Enabling decisions
THE 3 P’S OF THE TRANSFORMATION PUZZLE
GAMIFICATION: DOES IT BUILD EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT?
VALUE CREATION THROUGH SUSTAINABILITY: THE IMPORTANCE OF ESG AND CARBON PRICING
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GAMIFICATION: DOES IT BUILD EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT?
VALUE CREATION THROUGH SUSTAINABILITY: THE IMPORTANCE OF ESG AND CARBON PRICING
Welcome to the 3rd edition of “Enabling Decisions,” the finance consulting magazine brought to you by inlumi. We’re thrilled to share this issue with you, which is packed with a variety of articles that we hope will provide valuable insights and help your business thrive.
In this edition, we explore the challenges of tackling tax in the transformation agenda and how to navigate the ever-changing business landscape. We take a deep dive into the 3 P’s of the transformation puzzle and how gamification can be used to build employee engagement.
With the given topic of sustainability, we’re zooming in on the importance of ESG and carbon pricing in value creation and how businesses can make a positive impact on our planet. We examine hybrid work and how it can fit with diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies, as well as the role of CFOs in leading the digital transformation process.
Finally, we’re excited to share with you the article by our sustainability partner Mossy Earth, which highlights the importance of environmental sustainability and the role businesses can play in preserving our planet.
We hope that you find this edition informative and thought-provoking. As always, our goal is to provide you with the insights and tools you need to make informed decisions that will propel your business forward. Enjoy!
Ashley Chapman, CEO inlumi.TRANSFORMATION, CHANGE, AND LIVING IN A WORLD THAT’S ‘RADICALLY DIFFERENT’
THE 3 P’S OF THE TRANSFORMATION PUZZLE
FOSTERING PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY IN THE HYBRID WORKPLACE: THE KEY TO THRIVING IN THE NEW WORLD OF WORK
GAMIFICATION – DOES IT BUILD EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT?
DEMYSTIFYING DATA SCIENCE
TACKLING TAX IN THE TRANSFORMATION AGENDA
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AND THE ROLE OF CFOS IN LEADING THE PROCESS
VALUE CREATION THROUGH SUSTAINABILITY - THE IMPORTANCE OF ESG AND CARBON PRICING CAN REWILDING SAVE THE PLANET?
How can we understand transformation, especially in the context of finance? Our world is rapidly changing and all organisations need to keep apace. How can we take advantage of new methodologies and innovations to make finance fit for the future?
Transformation, change, and living in a world that’s ‘radically different’
TRANSFORMATION. WHAT DOES THIS EVEN MEAN?
an act, process, or instance of transforming or being transformed (Anon., n.d.)
BUT WHAT DOES ‘TRANSFORMING’ MEAN?
to change in composition or structure (Anon., n.d.)
AND CHANGE?
to make radically different: transform (Anon., n.d.)
And so, the circle continues.
One thing we can gather from this is that transformation isn’t straightforward and that perhaps there’s no consistent explanation for what it is, as it means different things to different people and means different things to different organisations.
While the world of transformation is by no means standard, with the right approach, this mammoth task can be addressed, and it can be successful. To do this, though, we need to assess the many pieces of the transformation puzzle and consider what’s needed to construct it. When we do this, we are able to carefully consider the purpose of the initiative and the people who are needed to piece the transformation together. This, however, is easier said than done, because making things ‘radically different’ takes an immense investment of time and effort from the very individuals driving the transformation. Sustaining their performance becomes paramount, alongside the challenge of preserving motivation and engagement throughout these often prolonged initiatives, spanning from months to years. The path to success lies in navigating these obstacles with unwavering determination.
Although traditional techniques for engagement exist, such as Q&As, live
training, or ‘face-to-face’ workshops, which inevitably contain an element of added fun through a dinner or a glass of wine, the positive impact of these techniques can be short-lived when we get back to our computer screens on a Monday morning and can once again bravely argue with each other through the invincible protection of our MacBooks or our Windows Surface Pros. As transformation describes a change that is ‘radically different’, surely the approach to engagement should be reconsidered and should be enticing, fun, and more sustainable?
Enter gamification. Our good friend, who’s been teaching us French on Duolingo for the last 504 days without us actually realising that we are essentially being gamified. Why should this only apply to an app on our phones, though? Can learning and engaging in work projects not also be fun? Can I not feel a sense of accomplishment from attending all the training sessions and completing the subsequent quizzes? Can I not earn a badge for creating a new report? Also, am I more enticed to perform these activities or tasks with the lure of earning something and feeling a sense of accomplishment that I last felt in second grade when my life revolved around Mrs. Baker’s star chart…food for thought.
As transformation describes a change that is ‘radically different’, surely the approach to engagement should be reconsidered and should be enticing, fun, and more sustainable?
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As we’ve already discussed, people are fundamental to any type of transformation—at the end of the day, they are the doers. The debate still exists, though, as to whether people are more productive and collaborative while working at home, in the office, or a combination of both. Or should we rather be focussing on the psychological safety of employees than their physical location? It seems like creating an environment that values collaboration, learning, and communication might also play a contributing factor in boosting our people and helping to build the transformation puzzle.
Speaking of transformation, in our line of work, this usually refers to finance transformation. But again, this concept or initiative can involve a variety of different things. To some, it means redesigning all finance-related processes and the systems surrounding them. To others, it’s implementing an ERP or EPM tool. However, one initiative that’s often overlooked in finance transformation is tax transformation. This may be down to many reasons, one being that tax is considered risk prevention as opposed to value creation. This is itself a reason to consider tax as part of a wider financial transformation. Transforming tax not only helps defend the company, but it also creates valuable efficiencies and enhances the analytics capabilities of the tax function, allowing it to become a strategic business partner. The old-school, ‘outdated’ idea around tax can now also become ‘radically different’.
Yet, the sad truth still remains that even though there is a massive shift in organisations towards undergoing transformation, less than half of these transformations are successful. Sometimes clarity of purpose, involving the right people, and using innovative
approaches to engagement aren’t enough. This is because the foundation that sets the groundwork for any transformation initiative needs to be in place, and that’s the support of leadership. In the case of finance or digital transformations, this should include the CFO. With comprehensive, holistic knowledge of the business model, the current strategy, and emerging trends in both business and technology, the CFO is well placed to play a leading role in transformation initiatives and set the organisation up for success.
However, demands on CFOs are high, as they have a lot to prioritise in today’s somewhat volatile economic market. One such thing is the rise in ESG regulations. The world of ESG has its positives, though, and the value it can create for organisations can be substantial if it is carefully considered in an organisation’s strategy. One way of doing this is to consider implementing a carbon price for your organisation. Risky? Maybe! But we’re here to do things that are ‘radically different’, aren’t we? Also, being able to make sound economic and environmental decisions puts an organisation one step forward in the future, not only by protecting itself against new regulations, but also by becoming a more attractive investment opportunity for prospective clients.
Being able to make sound economic and environmental decisions puts an organisation one step forward in the future.
One such organisation whose key focus is sustainability is Mossy Earth, a key partner of inlumi. Mossy Earth’s impact is far-reaching, and the research that goes into their projects is immense. One such question that they pose to us is that of rewilding and whether it can save our planet. By passing control back to nature, which is an incredibly cost-effective tool, I might add, this can help restore the ecosystem and protect biodiversity. We look at natural carbon sinks as opposed to carbon prices and see a different view of what the transition to a carbon-free economy would look like.
And can you guess what rewilding does? It unleashes a flood of (you guessed it) transformation and change.
Anon., n.d. Mirriam-Webster.
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Anon., n.d. Mirriam-Webster.
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Anon., n.d. Mirriam-Webster.
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Rather than replicating old processes in a new way, how can you enable true transformation? The key comes from the three P’s of the transformation puzzle: Purpose, People, and Performance.
Ongoing transformation is a crucial process that cannot be avoided in a modern-day business. Constant technological and technical advancements are changing the way we work. We believe the key to a fruitful and effective approach comes down to understanding the three P’s of the transformation puzzle.
Purpose looks at the why’s. It provides an overall picture of the puzzle, with strategic goals and objectives at the forefront. People refers to the who: from managers who provide the edge pieces as the framework of change to the people who will flip over the pieces and bring the picture together. Performance is the how. This focuses on assembling the puzzle to maintain momentum towards achieving true transformation, managing scope creep, and uncovering both anticipated and unanticipated challenges.
Let us uncover each of these P’s with insights and strategies for putting together the quintessential transformation puzzle.
