Changing Competencies And Mindsets
Changingcompetenciesand mindsetsCreating a vision for the futureResearch emerging themes
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ContentsCreating a vision for the future 1Theme 4: Changing competencies and mindsets 2Technology and intelligence augmentation 2The automation paradox 3From knowledge collection to interpretation 3Mindsets and learning 4Learn, unlearn and relearn 4Changing competencies and automation 5The future of finance: join us on our journey 7References 8Further reading 8
Creating a vision for the futureYou can’t see the future, but with the right insight you canprepare for it. We’ve created this briefing paper as part of ayear-long, worldwide project to understand the future formand direction of the finance function.Change is the new norm in many organisations –particularly within the finance function. Yet, because ofthis rapid evolution, there isn’t a composite picture of thefinance function of the future. It is this vision that we, atthe Association of International Certified ProfessionalAccountants, aim to create.With 650,000 members and students in 179 countries, weare uniquely well-positioned to work with global stakeholdersto investigate, analyse and document how the financefunction is changing.Using interviews, roundtables and surveys, thiscomprehensive global research project brings togetherdifferent organisational views – to deliver insight into theprocess of change and to synthesise a composite pictureof the finance function of the future.Our project aims to answer the following questions for you:XXHow will the future be different for your organisation?XXWhat are the drivers of change for your organisation?XXWhat are the implications for finance?XXHow should finance prepare for these changes?1Theme 4 – Changing competencies and mindsetsTo do this, we conducted more than 300 interviews and50 roundtable discussions on the future of finance andidentified several common trends emerging across a rangeof topics. These trends provided our research team with aseries of insights into the finance function of the future andthis paper is the fourth of four that explore the key emergingthemes from our research. These themes are:1. The changing role and mandate of finance2. Changing technology and finance3. The changing shape of the finance function4. Changing competencies and mindsets
Theme 4:Changing competencies and mindsetsThis briefing paper will:XXexplore how technological automation isshifting the competency skills set required byfinance professionalsXXintroduce the concept of a growth mindsetXXdemonstrate the increasing need for us all to learnand relearn continually, as new technologies replaceour timeworn skills and knowledge.Reading time: 20 minutes.“Finance people need a mindsetthat enables them to adapt throughcontinuous learning.”In one interview (quote above), a banking sectorrepresentative explained that, when hiring financeprofessionals, their organisation looked for “broad capabilityand a mindset, rather than the ability to use certain toolsand techniques”.They described this mindset as “being able to challengethe status quo, adapt, and make an impact when drivingchange”. Adopting it enables employees to be more resilientand gain a higher level of emotional intelligence.Until recently, we have assumed that competenciesinfluence and enable performance. However, throughoutour research, many interviewees made reference to ‘themindset of the management accountant’ when presentingpersonal views of what makes a good finance professional.In this and other ways, our research is challengingcurrent competency assumptions. While competenciesare still very important for the finance professional, it’s aspecific mindset that makes the greatest difference in theworking environment.Technology and intelligence augmentationLooking to the future, technology is impacting bothcompetencies and mindsets. The use of technology inthe finance function is creating a model of ‘intelligenceaugmentation’, where technology augments humanintelligence. In the finance function of the future, thetechnical capabilities of robotics and algorithms combinewith the creativity and empathy of human accountants.Technology is augmenting finance professionals’capabilities – making them faster, more efficient andmore productive. It’s no longer human versus machine,because new technologies can learn from the accountantand be customised to fit the specific needs of your financefunction. Thanks to technology, we now live in a worldwhere answers are cheap, plentiful and instant. However,in this world, the finance professional’s ability to constructa good question becomes paramount. The curiosity of agood question is worth a million good answers. It has theability to inspire and compel people to think and act.Dr Kevin Kelly, founding executive editor of ‘Wired’Magazine, and the futurist advisor on the 2002 Spielbergscience fiction film ‘Minority Report’, defines a goodquestion as:A good question is not concerned with acorrect answer.A good question cannot be answered immediately.A good question challenges existing answers.A good question is one to which you want the answer,but had no inkling of your interest beforeit was asked.A good question creates new territory of thinking.A good question reframes its own answers.A good question is the seed of innovation inscience, technology, art, politics and business.A good question is a probe, a what-if scenario.A good question skirts on the edge of what’sknown and not known, neither silly nor obvious.A good question cannot be predicted.A good question will be the sign of aneducated mind.A good question is one that generates othergood questions.A good question may be the last job a machinewill learn to do.A good question is what humans are for.iWe all need to build time for fluid contemplation and theconstruction of the good question into our working lives,instead of rushing for the instant answer.2
