A number of employers of accountancy and procurement professionals tell us that they lack commercial skills in their teams. This has been further highlighted by our recent research of the accountancy profession, world class commissioning competencies and the forthcoming general election.
According to our latest accounting and finance skills study, 21% of employers told us that their finance teams are lacking commercial skills. And it’s the teams in the NHS which appear to be lacking those skills the most.
21% of employers told us that their finance teams are lacking commercial skills
As the finance function is under increasing pressure to prove its commercial worth, many finance directors have responded by implementing ‘internal client facing’ or ‘business partner’ roles. With over 45% of employers expecting their business partner to be out and about in the business working with leaders on developing strategy it’s no wonder that strong communication skills and commercial acumen are the top demands of FDs across Europe. A role we expect to grow in the NHS given the need for organisations to better control costs.
However what is worrying is that the NHS is the sector most lacking commercial acumen among its accounting and finance staff. Some employers tell us that it’s such an issue in the NHS because few employers recruit from outside the sector. According to our research, employees believe that on-desk training and mentoring are the most effective ways to help them develop the skills they need, an approach which the NHS might struggle to fully benefit from, if there is a lack of incumbent commercial and communication skills to learn from.
With the procurement and finance functions becoming ever more closely aligned, the need for these skills is prevalent in procurement. The uncertainty in future funding following the general election and world class commissioning competencies are both driving this demand. World class commissioning competencies 7, 9 & 11 are procurement related and, more specifically, are to do with commerciality, monitoring KPIs and SLAs and delivering value for money. As a result we’re seeing more of a demand for commercial candidates across the NHS while PCTs specifically are aware that they need to upskill their staff to become more commercial in their thinking.
If organisations struggle to attract commercially savvy candidates employers should consider recruiting those that display aptitude in this area and provide them with access to learning, coaching and education.
4 Comments
I found your article extremely interesting but it missed a key point. I have extremely high level commercial skills, I have an MBA, a DBA (Doctor of Business Administration) and CIMA, backed by 20 years of commercial experience in the public and private sectors; surely I am exactly the right type of candidate that all these employers are looking for?
Wrong. Recruitment agencies who advertise the jobs on behalf of the employers think that you are too qualified, or your commercial experience is not the right type of commercial experience. If having worked in the NHS as a business manager and having been a commercial director in both the private and not-for-profit sectors is not the right type of experience, then I am at a loss as to what is the ‘commercial experience’ that your article is on about.
Having worked in the NHS both recently and a few years ago I fully agree with the above comments.
But why is this comment limited to finance and procurement?
From my experience the NHS is generally lacking in the majority of skills outside of nursing and clinincians. There is a general lack of commercial awareness that has been the same for decades. One big issue that is hardly ever reported is that there has been serious underfunding on the practical sides of managing the business and probably most of all on the buildings.
The NHS has one of the largest Estates porfolios in the world and yet it fails to maintain this expensive asset the way it should be. Estates and Facilities Managers are constanly hounded to reduce costs and often this is at the detriment to maintaining a once proud building. All too often the results of this scrimping are evident in the non-public areas where plaster can be seen falling away from walls and trolley damaged areas going unrepaired.
It is such a shame that the general public do not see what is hidden behind the closed doors where the policy ‘Out of Sight-out of mind’ appears to be applied. I could go on.
From my own experience alone it is well recognised in the NHS East of England and NorthWest regions.
I was retained to develop Commercial support.
In East of England I have been running courses on Bid Mamagement, Lean Management, and Procurement for non Procurement Managers, plus offering commercial suport to local Trusts.
I agree with George Madine’s comments having just experienced the same reaction.
However, in addition to Roy F’s comments one of the key issues I’ve encountered are historical systems used (both IT and manual) as well as the organisational culture present in different PCT’s and Trusts.
Having been told to reduce costs on outsourced contracts at any ‘cost’ due to smaller budgets there is also a lack of skill at board level to make strategic reviews and decisions, it then falls down to ‘turnaround teams’ to come in and take the reins. This however is a short term solution as core skills are not adequately passed then onto the new management.