Most of us remember our first few puzzles from when we were young. Typically, this puzzle would have as few as four pieces, and each piece would be very distinct from its counterparts. As we grew older, starting from our early years in kindergarten, the challenges presented to us through puzzle-solving became slightly more complex. They now consisted of numerous pieces, possibly ranging in the tens, hundreds, or even thousands. Regardless of how many pieces we had to put together, we all know that those
pieces started to appear less distinct from one another as the puzzles became more difficult.
A simplistic puzzle in our modern framework is the mathematical equation 2 + 2 = 4. We have two identical puzzle pieces in that equation, 2 and 2. Their combination, the completed puzzle that answers what we are trying to solve, is 4. To this, we can add a layer of complexity in the form of synergies, where 2 + 2 = 5, as the assembled puzzle has more value than the pieces on their own. When we scale this up to much more intricate puzzles such as “how to increase automation in the forecasting process” or “how to identify and implement IFRS16, which has a simplistic ease of use and provides greater data integrity”, then we begin to realise the sheer amount of puzzle pieces that could go into answering these questions.
That is why we must understand how transformation becomes a puzzle. Transformation is the picture on the box —the finished work. The challenge we must overcome is the puzzle. Sometimes the puzzle can be smaller. But it can also be the most significant problem we have ever had to solve.
When approaching transformation, ask yourself the purpose of the transformation:
Why do the current ways of working need transforming?
Why do they need transforming now?
Why is this the right transformation to assemble?
The key here is not to focus on the ‘what’ but to go deeper into the ‘why’.
We can understand the “why” by referring to the TGROW model, a coaching tool used across industries to help people understand their position concerning their goals (Overbury, 2023). TGROW stands for Topic, Goal, Reality, Options, and Way forward.
We already know what the topic is: transformation. That is an overarching consideration we will have to keep in mind throughout this piece. However, the goal and the reality are the two considerations we will go through while we think about our purpose.
To understand the goal, we must fully understand the reality and the current issues that have resulted in the need for transformation. These will go beyond a bottleneck or endpoint issue. Seeking only to resolve what is going wrong or what can be improved will likely result in firefighting and overlaying solutions that do not resolve the core issues. Instead, we should use these visible issues as a guide to where the real problems are. Drilling into why they are occurring and uncovering the current ways of working and the tools that lead to these results will unearth the true picture we need to transform.
Where your initial goal may be a broad concept that can be widely applied, it needs to be grounded in reality. For example, if your goal is to save time, your reality probably is that you feel the need to be using time effectively. What is the reason for that? Is there a very manual process that takes too long to complete?
If so, we can decide on a more specific goal. The implied need relates to dissatisfaction regarding time management, but the explicit need will be that you want to improve the process, and that is where the focus of the specific goals should be.
This back and forth of asking ourselves our goals and realities will tell us our purpose. Always remember that it is vital to question the timing of the transformation to help you understand whether the business is ready to accomplish these goals. There may be other priorities or dependencies that we need to resolve first.
Understanding our purpose and goal will help us outline the puzzle we want to tackle and the target image we want to reach, and this is how we frame the transformation and change we want.
Now that we know what to accomplish, we need to figure out who will help us do it. Our focus should therefore be on determining whether we have the right people available to achieve the goals. Having the right people and the proper support for them will create the environment required for a successful transformation. Involving your colleagues in developing your shared purpose will also help you discover the true reality and generate initial buy-in and understanding of the importance of achieving the goals together.
When answering the “who” question, we should look beyond a broad knowledge base and capabilities regarding current working methods. While having an experienced individual with knowledge of
current procedures and methods is vital, their understanding may be restricted to their role and therefore lack insight into what can be, what is possible, and what potential can be unleashed. It is critical to bring in a second person who knows the new solution and its potential. However, having knowledge about the present and future possibilities will only take you so far.
Consider each piece of the puzzle — who can help us put it together and how to make everyone feel comfortable while doing so. Here’s where we detail the initial stakeholder map, outlining their influence and interest. We also advise creating a secondary map of the key stakeholders and the most effective methods of communication with them. Some people prefer a face-to-face discussion, others a quick call, and some prefer emails.
BIRD’S-EYE PERSPECTIVEIt is essential to have someone who is curious and has a strong work ethic. These are the people who will turn over each piece of the puzzle. Even if they don’t have the current skills, they will figure it out and find a way to achieve it. Their qualities tend to be infectious and uplift those around them by raising energy levels, motivation, and curiosity.
Once the relevant people have been identified, we must evaluate how to effectively involve them and develop not only participation but also engagement and motivation. Realistically, there is no simple solution because everyone is unique. We can’t really send a magical email to the company that will get everyone on board, but there are some things you can keep in mind, which are:
People feel involved in a process or change when they are aware of it. Even those who enjoy surprise parties are only sometimes fond of surprises at work.
Executives and managers will need to keep the overall image the puzzle is meant to create in mind. This includes providing the team with the right framework and support, allowing those assembling the puzzle to focus entirely on delivering. It also means helping to identify any uncertainties related to the known requirements and the arising challenges throughout the transformation process.
The final challenge is maintaining high performance while assembling the transformation puzzle. Can we make sure we keep the momentum of the project? How do we retain the engagement of key people? How do we stick to the scope of our transformation? And principally, how do we enact true transformation rather than replicating the old working methods in a new format?
Having the right people and the proper support for them will create the environment required for a successful transformation.
The main threat to momentum throughout any transformation delivery is when important resources are drawn back into daily tasks. This can come in the form of inadequate backfilling and underestimating the time and effort required of the individual due to not effectively communicating beforehand the importance of the project, and not providing enough support. All of these can cause distractions and ultimately a devaluation of the project’s importance, disengaging key resources and likely resulting in missed deadlines and a poor end solution. In contrast, stressing the relevance of these elements will allow you to establish a team of pro-change ambassadors who can harness ideas and support from individuals beyond the delivery team.
In short, whether performed poorly or magnificently, the Performance of a transformation process is often the result of its Purpose and People.
We could do days or even months of planning—know exactly what we want to do, when to do it, and what documentation we need. We can create a metrics matrix using key performance indicators to help us understand what we did well and what we could have done better. And we can plan how to assemble the puzzle until our face turns blue. But, in the end, it all comes down to who you have around you and how much you believe in what you’re doing.
That does not mean that we can leave performance to the side. Be critical of how the solution must perform, and expect mistakes or errors from which lessons can be learned. One of the biggest reasons we have seen specific projects perform well as opposed to others is because there is honest and open communication about how the functionality is expected to perform, what is going well, and what isn’t. If your purpose for starting a transformation process is to save time in a specific division, do not sign off on a completed transformation process that now takes more time than the original process. Manage the expectations. What do you expect to receive for what you are doing?
Regarding how to enact a true transformation over replicating the old processes in a new way, the key comes from all three P’s of the Puzzleunderstanding the true Purpose of transformation, doing it with the right People, and targeting a high level of Performance throughout. Getting these factors right will set the environment for success and provide a solid foundation for accomplishing a complete shift to a new solution and new ways of working.
Know and believe in your Purpose. Know and trust your People. Know and manage your Performance.
The main threat to momentum throughout any transformation delivery is when important resources are drawn back into daily tasks.
A hybrid work model is a flexible approach that combines working from an office and home. There are many good reasons why companies and employees are excited about such a mix of in-office and remote work, and equally good reasons why there is also public unease about the shift.
BY YAM BENSHUSHAN & CRISTIAN MORARUCurrently, there is a buzz within global organisations about the concept of a hybrid workplace. Undoubtedly, COVID-19 marked a pivotal moment in which there was a surge in demand for hybrid work environments and a disruption of conventional work practises. Although lockdowns have lifted, several
organisations have adopted a hybrid approach, while others continue to operate entirely remotely. However, discussions regarding the difficulties posed by a blended work setup continue to persist among workers and employers across various sectors.
Fostering psychological safety in the hybrid workplace: The key to thriving in
To better understand the hybrid workplace, let’s define what it entails. A hybrid work model is a flexible approach that combines working from an office and at home. Despite varying levels of flexibility, they all tend to allow a certain degree of freedom in choosing how and where employees work while also granting employers the independence to formulate a weekly schedule that aligns with company regulations.
So is it good or bad? Research is the answer. The blend of on-site and remote work is generating enthusiasm in both organisations and their staff for sound reasons, yet the shift is also causing public apprehension for equally valid reasons.
Studies done by researchers at Owl Labs found that remote and hybrid employees were 22% happier than workers in an onsite office environment and stayed in their jobs for a longer time (Owl Labs; Global Workplace Analytics, 2021). The study also reported that remote and hybrid workers experienced less stress and improved concentration, and were more productive compared to their in-office counterparts. Working from home led to better work-life balance and was more beneficial for the physical and mental wellbeing of employees.