A desire to reduce complexity is motivating intervieweesto make further investment in technological solutions.In organisations where mergers and acquisitions haverecently taken place, the drive is to harmonise a number ofdifferent systems across many sites. In other organisations,the motivation is to ensure information systems talk toeach other through automation, so that resource can befreed up. The freed finance resource can then move awayfrom transactional processing (technical and businessanalytical skills) into the role of finance partner (people andleadership skills), to focus on the values and synergies ofbusiness goals.Haskel and Westlake talk about the importance of ‘systemicinnovators’, which allow organisational information flows,and facilitate ‘serendipitous interactions’ across a business:Such innovators are not inventors of single, isolatedinventions. Rather, their role is to coordinate the synergiesthat successfully bring such an innovation to market.iiAre these innovators the finance partners of the future?With their end-to-end view of a business, in future willthey be found developing and deploying solutions for anorganisation? With all these scenarios, the key skills baseof finance professionals is moving into the expert, problemsolving arena, and adopting competencies involved ininfluencing and change management.The automation paradoxWhen thinking about the impact that process robotics willhave on the finance function, the ‘automation paradox’needs to be considered. As systems become moreautomated, humans lose some of their skills within thesystem. This results in more automation. However, whenfaced with an unusual situation that requires a switch tomanual control, an organisation may no longer have theskills to deal with atypical conditions.iii An example fromthe world of the stock markets and trading floors is theuse of computers and algorithms to increase the speedof decision-making. With automated decision-makingbetween firms, malfunctioning algorithms have createdtrading flash crashes. The automation paradox is thereforesomething to be aware of when considering competenciesand mindsets of the future.From knowledge collection to interpretationThe role of the finance professional is shifting from one ofknowledge collection and creation, to instead interpretingmeaning and curating the information outputs producedby software solutions. As the finance function emergesfrom working in isolation to collaborating with others inthe organisation, this shift will intensify as the requiredskills change. For the finance professional, the changingrole and mandate of finance, the impact of technologyand the changing shape of the finance function each haveimplications for their required skills, competencies andmindsets going forward.An example of this can be seen in the changing nature of thebroad roles within finance, explored in our ‘Emerging theme1: The changing role and mandate of finance’. Here, thebroad roles of the finance function are moving from left toright, beneath the umbrella terms of ‘reporting’, ‘questioning’,‘developing solutions’ and ‘deploying solutions’.Figure 1: Competencies and skills under pinning the Broad finance e worksin isolationTechnical skillsDeployingsolutionsFinance workswith othersBusiness skillsExpert technical skillsAnalyticsProblem-solving uencingThis journey will also impact the skills required of the financeprofessional, moving them from technical and analytical, toproblem-solving and change management skills (Figure 1).3Theme 4 – Changing competencies and mindsets
Mindsets and learningLearn, unlearn and relearnThere exists an entire neuroscience research communitythat’s focused on mindsets. This community is studyinghow brains learn, and trying to understand the possiblelevels of future intelligence malleability. Results in this fieldhave revealed that the adoption of certain mindsets candrive greater motivation and achievement.Technological advancements are constantly changing theskills and knowledge that organisations value. The skillsand knowledge valued today have a rapidly decreasing shelflife. Most are likely to be obsolete within a couple of years –to be replaced by ones that we currently do not see or thatsimply don’t exist yet. This has implications for how thefinance professional learns and develops new skills. We willneed to become adaptive learners, requiring more frequentskills and knowledge upgrades. Our organisational valuemoves from ‘expertise’ to one of ‘agility’ andcontinuous reinvention.The work of Dr Carol Dweck has defined two mindsets – afixed mindset