediately storm your boss’ office, breaking the bad news. Don’t act in a rush of excitement. Sit down. Wait. Ask people to explain the exact details of the situation to you. Think about potential consequences and solutions. Ask people for their ideas. Only then and only if necessary, speak to your boss. This is a fine balance you have to strike - you do want to keep your boss informed about potential trouble, but you do not want to bother her with every tough issue that crosses your plate.

3. Have things under control

You need to convince people around that you have the processes and numbers under control. We all know that things change quickly, people make mistakes, and the numbers we believed to be correct yesterday may need to be corrected tomorrow. However, try not to use words like “error” or “mistake”. Explain that the data you gave turned out “not to be final” or was based on “incomplete assumptions”. It is human nature to associate people with the words they use. You do not want to be associated with errors and mistakes.

It is not enough to exude the appearance of having things under control. You need to do your homework, hit the deadlines and keep the numbers accurate. Your colleagues and partners need to know that you are dependable. 

4. Constructively critical approach toward the business

As an FP&A business partner, you work with your business counterparts and discuss sales, marketing, distribution, etc. They will explain why things are what they are, how business works and what are the plans for the future. But you need to use your experience with the company and your knowledge of the business to challenge their messages. Your critique should serve a purpose – it should shed new light on the business and encourage you to question the obvious to discover the unexpected. This is connected to the concept of “owning the numbers” which I mentioned in my other publication as a sign of a true finance business partnership.

5. Be pragmatic: Find the balance between the time and effort

Manage the time and effort invested (yours and what you ask of others) vs materiality of the issue and potential benefit. In a way – be easy to do business with, to work with.

6. Understand the main issue behind the question

Whenever asked for an analysis, do not offer pure raw data or the precise answer to the question itself but rather try to find an answer to a possible follow-up question. Ask yourself, “why is she asking this”, “what is the thought behind the question”, and “how will she use my answer”. Then try to prepare a complete answer to that bigger question. Try to frame the issue and prepare a recommendation on how to move forward. You will be perceived as someone who understands the current business issues and who has thoughts about how to move to action on them.

7. Have a “no surprise” policy

Try to pre-warn your business leaders as soon as you become aware of significant impacts. Don’t wait until the big meeting or the business review to put that on a slide. If it is big and unexpected, reach out immediately (call, mail, speak in the corridor over coffee). Even five minutes before a meeting gives time to think and prepare and avoids a lot of potential pushback and pure human surprise reaction in the “big meeting”. Avoid being the one who brings surprises into the room, which no one is aware of; no one understands where they come from, and everybody starts questioning their correctness.

In summary

It is a long and subtle process as you build your professional credibility daily. But it is very well worth it. Only when you convince others of your professional maturity will they approve of your career progress.