On the other hand, despite the benefits, noticeable voices like the CEO of Goldman Sachs remain sceptical about the hybrid work model’s effectiveness in “innovative, collaborative” contexts and want workers back in the office five days a week (Colvin, 2022).
To help us solve the debate, research done at Prodoscore revealed that individuals who were highly productive in the office tended to continue this trend when working at home, while those who struggled in-office carried this behaviour
over to their home working environment (Robinson, 2022). With that said, it is important to keep in mind that the implementation of a hybrid work model by companies aims to enhance the mental well-being and work-life balance of their employees, ultimately leading to a boost in productivity and engagement and consequently promoting a more efficient operation of the business.
This leads us to a more constructive approach to assessing hybrid styles, where the focus should be put on the elements that create the conditions for a more effective hybrid workplace. According to the Harvard Business Review (Zenger & Folkman, 2019), whether working in person or virtually, every interaction should rely on three main elements: communication, emotional intelligence, and psychological safety.
Furthermore, the lockdown duration showed that there exists a strong link between hybrid work and psychological safety. As per Klaus Schwab, founder and chairman of WEF, “the pandemic actually represents a rare opportunity to reflect, reimagine, and reset our world, pushing the emphasis more towards staff wellbeing” (Nicholls et al., 2022).
The lockdown’s increased focus on staff well-being led to the prevalent misconception that psychological safety is
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The pandemic actually represents a rare opportunity to reflect, reimagine, and reset our world, pushing the emphasis more towards staff wellbeing.
equivalent to establishing a “safe space.” (Hill, 2023). In real-life situations, it refers to ending or at least reducing interpersonal fear and promoting transparency among team members. Many argue that psychological safety is the foundation for happy, engaged, and high-performing teams. In the words of Anika Wegner of Babbel (Wegner, 2023), psychological safety has also been linked to increased productivity and employee retention, and it’s an absolute necessity if you want to build a culture that fosters diversity, inclusion, and belonging.
Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson defines psychological safety as “a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking” (Jiménez, 2022). This, in essence, means that people bring forward their authentic selves, feeling confident that they won’t face retribution or embarrassment for expressing incomplete ideas, worries, or errors. Creating a positive atmosphere within the company is essential for fostering a supportive culture where integrity and openness are highly valued by leaders and where team members are confident in having each other’s backs in bold situations.
Edmondson found that team members who perceive their work environment as psychologically safe are more likely to “engage in interpersonal risk-taking behaviours that contribute to greater organisational innovation” (Leading Effectively Staff, 2023). Psychological safety promotes certain actions, such as expressing opinions, seeking clarification,
revealing unvoiced concerns, and politely expressing conflicting views. In the end, this results in a stronger, more dynamic, innovative, and inclusive organisational culture. On the other hand, not being given a voice and being misunderstood can have a profound impact on someone’s ability to perform, create value, and thrive. According to Maslow’s hierarchy, “safety” is a basic human need; therefore, modern company executives should consistently invest in modelling inclusive behaviours through their organisations (Leading Effectively Staff, 2023).
Additionally, according to a study conducted by Google, it was discovered that this quality was the most crucial characteristic evident in the topperforming teams within the tech company (Clark, 2020). The pandemic, together with the added focus on staff well-being, took this idea even further into corporate circles. Google identified that the most critical component in achieving outstanding results is psychological safety. Not only is it crucial for employee happiness, well-being, and engagement, but it is also the foundation of a culture that fosters diversity, inclusion, and belonging, making organisations better equipped to prevent future setbacks.
These findings are also backed by a study conducted on over 300 leaders over 2.5 years that showed that teams with greater psychological safety reported less interpersonal conflict and higher performance levels (Loignon & Wormington, 2022). Edmondson’s research also revealed similar findings: “company cultures with a high sense of belonging have seen a 56% increase in productivity and a 50% reduction in the risk of employee turnover” (Jiménez, 2022).
Nonetheless, Edmonson admits that this is a complex area to tackle in reality. She continues by saying that when individuals are quick to take offence, it is difficult to have “high-quality conversations without causing unnecessary harm and without stepping into traps that you were completely unaware of” (Hill, 2023). Even leaders acknowledge that it can be challenging to accept direct criticism at first. But with the right mindset, constructive criticism in the form of feedback “shows that you truly care for people” (Hill, 2023).
According to the Centre of Creative Leadership (Leading Effectively Staff, 2023), when prioritising psychological safety, organisations should guide themselves through the following steps:
Making psychological safety an explicit priority
Encouraging everyone to speak up
Establishing norms for how failure is handled
Creating space for new ideas (even wild ones)
Embracing productive disagreements
Paying close attention and looking for patterns
Consciously striving to encourage conversation
These steps effectively aim towards a behavioural change that should start with individual team members and spread like a spider web throughout the organisation. If leaders neglect to foster psychological safety within their team environments, it can result in severe and irreversible damage to both the organisation and its members.
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Teams with greater psychological safety reported less interpersonal conflict and higher performance levels.
So how do we conquer that barrier of trust —through breaking down the work culture of staying professional and hiding our true feelings? There are two approaches to establishing trust in the workplace: generative dialogue and radical candour.
Generative dialogue is where there are no winners or losers in an organisation but the ability to have different viewpoints or opinions without having to protect, defend, or even agree. This opens a brand-new vulnerability in the workplace that has not been explored. Being vulnerable means opening yourself to the possibility of connecting with people who have different worldviews or whose lives involve behaviour that you don’t understand or that may even conflict with a core belief of yours.
Radical candour is a guiding principle where people feel safe to speak their minds, get their jobs done, and feel respected (Scott, 2017). This tailgates generative dialogue, which is supported by the leaders in an organisation where communication flows, resentments that have festered come to the surface and are resolved, and people begin to love not just their work but whom they work with and where they work. When your colleagues love their jobs, the whole team is more successful.
Establish trust with your direct reports through work-life integration, as noted by Scott in Radical Candour (Scott, 2017): “The time you spend at work can be an expression of who you are as a human being, an enormous enrichment to your life, and a boon to your friends and family.” AND NOT “some kind of zero-sum game where anything you put into your work robs your life and anything you put into your life robs your work”.
What follows is allowing employees to be comfortable at work with leaders allowing some autonomy through a culture of trust, as opposed to low levels of psychological safety which may create a culture of silence.
One additional conduit of trust is respecting each other’s boundaries and giving each other the space to feel vulnerable. Recognise your emotions and their impact on those around you!
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The biggest barrier that prevents us from feeling psychologically safe in the workplace is trust.
TREVLYNN FARLAND, HR AT INLUMI
Given the context of a hybrid work environment, assessing and addressing psychological safety may seem more challenging and complex. Although most meetings are remote and communication is largely via email, there are still ways to cultivate psychological safety in such a virtual workplace. Scheduling regular oneon-one meetings with teammates can play a crucial role in reinforcing your willingness to establish reliable connections. Coupled with the initiative
Loignon, A. & Wormington, S., 2022. Psychologically Safe for Some, but Not All?: The Downsides of Assuming Shared Psychological Safety among Senior Leadership Teams., s.l.: Center for Creative Leadership.
Scott, K., 2017. Radical Candor: How to Get What You Want by Saying What You Mean. Main Market edition ed. s.l.:Macmillan.
Bloom, N., 2021. Hybrid is the future of work, California: Institute for Economic Policy Research.
Clark, T. R., 2020. The Four Stages of Psychological Safety.
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Colvin, G., 2022. Goldman Sachs is ordering employees back to the office 5 days (or more) a week. Inside CEO David Solomon’s mission to end hybrid work.
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Edmondson , A. & Mortensen, M., 2021. What Psychological Safety Looks Like in a Hybrid Workplace.
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Hill, A., 2023. Psychological safety: the art of encouraging teams to be open.
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Jiménez, J., 2022. Why psychological safety at work matters and how to create it.
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Leading Effectively Staff, 2023. What Is Psychological Safety at Work? How Leaders Can Build Psychologically Safe Workplaces.
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to carve out time in virtual meetings for meaningful, off-work conversations, this can further boost psychological safety. Companies that go out of their way to provide opportunities for gathering feedback tend to be a step closer to a psychologically safe environment. Last but not least, make yourself vulnerable. If you are struggling with caregiving and feeling isolated, someone else is most likely feeling the same. Vulnerability is a strength.
Nicholls, A., Drobac, P. & Besharov, M., 2022. The Great Reset.
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Owl Labs; Global Workplace Analytics, 2021. State of Remote Work 2021.
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Robinson, B., 2022. 3 New Studies End Debate Over Effectiveness Of Hybrid And Remote Work.
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Wegner, A., 2023. How to Create Psychological Safety at Work: 5 Steps.
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Zenger , J. & Folkman, J., 2019. The 3 Elements of Trust.