and a growth mindset. A fixed mindset is onewhere intelligence is considered static and ‘qualities arecarved in stone’, which ‘creates an urgency to prove yourselfover and over’.iv A person with a fixed mindset is likely toavoid challenges, give up easily when faced with obstaclesand ignore useful feedback.A growth mindset, on the other hand, is where ‘intelligencecan be developed and leads to a desire to learn’.v It isabout ‘a zest for teaching and learning, an openness togiving and receiving feedback, and an ability to confrontand surmount obstacles’.viAs technology increasingly disrupts the world in which wework, the ability to continually learn, unlearn and relearn,while operating at speed and scale, is a key challenge forthe finance professional. Author Matthew Syed explains:In a complex world, the only way to learn is from ourmistakes, failures and errors – in science, in business,in technology, in politics. It’s a process that applies tothe evolution of our species, the dynamism of oureconomies and the growth that we either enjoy orthwart in our own lives.viiA growth mindset is also linked to our own curiosity and ourability to continue to question long-held assumptions. Thiel,in Zero to One, talks about the case for secrets in a worldwhere we believe all the great questions have been solved.For the finance professional, these ‘secrets’ are the creationand preservation of organisational value. Thiel explains:The actual truth is that there are many more secrets leftto find, but they will yield only to relentless searches.There is more to do in science, medicine, engineering, andin technology of all kinds But we will never learn any ofthese secrets unless we demand to know them and forceourselves to look.viiiThe constant need to fail fast and relearn in a complexworld, and the frequent upgrade of our skills, plays to thestrength of the lifelong learning philosophy of the financeprofessional. It highlights the ever-growing importance ofcontinuing professional development and education on thequest to finding out what we don’t know.The need for growth mindsets and continued learningwas strongly articulated in our interviews. An intervieweefrom an international bank told us: “Finance people needa mindset that enables them to adapt through continuouslearning. They need to learn, unlearn and relearn in acontinuous loop.” Another individual in the aerospace andautomotive sector talked about the finance function having“a business enablement mindset”. Here, their primary roleis a solutions focus, while ensuring compliance is notcompromised. Finally, in a conversation with a bankingrepresentative, the finance function mindset was labelled,“techno-functional and techno-commercial”.Here, they used a creative and questioning style tounderstand disruption, in order to help the organisationcontinually adapt.Some of the multinational organisations we spoke withhave implemented rotation programmes for finance staff.This allows the finance professional to learn and gain skillsin different areas of the organisation or on projects that sitoutside their accounting roles. It widens their end-to-endbusiness knowledge and gives them the flexibility to workacross the organisation, embedding specialist wisdom. Oneparticipant described the finance professional’s role as “atransformation agent, to steer the organisation through therisks of a digital revolution”. In this organisation, the rolehas become focused on improving shareholder value bybuilding organisational resilience and agility.In one interview, an employee at a US multinationaltechnology company described the finance function as“the playground of problems.” They explained that it wasbest to spend time playing with an issue or problem, so asto better understand it. Here the openness to experimentthrough the curious eyes of a child challenges ourpre-learned assumptions and skills to find the mostinnovative solutions.4
Changing competencies and automationThe CGMA competency framework (Figure 2) is based onwhat organisations expect finance professionals to do.Finance professionals are expected to perform accountingand finance activities within the context of the organisationsin which they operate. They are expected to influence thedecisions, actions and behaviours of their colleagues withintheir organisations and outside it, and to provide leadershipat all levels. To do this, they need accounting and financeskills, business acumen, people skills and leadership skills.The framework is underpinned by the need for objectivity,integrity and ethical behaviour, and includes a commitmentto continually acquire new skills and knowledge.Figure 2: The 2015 CGMA Competency FrameworkCGMA Competency Frameworkluop enle c eead l gaA n e orthLeadershipskillsdn i w it hs a inti onIn ththe e cobusBusinessskillsftoex snt nesingnti illsuco e skcApand ply afin canTechnicalskillsfinTo pePeopleskillsEthics, integrity and professionalism1. T echnical skills: guardians of theautomated finance process andaccounting algorithmThe movement from ‘knowledge’ to ‘meaning’ makesthe competencies within the technical skills area highlysusceptible to automation. A 2017 McKinsey report intowhere machines could replace humans demonstrates theshift.ix Their research examined groups of occupationalactivities and ranked them according to their susceptibilityto automation. Work activities at risk of automation include5Theme 4 – Changing competencies and mindsetsdata collection, data processing and predictable physicalwork. Less automatable activities include managingothers, applying expertise, stakeholder interactions andunpredictable physical work. McKinsey’s forecast is:‘while few occupations are fully automatable, 60 per centof all occupations have at least 30 per cent technicallyautomatable activities’.x
