10 Lessons All Shared Services Professionals Should Learn

At our European Summit for Leaders in Shared Services and Outsourcing this month brought together over 100 shared services professionals and experts addressing the pressing issues facing shared services professionals. This year we had a real focus on how a variety of shared services (HR, Finance, Multifunctional) underwent transformations and shake ups in the business to improve service quality.

We will be writing about some of the inspiring case studies we learned , but here are 10 key takeaways from the event. If you find any of these ring true, be sure to check out our forthcoming events in the UK and in the US.

1. Invest in branding and clearly defining the vision, purpose and scope of your shared services. Shared services often struggle as they establish themselves or they expand as they face resistance from people who do not want to move functions into shared service, or do not understand why they need to change. One key to overcome this resistance is to have a brand. If people know what your organization does, why it exists and has a brand and an identity that they can remember – they are more likely to engage with you. Plus, be sure to have documentation that you can show people where you can clearly communicate your scope.

2. Don’t forget to challenge your customer - how can they help you reduce costs, how can you provide better service? Andrew Kent of Serco reminded us that it is important you get your customers, the business to be invested in your success. Be sure to engage them and make sure they know what they can do to provide a better service.
3. Consider making performance visible through ‘huddles’. Diane Thornett of Adecco shared her inspiring story of how they implemented a lean performance model for their people, and how they used daily meetings, called huddles this helped identify areas where they needed more resource and identify problems before they come to a head.
4. Don’t forget to celebrate success, both individual success and your achievements. Shared services save companies millions of dollars every year, however the second anything goes wrong – they get all the blame. Don’t forget to celebrate and sing about your successes, both on an organizational level, and at the individual level to keep staff motivated.
5. The location of your shared services has a real impact on the relationship with the business – is it the one you want? The first factor many companies look to regarding where to set up shared services is cost. However as we discussed at this event, the location you choose has a huge impact on the culture of your organization and how it relates to the business. Don’t forget to think about how you want your shared services to be perceived by the business  - this will impact where you should locate your shared services.
6.  Ask WHY when looking at your purpose. When you change the way you explain your organization by talking about WHAT you do to WHY you do what you do, you’ll see people will perceive you totally differently. Your mission statement or elevator pitch shouldn’t explain just what you do (process invoices, automate transactions) but why you do it (we save the company millions, we allow front line professionals to focus on what matters) both the business and your staff will understand you differently.
7. Are you facing pockets of resistance? Find out the real reason why… it may be a perception issue. Are there people in your business who just don’t like shared services and fight you tooth and nail? Take some time to engage them, one of our speakers said they invited a real resister down to their shared services to meet the team and better understand what they do. The result was they turned a detractor into a promoter.
8. GBS qualities – know which ones you want to pick and apply. Susie West explained the 10 qualities of Global Business Services. While the model isn’t appropriate to every company, many companies can pick and choose the elements of this model that is right for them.
9. Empower your people, you don’t need to be the problem solver. Shared services directors are busy people. Not only do they have a heavy workload, they are also fire fighters. This can be exhausting and doesn’t allow you to always see the bigger picture. Be sure to empower your staff, invest in their leadership and problem solving skills, so not every little issue needs to be escalated to you.
10.  Change management, not to be overlooked! If you are undergoing any kind of organizational change or rolling out a technology, or making any change that impacts the way people work – do not underestimate change management it can be a full time job, and if not done properly, can make your job 10x more difficult. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, by taking on more resource, consulting experts or people who have done this before.