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Gamification is not about games at all. It is a means to incentivise behaviours and it has revolutionised the world of education. Gamification can be applied in the Finance function to improve processes and even facilitate a Finance transformation programme.
In our last issue, we asked anyone invested in recruiting, employing, and managing talent within their organisation if MOTIVATION + ENGAGEMENT = EMPLOYEE RETENTION.
People who read that article might have thought about what they were offering to keep employees in the post-pandemic world, which, as is widely acknowledged, substantially tilted the balance of the employer-employee relationship. Were there more team lunches organised, bonus schemes tweaked, wellbeing activities scheduled, surveys administered? Hopefully there was some measure, even subjective, that showed increased motivation as a result.
However, motivation is just one of many factors that influence employee retention. Working out how to have a positive impact on employee engagement—maybe that isn’t such an easy lever to pull.
It’s possible for an employee to be happily motivated to stay in a role because of all the fabulous benefits the employer is providing for them, but what if their level of engagement isn’t putting anything back into the organisation other than the expected day-to-day activities of their role? So the job is getting done, but where is the desire to grow, to contribute, to achieve more than the dreaded ‘meets expectations’ rating in performance reviews?
That’s why around 70% of the Global 2000 companies are turning to gamification to increase levels of engagement for both individuals and teams within their organisation (Boskamp, 2023). At this point, you may be thinking, “Really?
Gamification in finance, you’re joking right?” No, we are very serious. Serious about having fun.
Before we talk about having fun in finance, two words that are rarely used in the same sentence, let’s take a few moments to assess any preconceived notions you may have about gamification based on previous experiences.
Gamification itself is not a new concept. The term has become increasingly popular in recent years, and we see examples of gamification through video games and applications that have revolutionised the world of education. Who would have thought that learning a new language using the Duolingo mobile application could be so much fun? The 54 million monthly active users in 2022 attest to this. The challenges, rewards, and simplification of the app encourage users to take their language learning much further than they would by picking up a textbook or listening to audio recordings. These games and apps serve a practical purpose while also providing entertainment.
It’s important to realise that the purpose of gamification is not actually about ‘games’ at all; it’s a means to incentivise behaviours. Organisations are observing that the introduction of gamification into the workplace is a way to have many positive observable impacts, such as:
Increasing employee engagement, productivity, motivation, and retention
Encouraging positive employee dynamics
Strengthening organisational values and culture by building trust through specific exercises
Enabling attainment of organisational strategic goals
Improving communication and changing management initiatives
Boosting performance (KPIs) as well as giving visible indicators of nonperformance
Incentivising learning and skill development, behavioural changes, innovation, and knowledge sharing
Further, the use of gamification is not only limited to employees and internal activities but can be applied to client projects and services as well. All those behavioural changes are accessible in such a simple way through our constant companion, the smartphone. Consulted on a regular basis, and there to offer some fun ways to pass the time in those moments where boredom lurks—both in and out of the office.
Given that most of the corporate world is currently built on external reward systems designed to motivate clients and employees, why is gamification even being considered? Behavioural economist Dan Ariely and career analyst Dan Pink each successfully demonstrated that traditional rewards aren’t nearly as effective as we might think (Ariely, 2013). Make sure to watch Dan Pink’s Ted Talk on ‘The Puzzle of Motivation’ (TED, 2009).
Motivation can happen organically. Like when we do an activity because we want to and find it enjoyable, or extrinsically, when we do something because we need to and the motivation lies in external rewards such as a bonus or promotion to a more senior grade. However, external motivators are only effective to a certain degree. It will need underlying drivers of behaviour to support those satisfying
positive sentiments of progress being made, a sense of purpose in the task, and a sense of pride in the environment in which we are functioning, such as our team or workplace.
Gamification is effective because it aims to go straight to the heart of the human psyche, blending both intrinsic and extrinsic motivators in a sophisticated variable system of rewards to nudge behaviour in a way that supports our business goals. In short, when humans are motivated and encouraged to be competitive, their level of engagement increases (StriveCloud, n.d.).
Now that we understand the benefits of gamification, let’s consider its application in the world of finance. There’s already been plenty of gamification within the personal finance space. Banking apps like SmartyPig and BBVA Game incentivise the completion of monetary good practice goals through either digital or physical rewards, such as cinema tickets and music downloads. Within a general corporate context, many corporate Compliance or IT Security Awareness training platforms subtly tap into the competitiveness of individuals and teams through the use of team dashboards.
Yet the application of gamification within a Corporate Finance team may not be immediately evident. Many of us will confess to feeling that little shot of dopamine when the numbers reconcile or the annual report is finally published. How can that sense of achievement be developed into a gamification approach that motivates us, encourages us to become competitive, and therefore drives those sometimes elusive behaviours that encapsulate ‘engagement’?
The first step is to be absolutely clear about the key impacts you want to have; this needs to be done before you start designing any of the fun stuff. Could a day be shaved off the closing process or production of the annual report by using gamification? That might be more of a long-term goal, but incentivising a larger proportion of companies to file on time may be a more achievable first step. Can you build competitiveness between regions or divisions by publishing a dashboard that reflects the behaviours you want rather than just the financial numbers they generate?
Once you are clear on the desired impacts and have set your objectives and key results (OKRs), then make a strategic selection of activities to target each of those impact areas (Viana, 2022; Knowles, 2022).
These can include contributions to accounting guides and presentations to the finance community, as well as datarelated activities. Ask your teams about the activities they think would benefit the business. They are likely to include activities that would tap into their intrinsic motivation and increase their pride in their team. You may be surprised at the results.
If you’re planning a Finance Transformation Programme, this presents the perfect opportunity to build gamification into the change management workstream. Your colleagues may be happily in their comfort zones with the current systems and processes, which makes it more difficult to change habits. A gamification platform centred on adoption can really help the webinars, communications, readiness activities, and training sessions drive ‘sticky’ change while helping to overcome change fatigue and injecting some fun along the way.
The duration of a gamification initiative depends on what your organisation wants to achieve, but bear in mind that some behaviours require at least six months to change. Despite the commonly held misconception that it takes 21 days to form a new habit, recent research from University College London, shows that it takes 66 days on average for anything to become a habit. However, it can take some individuals up to 254 days (Centrical, n.d.), indicating that a gamification endeavour is not a quick fix.
70% of the Global 2000 companies are turning to gamification to increase levels of engagement.
It’s relatively easy to apply within the context of a Transformation Programme, where the duration of the initiative is determined by the planned length of the programme, but ensuring that the activities for smaller initiatives can be sustained over a longer period will take some thought. The general advice is that you shouldn’t start until you have defined the end point, timing, and resourcing of your key activities. The impact of a gamification initiative that fades out is perhaps worse than not starting at all.
To get an accurate view of the impacts and a measure of return on investment, it’s also important to define control groups where you monitor their performance without the benefit of any of the gamification activities. These KPI results can be compared and a monetary value assigned to the improvement to show the return over the projected period, while the investment is simply the cost associated with the various activities. Some non-financial KPIs should also be included, such as results from an employee satisfaction survey (Rimon, 2013).
So, there is plenty to think about before you embark on a gamification journey, but the potential reward is huge. If you can use gamification as a tool to form desired habits that drives a high level of performance in the workplace, it will not only impact employee retention and help you attract new talent, but also create a more dynamic spirit within your finance organisation. What do you say—maybe now is the time to bring more fun into finance?
Understanding how you will measure the success of gamification activities should be built into your OKRs and associated Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), then supported by the gamification platform you are using. The three measures typically used are (Davey, 2015):
Adoption: the number of users who access the platform and complete activities
Usage: how does use change over time? Which challenges are more popular than others?
Performance: what impact do we see in our key results?
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If you’re planning a Finance Transformation Programme, this presents the perfect opportunity to build gamification into the change management workstream.
Ariely, D., 2013. What makes us feel good about our work?.
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Boskamp, E., 2023. 25 GAMIFICATION STATISTICS [2023]: FACTS + TRENDS YOU NEED TO KNOW.
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Centrical, n.d. How Long Does It Take To Form A Habit With Gamification?.
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Davey, N., 2015. Gamification: The metrics and measurements that matter.
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Knowles, B., 2022. How to Increase Employee Engagement with Gamification.
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Rimon, G., 2013. How to Measure the ROI of Gamification.
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StriveCloud, n.d. What is gamification.
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TED, 2009. The puzzle of motivation | Dan Pink.
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Viana, S., 2022. What is gamification and how it can help your business.
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While the application of data science presents a fantastic opportunity to extract valuable insights, most big data projects fail. To be successful, leaders need to understand what data science truly is about, and think like data scientists.