Figure 3: McKinsey’s report into the technical potential for automation in the re automatable activitiesLess automatable activitiesEstimates of extent to which different types of roles could be automated; Source: McKinseyFor finance professionals, some of their core accountingand finance skills are at risk of becoming automated(Figure 3) into algorithms and software systems. Thismeans that, rather than being focused at foundational andintermediate proficiency levels, finance professionals ofthe future will need to concentrate on applying higher-levelexpertise. They will become the guardians or policemen forthe automated finance process and accounting algorithm.2. B usiness skills: knowledge of datasources, analytical skills and judgementHere, business acumen skills are less susceptible totechnological automation. The future focus needs to centreon a good knowledge of data sources, analytical skills andjudgement. This includes commercial curiosity and anongoing drive to better understand and learn more aboutthe organisation and its ecosystem.3. P eople skills: building empathy andinteractions with stakeholdersManagement accountants are often deployed towork alongside business unit managers in businessvalue partnering roles, to bring professional rigour toperformance management. Recent CGMA research foundthat the objectivity they bring and the questions they askcan prompt those collaborative conversations needed togenerate insights and improve performance.xi However,this collaboration requires business understanding andinfluencing skills. The future focus needs to be on buildingempathy and interactions with stakeholders, as theseare less susceptible to automation and will drive valuablebusiness insight.4. L eadership skills: team building,mentoring, driving performanceand change managementLeadership skills – which centre on team building,coaching and mentoring, drivi
Creating a vision for the future 1 Theme 4: Changing competencies and mindsets 2 Technology and intelligence augmentation 2 The automation paradox 3 From knowledge collection to interpretation 3 Mindsets and learning 4 Learn, unlearn and relearn 4 Changing competencies and automation 5 The future
1. Point participants to the handout with Dweck’s mindsets model. 2. Walk through the slides defining and describing growth mindset using the key points that follow. Defining Growth Mindsets (2 minutes) Key Points The research on growth mindsets has been pioneered by Dr. Carol Dweck, a
The Mindsets ofThe Mindsets of Positivity & Positivity ResonancePositivity & Positivity Resonance Barbara L. Fredrickson
teamwork competencies, strategic action competencies, global awareness competencies, self-management competencies and communication competencies. Strategic action competencies Strategic action competencies refer to the manager’s abilities to grasp the overall strategy of the company and ensure employees’ efforts are in line with the strategy.
Mindset Exploring the Learning Mindset Exploring the Leadership Mindset Changing mindsets Applying to practice Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday WHAT Identify what experimental mindsets look and feel like in practice, and what approaches can be taken to spread these mindsets and ways of working across the organisation. HOW
Mindsets and Math/Science Achievement Carol S. Dweck, Stanford University 2008 Paper Prepared for the Carnegie-IAS Commission on Mathematics and Science Education There is a growing body of evidence that students’ mindsets play a key role in their math and science achievement. Students who believe that intelligence or mathscience ability is simply a fixed trait (a fixed mindset) are at a .
gender identity, mindsets, and science possible selves, we assess multiple hypotheses about how gender, grade level, and mindsets are associated with boy-science bias, science confidence, science possible selves, and the desire for a science career. 1.1. Gender Identity in Early Adolescence Adolescence is an important time in the life course.
focused competencies. Competency Area NP Core Competencies Neither Curriculum Content to Support Competencies required nor comprehensive, this list reflects only suggested content specific to the core competencies Scientific Foundation Competencies 1. Critically analyzes data and evidence for improving advanced nursing practice. 2.
Ulster Archaeological Society at the Divis and Black Mountain site. 5 Illustration 1: Divis Mountain viewed from the south west 1.2 Aims In order to enhance the archaeological record of this site, the aims of this survey were to produce an accurate plan drawing of the monument and carry out a photographic survey. This information was compiled into a report and submitted to the Environment and .