Data science, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning are no longer just buzzwords; they have become realities in today’s technology-driven world. The term ‘data science’ emerged in the early 1960s within the fields of statistics and computer science. It was initially introduced to highlight the crucial process of extracting valuable insights and knowledge from data (Foote, 2021). Fast forward 50 years, and we see this field rapidly evolving, with the Data Scientist profession being recognised by Forbes as ‘The Sexiest Job of the 21st Century’ (Davenport & Patil, 2012).
As technology has continued to advance and the volume of data has grown, organisations have recognised the increasing potential to collect, analyse, interpret, and extract valuable insights from data. As a result, this expanding scope has driven executives to carefully consider their data strategies. Considering that as early as 2018, a staggering 2.5 quintillion bytes of data were already being generated daily (Marr, 2021), it would seem silly not to jump on the bandwagon, wouldn’t it?
Despite the promises of a streamlined and efficient future with data science advancements, where automation and instant insights are within reach, reality often fails to live up to the hype. In fact, in 2015, Gartner Research estimated that 60% of big data projects would fail. In 2017, this figure was revised to 85% (Avidon, 2021).
While the potential that resides in data science pursuits is massive, it isn’t simply a magic bullet that will singlehandedly solve an organisation’s most pressing issues. Leadership needs to seriously consider whether or not data science is right for the organisation, which involves far more than simply
hiring a professional or two and selecting software to implement. To be successful in these endeavours, leaders need to be able to think like data scientists. The first step in this journey, however, is to understand what data science is about, both as a general concept and, more importantly, for the organisation.
Data science, AI, and machine learning are interconnected fields that collaborate in analysing data and facilitating predictions or decision-making. While often used interchangeably, they have subtle differences: Combines statistics, programming, and domain knowledge to extract valuable insights from vast amounts of data, enabling better decision-making.
AI revolves around the development of computer systems with the ability to mimic human behaviour and make autonomous decisions as a human would.
A subset of AI that uses algorithms to enable computers to autonomously learn from experience and improve with time without explicit programming.
So, what is the relationship between the three? Think of it like this: machine learning is a subset of AI that’s all about teaching computers to learn from experience using algorithms. Data science covers a lot of machine learning, but it also includes more traditional things like
maths, statistics, data preparation, and visualisation. Even though the three terms are different, they do overlap where data science, AI, and machine learning work together to leverage data and develop intelligent systems that can make predictions, automate tasks, and assist in decision-making. The result? A more effective, efficient, and profitable
Understanding the terminology opens up the door to possibilities. But as we’ve seen, actually implementing data projects is easier said than done, and if not approached correctly, they can fail.
What data are you storing in data warehouses?
Are you collecting the right data?
How are you currently using this data, if at all?
What decisions could be made based on this data?
What software solutions do you want to pursue?
Which problems are suitable (or unsuitable) for data science applications?
Do you have the right resources, either internally or externally, to pursue data science activities?
Which internal teams or functions would need to be involved in this initiative? Are there any other initiatives they are currently focused on?
What outcomes are you trying to achieve?
How will you know whether or not you’ve been successful?
Does the potential benefit outweigh the implementation cost?
Thinking like a data scientist extends beyond the mere adoption of new technology. It involves establishing robust processes and infrastructure that effectively support data science initiatives. This includes integrating data science into existing workflows, aligning it with strategic objectives, addressing
Foote, K. D., 2021. A Brief History of Data Science.
[Online][Accessed 19 June 2023].
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Davenport, T. & Patil, D., 2012. Data Scientist: The Sexiest Job of the 21st Century.
[Online][Accessed 19 June 2023].
Available at:
data integrity and governance, nurturing a culture of data-driven decision-making, and fostering skill development within the workforce. It represents a larger, transformative change.
By embracing the data scientist mindset and considering the broader framework surrounding data science implementation, leaders can initiate the journey towards unlocking its full potential and achieving significant and meaningful outcomes for their organisation.
Marr, B., 2021. How Much Data Do We Create Every Day? The Mind-Blowing Stats Everyone Should Read.
[Online][Accessed 19 June 2023].
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Avidon, E., 2021. How to increase the success rate of data science projects.
[Online][Accessed 19 June 2023].
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Tax is increasingly becoming part of the finance transformation agenda. To understand the importance of creating a more strategic tax department, we interviewed Pierre Jansson, who is leading the tax transformation at Autoliv.
‘Corporate tax? Yes, that’s a very simple part of our business’. The chances are slim to none that you will ever come across this statement. The complexities that tax brings along with it, especially within a global organisation, can be somewhat, well, taxing. Regulations are constantly changing and evolving, and it’s of great importance to stay in control of them in order to mitigate the financial and reputational risks that come hand-in-hand with operating on an international scale.
As part of the need to stay ahead of the game, more and more organisations are looking to include tax as part of their financial transformation agenda. Tax transformation can be described as ‘an assessment of the tax function with the objective of creating a more strategic tax department that becomes a more integrated partner within the business’. This involves evaluating changes in people, process, technology, and data that can lead to benefits not only within the tax
function but across the entire enterprise (Krell, 2014).
One such organisation undergoing a tax transformation initiative is Autoliv, a worldwide leader in automotive safety systems. To put things into context, Autoliv is a Fortune 500 company that operates in 28 countries and had soaring net sales of $8,842 million in its 2022 financial year (Autoliv, 2023). Pierre Jansson is the VP of Tax at Autoliv and is behind the steering wheel on this exciting transformation. He shared his thoughts and advice on this topic with us.
I think this differs from company to company based on what the expectations of tax are from both the authorities and the CFO, and it also depends on the environment the company operates in.
Technology is definitely an enabler of tax transformation and acts as a cornerstone for change, but it’s not only about technology. You need to be able to shift the competencies of the department to leverage technology and redefine the governance of the tax function.
Another key element in this transformation is the process. You may need to change your own processes in order to work effectively with new technology. You need to understand the inputs and outputs of the processes you participate in and how you work together with other finance functions and business functions. There are many of these connection points when you start to do this, and you begin to see that you are actually part of a bigger team.
Transformation is a combination of different elements. Technology can make it happen, but the processes and the people are equally important in the transformation.
I would say there are three key reasons: to defend the company, to be more efficient, and to enhance analytics capabilities.
Tax authorities are now changing their approach towards quicker and real-time reporting. They don’t knock on the door and ask for a binder with information; they just connect to your system and ask you to send the information that way. It’s definitely changed our way of working, like it or not. So one reason why you need to embark on such an initiative would be to defend the company.
Then there’s efficiency. With the technology now available, you can drive efficiency related to costs. Additionally, you may want to add more quality to the work the tax function is doing. If you combine the team you have in a good way with technology and the right process, you
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Tax authorities are now changing their approach towards quicker and real-time reporting.
can free up time, which can be spent supporting the business and on other initiatives that can reduce costs and the effective tax rate. For us, it’s not about reducing the number of people. We will use the extra time that we have to find opportunities to add value.
Lastly, we have analytics. The technology and data now available open up completely new possibilities regarding insights into tax processes. With time saved due to the aforementioned efficiencies, we can use this data to support the business with value-adding insights. These can reduce not only tax costs and tax risk but also simplify transactions.
competency in the department, but you may also see it in internal control findings. Another measure here may be the level of adjustments that need to be made when filing a tax return and trying to reduce this to a certain level.
Each company’s objectives will differ, but at Autoliv, the objectives of the transformation are to enable us to support the organisation, do more tax planning, and drive costs down in terms of lower tax costs.
IN TERMS OF MEASURING THE SUCCESS OF A TRANSFORMATION, WHAT WOULD YOU RECOMMEND AS SOME OF THE KEY OBJECTIVES ORGANISATIONS SHOULD AIM TO ACHIEVE?
Firstly, you have the classical KPIs, where you measure the effective tax rate and the total tax contribution, which you aim to lower.
Besides these classical KPIs, you can also look at tax risk, which has increased with the tax authorities being more demanding now. Here you can find KPIs around the outcome of tax audits, for example, the tax risk level you have.
Other KPIs might be related to efficiency. You may see that you spend fewer hours on compliance processes and reporting, or that you reduce costs that you’d spend on outsourcing.
Quality is also an important measure. You may look at this in terms of better
HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT SELECTING THE TECHNOLOGY AND TOOLS THAT WOULD SUPPORT YOUR TAX TRANSFORMATION GOALS?
To begin with, you need to know your baseline and know what you want. This means understanding your current situation and clearly defining your requirements and the vision of the transformation. Having these will help you select the appropriate technology to address your concerns and fulfil your requirements.
What’s important to remember here is that you must be able to say no to things. At the end of the day, you understand your company the best. Just because something had good use cases at another company doesn’t mean it will be the same for you.
One of our biggest challenges was getting the right data out of the systems. We were investing in tools around tax reporting, such as a tax data warehouse, and found that we spent a lot of time finding data from different sources and thought it’d be possible to use RPA or to have a data warehouse to help with this. We learned that you shouldn’t underestimate how difficult this really is and that it’s something you cannot do by yourself. You need to work side by side with the IT department, a department that doesn’t speak your language and doesn’t always understand what you want. Finding someone who can help you in this discussion has been a challenge, but in the end, I think we have succeeded.
Changing culture is also a big challenge. A successful transformation is about more than just technology. You also need to look at your processes, the skillset of your team, and how people are working. It’s very difficult for people to embrace all of this. To be successful in overcoming this challenge, you need to pay attention to how you communicate around the change and how you get people to buy into it and understand what’s in it for them.
Implementing the software is one thing. Being successful in the whole transformation is something else.
Personally, since I like change, I love this work. I can see the value this has created for the company already. We have delivered tax savings, we have delivered efficiency, and we have been able to lead by example within the wider finance transformation.
I also see this as a big win for the people on my team. This is a tremendous opportunity for them to take on new challenges, grow in their roles, and drive their career paths in a new direction. They’ve moved from working in small tax silos to working as business partners throughout the organisation.
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A successful transformation is about more than just technology. You also need to look at your processes, the skillset of your team, and how people are working.
So, this is great for the company, for the people embracing it, and for me. All in all, I’d say it’s a win-win situation.
Know what you want to achieve and have clear objectives; don’t just rush into something. This will give you a good foundation when you start to evaluate different options.
You cannot do this alone; you need to partner up. Having some sort of bridge
between IT and tax will help you be successful. This could be someone in your department who becomes a tax technology person who liaises with IT, or someone in the IT department that you can build a relationship with and that you trust.
Don’t underestimate the resources you’ll need. The normal work still needs to be done at the same time, but if you want to give your team the opportunity to be successful, you need to give them time to spend on training and learning. You may need to have double the resources for a while. If you think that you can just do it on top of everything else, then you risk failure.
Autoliv, 2023. Financial Report October - December 2022, Stockholm: s.n.
Krell, E., 2014. Risk Chat: What is Tax Transformation?.
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The role of the CFO is often overlooked in digital transformation projects. Since the CFO is typically responsible for handling financial matters, they are uniquely positioned to drive digital organisational transformation.
In an increasingly digitised world, businesses are pressured to undergo “digital transformation” to remain competitive. Broadly stated, digital transformation is the incorporation of digital technology into all aspects of a business to improve efficiency, increase revenue, and gain a competitive advantage (Pratt & Sparapani, 2021). Even with the
increasing tide of digital transformation initiatives, a study by McKinsey found that only 30% of digital transformations are successful (McKinsey, 2021). There are several reasons for this failure rate, but one key issue is that the traditional method of digital transformation is becoming outdated and in need of a revamp.
Traditionally, digital transformation efforts have primarily focused on implementing certain technologies, such as automation, robotics, and digital finance transformation. While these technologies can undoubtedly bring advantages, they alone are not enough to ensure a successful digital transition. A more comprehensive approach is necessary, taking into account the organisational, cultural, and human factors that underpin the advancement towards a digitally empowered future. A holistic outlook is essential as it considers the interrelated aspects of the organisation, culture, and people required for a successful digital transformation.
the firm for high-level executives to understand. They can then use this as a driving factor to make pivotal decisions.
A study has shown that only one-third of respondents felt their businesses were prepared to handle labour disruptions brought on by technological or market changes (DePrisco, 2022). This highlights the importance of change management, which includes training employees to understand the technology driving the change and engaging and guiding users through the transition. It is crucial for leaders, particularly the CFO, to adopt a strategic approach by promoting digital transformation and leading change management initiatives. A digital transformation requires significant human, financial, and technological capital, all of which must be aligned to facilitate successful results. It must employ leaders who can direct this change and allow their knowledge and experience to influence the process (Dahlström, Desmet, & Singer, 2017).
A common area that often gets overlooked is the role of the CFO, who is typically responsible for handling financial matters and is uniquely positioned to drive digital organisational transformation. CFOs clearly understand the financial impacts and can use this understanding to make a case for investment in digital initiatives. They also have a strong sense of organisational and human factors and take them into play when making necessary changes in culture and behaviour. And CFOs can lead initiatives to develop their financial systems to cut costs and give a higher view of the financial movements of
To achieve widespread acceptance and ensure long-term success in any transformative endeavour, there are five key components that are essential and should be incorporated into any wellrounded change management strategy:
This helps stakeholders understand and buy into the benefits of the digital transformation initiative. A clear understanding of the goals will ensure that everyone is on the same page. To
“ CFOs clearly understand the financial impacts and can use this understanding to make a case for investment in digital initiatives.
define those goals and objectives, the CFO should team up with other executives and departments within the organisation to identify improvement areas. An organisation must prepare for significant disruptions to its routine activities and processes due to digital transformation practices, typically lasting months or sometimes even years. These practices involve large-scale migration to technology-based, data-driven systems, acquiring value for key stakeholders and customers, and designing a process that streamlines operations, improves efficiency, and supports sustainable activities. For these processes and initiatives to be successful, change must be initiated from the top down (Dahlström, Desmet, & Singer, 2017).
Establishing a mutual understanding among leaders to garner support across the programme and business is crucial. Top management must drive communication and the need for change, as well as be actively involved throughout the entire transformational journey. To be an effective role model, the CFO needs to embrace change. Changes initiated by senior management represent unified, committed leaders who are on the same page about the company’s future. It is the only way to create and promote a culture that encourages the organisation to embrace change (Vey, Fandel-Meyer, Zipp, & Schneider, 2017). This may involve developing new skills, learning about emerging technologies, or finding new working methods. Demonstrating a willingness to change, the CFO can set the tone for the rest of the organisation and help build momentum for digital transformation initiatives.
This requires the CFO and leadership to be highly collaborative and ensure clear and frequent communication about the digital transformation initiative’s objectives and its broader impact on people, processes, and technology. To engage stakeholders effectively, the CFO must use various channels and methods to communicate the changes and their meaning to them. This may involve town hall meetings, internal newsletters, videos, webinars, one-on-one sessions, and other communication methods. Another important aspect of engagement is listening to stakeholders and including them in the decision-making process. The CFO can facilitate open and honest communication between stakeholders and decision-makers, ensuring everyone’s concerns and ideas are heard and considered. This builds trust and collaboration and provides digital adoption that meets everyone’s needs and expectations. Employees crave transparency and involvement and want to know their voices are heard. A study shows that when employees actively participate in planning new strategic initiatives, the efforts are three times as effective and implementation planning is ten times as effective, compared to initiatives developed purely by the leadership (CEB, 2016).
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To be an effective role model, the CFO needs to embrace change. ENGAGEMENT HELPS YOU WIN HEARTS AND MINDS.LEADERSHIP ROLE MODELLING AND VISIBILITY SPONSORING — THE DRIVING FORCE FOR CHANGE
The CFO can help build confidence in the solution and ensure that the digital transformation is effective and sustainable. To develop an effective and sustainable training and education strategy, the CFO must work closely with critical leaders such as the CIO and CTO, the HR department, and external stakeholders. Together, they can identify the training needs of different user groups, develop training programmes and materials, and implement training and education initiatives.
operational aspects of change, leaving out the people and cultural elements.
Change can be difficult to accept and adapt to, so creating a communication plan tailored to the specific organisation and culture will contribute to the success of the implementation. In this important pillar, the CFO can ensure that communication is ongoing and transparent throughout the process. This may involve providing regular updates on the initiative’s progress, sharing success stories and best practices, and soliciting employee feedback and suggestions. In addition to communicating information about the digital finance transformation initiative, the CFO can also convey the benefits to different stakeholder groups. This may involve highlighting how the initiative will improve efficiency, reduce costs, enhance the customer experience, and create new growth opportunities.
Understanding this, we can see how transformation initiatives fail or fall short of their goals, preliminarily as one may focus too much on the strategy and
To effectively lead digital transformation efforts, CFOs must understand the organisation’s current business model, think about how digital technology can be used to enhance or disrupt it, and whether it makes financial sense. This is linked to the alignment of the company’s overall strategy. CFOs should work with the executive team to ensure digital initiatives align with the organisation’s overall goals and strategies (Sohl, Vroom, & Fitza, 2018). Additionally, they should be involved in developing digital initiatives from the start to ensure that they are financially viable and align with the organisation’s overall objectives. In this way, CFOs can play a vital role in ensuring that the organisation’s business model is adapted to the digital age, which is crucial for the success of the transformation. Expanding on this, they must also have a good grasp of the latest digital technologies and trends. This includes understanding the potential of emerging technologies such as blockchain, IoT, and AI and staying up-to-date with the latest best practices in digital transformation.
If an organisation does not have a solid strategy in place, introducing too much too fast can often become a major issue down the road, resulting in the cost outweighing the overall benefit. It is tempting to start with complex technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, and robotics to get ahead of the competition, but without a thorough audit and a correct business
model fit, solutions that are not necessary for the needs of the company may be implemented, increasing expenses, the need for additional training, and creating unrealistic expectations. This makes it imperative for organisations to consult with professionals to better understand what can be digitally transformed and how feasible the design required by organisations is.
In general, change is a necessary and inevitable part of operating a business in the modern world. Companies can, however, transform change into an opportunity rather than a challenge by embracing it.
DePrisco, M. (2022, March 9). forbes.com.
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Dahlström, P., Desmet, D., & Singer, M. (2017). The seven decisions that matter in a digital transformation: a CEO’s guide to reinvention.
Digital transformation is becoming increasingly crucial for businesses to remain competitive in today’s digital age. However, traditional approaches have often failed to deliver the desired outcomes. CFOs must take a holistic approach yet focus on incremental milestones in progressing towards the digitisation of their organisations. Additionally, CFOs should understand the organisation’s business model and the potential of emerging technologies and align digital transformation initiatives with the overall strategy. By taking this more holistic and strategic approach to digital transformation, CFOs can help drive the changes needed to ensure the success of digital transformation.
McKinsey. (2021). Losing from day one: Why even successful transformations fall short.
Pratt, M., & Sparapani, J. (2021, August 1). techtarget.com.
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CEB. (2016). Making Change Management Work. CEB Survey. CEB.
Sohl, T., Vroom, G., & Fitza, M. (2018). How much does business model matter for firm performance? A variance decomposition analysis. Academy of Management Discovery, 61-80.
Vey, K., Fandel-Meyer, T., Zipp, J. S., & Schneider, C. (2017). Learning & Development in Times of Digital Transformation: Facilitating a Culture of Change and Innovation. Int. J. Adv. Corp. Learn 10, 22-32
Companies with strong ESG values benefit not only from being compliant with regulations, but also see higher profit and a boost in productivity. What are some of the ways that organisations can implement ESG to become more competitive?
As we move into the future, we are confronted with one of the most critical periods in human history. The impact of climate change will undoubtedly affect every business in some way, and as a result, agility and preparedness are essential. Numerous countries and unions have already implemented various carbon schemes, such as taxes and cap-andtrade, which require large corporations and emitters to pay for their CO2 emissions. While many of these schemes currently only affect a few, more international regulations regarding carbon pricing are inevitably on the horizon.
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initially referred to more ethical investment practices, but this has now been extended to cover a more specific set of initiatives that companies can adopt to improve their sustainability. The first element of ESG is the environment, which covers the company’s energy usage and waste, including the pollution this may cause. All companies utilise different resources, and the extent to which these are used efficiently is all reflected by the ‘E’ in ESG. The ‘S’ stands for social criteria and addresses relationships, diversity, safety, and wellbeing. It also includes the company’s reputation and customer perceptions. ‘G’ stands for governance and refers to the internal system of practices and procedures. G also relates to effective decision-making, legal compliance, and external stakeholder needs.
Due to increased regulatory pressure for precise ESG reporting, it has become increasingly important for businesses to be well-versed in this area. It’s no longer
just a compliance requirement but a strategic necessity for unlocking growth opportunities and ensuring long-term viability. The reason lies in the rate of ESG growth in current economic markets. ESGoriented investing is currently larger than ever, with global sustainability investing exceeding $30 trillion (GSI, 2018). This is a 64% rise compared to levels in 2014, suggesting that ESG is not just a ‘trend’ but a feature that thriving companies need to adopt. This underscores the crucial need to embrace a leadership role in sustainability. A strong ESG outlook can reward companies with long-term growth prospects, so it is in their best interest to invest in enabling its development.
There is evidence that a strong ESG proposition creates value within corporations, resulting in higher overall equity returns (Khan et al., 2016), and reduced downside risk in terms of higher credit ratings (Henisz and McGlinch, 2019). Based on the evidence, there is a clear link between ESG criteria and value creation. Let’s dive into how ESG links to cash flow and generates value for businesses with these three examples:
Companies with strong ESG values have the ability to tap into new markets and expand operations in existing ones. Having a business that is perceived as beneficial by public stakeholders can avoid operational delays, resulting in higher overall valuations. Consumer preferences are heavily driven by ESG practices. Studies conducted by McKinsey found that more than 70% of consumers in multiple industries are willing to pay an additional 5% for a ‘green’ product if it meets the same standards as non-green alternatives (Koller et al., 2019). Companies can experience greater returns if they decide to invest in ESG initiatives.
Regulatory pressure can be eased through stronger ESG propositions while encouraging greater government support. Company profits are at risk of government intervention, especially within the finance sector. Gaining trust from government entities enables greater access and opportunities for growth. Regulatory support from the government will give companies greater leniency with regulations and make it easier for them to operate and expand. The pharmaceutical industry has only 25% of its profits at risk, whereas up to 60% of profits in finance can be targeted by external engagement. The reason for this is that financial institutions are deemed ‘too big to fail’, therefore making capital requirements extremely critical. This is a further incentive for financial institutions to invest in ESG and avoid added legal pressure.
ESG-oriented companies have the added benefit of attracting and retaining quality employees. Acting in a sustainable manner with long-term practices provides employees with a greater sense of purpose, thus improving productivity. This has been proven with higher shareholders’ returns (Edmans, 2011). The benefits of ESG adoption are clear, both at an internal and external level. Even if larger companies face new regulations, they have understood the value of investing in themselves and adopted internal regulations and procedures. Research has shown that companies are increasingly willing to go beyond compliance in pursuit of a higher ESG score due to these benefits. One common regulation that businesses can adopt is carbon pricing. By introducing carbon pricing, companies can expect higher growth rates in the long run.
Carbon pricing is one way of trying to decarbonise and choose low-carbon alternatives. Simply put, a carbon price is a cost for every tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2) the business is emitting. Meaning the more you emit, the higher the cost. Looking at what the UK Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy is suggesting, the price of carbon in 2030 is advised to be around £120/tCO2 (Gov.uk, 2019). This would mean that a company needs to pay £121 for each tonne that they emit in their operations. Policymakers have already started to implement some country-wide regulations on carbon prices to try to minimise climate change (The World Bank, n.d.). It is believed that a price will incentivise businesses to lower their emissions and that a carbon price is therefore making decision-makers fully comprehend the real costs of a new investment, product, or market (Belfrage, A. Hojenski, M. & Wolst, J., 2021).
By setting an internal carbon price, decision-makers can indicate and choose more sustainable investments, which will cost the business less in the future and do better for the planet than other alternatives. Firstly, it is important to understand that a carbon price can be flexible when a company sets its own carbon price. Secondly, a business has
the option to choose between having a shadow price (hypothetical) or an actual price on its emissions. A shadow price is a price for decision-makers to understand future project costs and their impact on the climate. As a result, businesses will receive better predictions and more accurate costs for projects as they include all the externalities (Deloitte, n.d.). This is not an actual cost for the company but is used to support decision-making, long-term investments, and a chance to make more sustainable choices. An actual carbon price is an internal cost for the business. The business is paying for each tonne of CO2 emitted, and the funds generated from the fee can be channelled back into sustainable investments, greener decarbonisation technologies, or other sustainable courses (Unilever, n.d.) Implementing an actual carbon price allows businesses to take responsibility for their impact on the climate and invest in sustainability, reducing emissions and lowering internal costs.
Adopting a voluntary actual carbon price might seem risky. However, through its implementation, the business will be prepared for future regulations and costs, putting it one step ahead. By implementing a carbon price, you show transparency and build credibility with your clients as you take action, fulfil responsibilities, and do your part for the future of the planet. An additional advantage is the constant improvement of your business by utilising more efficient technologies and the potential of finding new, innovative ways to reduce even more CO2 emissions, in turn reducing your carbon cost.
It can be difficult to understand how much a tonne of CO2 is worth when you have never paid for this externality before. Let’s look at how your business can calculate its carbon price by going through it one step at a time.
Companies emit different greenhouse gases, both directly and indirectly. Additionally, the distribution of CO2 emissions depends on the industry the business operates in. These emissions can be divided into three separate groups, namely, so-called scopes 1, 2, and 3. Scope 1 is a company’s direct emissions; this can, for example, come from a company’s vehicles or facilities. Scope 2 includes emissions from a company’s electricity, steam, heating, and cooling. Scope 3 emissions contain the largest group of CO2. These emissions are coming from, for example, purchased goods and services, business travel, shipping, the use of sold products, fuel, and energy-related activities (Deloitte, n.d.).
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By implementing a carbon price, you show transparency and build credibility with your clients as you take action, fulfil responsibilities, and do your part for the future of the planet.
come from a company’s vehicles or facilities
company’s electricity, steam, heating, and cooling purchased goods and services, business travel, shipping, use of sold products, fuel, and energy-related activities
(which have a price of around $100/tCO2), whereas companies that have implemented an actual carbon price are Microsoft and Unilever (with a price of $15 and $50, respectively) (Jessop, S. James, W. & Nasralla, S., 2021) (Novartis, n.d.) (CDP, 2021). Notably, when real costs are involved, the price is set lower to receive internal acceptance. However, this is a good start and shows willingness.
Embarking on the journey may seem daunting and perplexing, leaving you unsure of where or how to begin. Yet, at this moment, precision in numbers is not paramount. What truly matters is initiating the calculations and taking that crucial first step towards progress.
The benefits of ESG adoption are clear, both at an internal and external level. Companies can expect higher growth rates, boosted employee motivation, and reduced regulatory pressures, all while benefiting the environment through sustainable innovations. Companies that prioritise sustainability and ESG factors are not only better positioned to attract investments and customers but also to mitigate risks, increase efficiency, and foster innovation. By prioritising ESG, companies can create a positive impact on the world and the communities they operate in. In summary, the pursuit of sustainability and ESG is no longer an option but a necessity for companies that seek to thrive in the long term.
We have seen large corporations start to take responsibility. Included in their plan is often either a shadow carbon price or an actual carbon price, both with the intention of making more sustainable decisions and mitigating future risks and costs. Examples of companies using shadow prices are Volvo and Novartis
Adam M. Grant, “Does intrinsic motivation fuel the prosocial fire? Motivational synergy in predicting persistence, performance, and productivity,” Journal of Applied Psychology, January 2008, Volume 93, Number 1, pp. 48–58
Aurore Belfrage, Marius Hojenski, Judit Wolst, 2021. Report: Are you prepared for a price on carbon? How the board can manage transition costs, Stockholm: Sustechable.
Belfrage, A. Hojenski, M. & Wolst, J., 2021. Report: Are you prepared for a price on carbon? How the board can manage transition costs, Stockholm: Sustechable.
Mckinsey, 2019, Witold Henisz, Tim Koller, and Robin Nuttall
Mozaffar Khan, George Serafeim, and Aaron Yoon, “Corporate sustainability: First evidence on materiality,” The Accounting Review, November 2016, Volume 91, Number 6, pp. 1697–724, ssrn.com;
Zoltán Nagy, Altaf Kassam, and Linda-Eling Lee, “Can ESG add alpha? An analysis of ESG tilt and momentum strategies,” Journal of Investing
Alex Edmans, “Does the stock market fully value intangibles? Employee satisfaction and equity prices,” Journal of Financial Economics, September 2011, Volume 101, Number 3, pp. 621–40, sciencedirect.com
Summer 2015, Volume 25, Number 2, pp. 113–24, joi.pm-research.com.
Witold J. Henisz and James McGlinch, “ESG, material credit events, and credit risk,” Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, July 2019, Volume 31, pp. 105–17
Global Sustainable Investment Review 2018, Global Sustainable Investment Alliance, 2018, gsi-alliance.org.
CDP, 2021. Nearly half of world’s biggest companies factoring cost of carbon into business plans.
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“To restore stability to our planet, we must restore its biodiversity”.
Sir David AttenboroughRewilding is the simplest and most effective way of protecting our planet for future generations. Even simple interventions can create a cascade effect that drastically improves an ecosystem in a sustainable way.
The need for rewilding couldn’t be more critical than now.
BY MATT DAVIESRewilding, essentially creating a wilder planet, is one of the most cost-effective tools we have available today to combat the climate crisis. Simultaneously, by restoring damaged ecosystems, we can protect biodiversity and avert a sixth mass extinction event. While rewilding alone is not enough to save our planet without slashing our emissions, such natural climate solutions are crucial to securing a future of clean water, air, and healthy soil. With so much at stake and only 2% of the climate budget going to nature-based solutions, there’s no better time to find out how rewilding can help save the planet.
climate change by sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and storing it safely. Now, more than ever, we need to protect nature where it’s vitally important. Not only this, but we must also fix the broken ecosystems we’ve destroyed. This is where rewilding, a modern approach to nature restoration, is inspiring a hopeful future by repairing our relationship with nature. Early successes have already shown that, in a relatively short period of time, we can help nature transform impoverished landscapes into thriving and functional ecosystems.
The concept of rewilding essentially involves relinquishing control back to nature, letting go of desired outcomes, and allowing it to shape its own direction. The thriving of nature can be observed when we eliminate pressure and grant adequate time and room. Setting nature on the path to recovery and then stepping back is rewilding in its simplest form.
Our impact as humans has unequivocally been felt across the planet’s ecosystems for a prolonged period of time. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a landscape that has not undergone any form of human impact over the course of the last few thousand years. The rate of deforestation in tropical forests is estimated at 30 football pitches per minute. Around a third of the world’s soil is now degraded, and up to 200 species are going extinct every day.
The value of healthy natural systems can’t be overstated: they purify our air and clean our water; provide us with materials, food, and medicine; protect us against natural disasters; improve our soils; and mitigate
Where ecosystems and landscapes are severely degraded, we can proactively speed up the process. Some of the ways to do this are to restore missing natural processes, namely predation, grazing, regeneration, and decomposition. This could mean reintroducing vital species like bison and beaver. These two powerhouses of the rewilding movement (also known as ecosystem engineers) behave in such a way that they engineer the landscape to support a wide variety of species. Rewilding could also mean protecting threatened animals that fulfil important ecosystem roles. Vultures, for example, scavenge on decaying carcasses, which prevents disease from spreading through the land. Then there is the restoration of entire ecosystems. Rewilding interventions targeted at this include planting underwater forests of kelp or removing dams to reconnect rivers and rewet dried-up floodplains.
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Setting nature on the path to recovery and then stepping back is rewilding in its simplest form.
One of the phenomenal impacts of rewilding arises when it kickstarts a trophic cascade. This ecological term describes a chain of reactions that trickle down from the top of the food web when a species is either reintroduced or recovers. The impacts can be widespread, not just affecting those species directly linked to the top but also us. Yes, humans benefit from the cascading effects of these natural interactions, from more fertile soils to controlling the spread of diseases and even changing the composition of the atmosphere.
carcasses along the river’s edge. The remains of the nutrient-rich salmon fed nitrogen into the soil. Not ending here, another incredible impact saw the newly grown forests stabilise the riverbanks and improve the flow of the rivers.
The most famous example of a trophic cascade is that of wolves being reintroduced to Yellowstone Park in the US. The reappearance of wolves after a 70-year absence unleashed a series of remarkable effects. Firstly, they preyed on the overpopulated elk, keeping them in check, but they also altered the elk’s behaviour. From being an unrestricted roaming herbivore, the elk became cautious and avoided grazing in certain areas. This meant vegetation could regenerate naturally where the elk were no longer grazing. A regrowth of vegetation attracted increased numbers of songbirds, birds of prey, salmon, beavers, and bison. As well as triggering the regeneration of woodlands, the wolves inadvertently improved the quality of the soil. Bears, otters, eagles, and ospreys revelled in the improved abundance of salmon by hunting and leaving salmon
Since the discovery of trophic cascades last century, more and more fascinating evidence has been unearthed of some astounding connections taking place throughout the natural world. The largest animal to ever live has a leading role in a trophic cascade that helps mitigate climate change. Whales dive deep into the ocean to feed on fish and invertebrates rich in nutrients. When they return to the surface, they deliver these nutrients and dump them in ‘whale plumes’ (in other words, tonnes of poo). These massive plumes generate blooms of phytoplankton, a microalgae that is responsible for almost half of the oxygen in the atmosphere and helps capture 40% of the carbon dioxide. Although whales are not solely responsible for all the phytoplankton, they transport these key nutrients through their long migrations to nutrient-poor areas for phytoplankton to feed on. Establishing marine protected areas (MPA) is an impactful and effective approach to rewilding the ocean. This policy not only protects whales from fishing (their main threat), but it also leads to the creation of biodiverse marine ecosystems where abundant fish stocks overflow into surrounding waters.
Functioning ecosystems also act as a defence system against flooding and wildfires. Forests prevent flooding in numerous ways. The tree canopy slows the rate of rainwater reaching the ground,
and tree roots channel water to be absorbed in soils beneath forests instead of running overland. This happens at 67 times the rate of grass-covered soil. Trees also prevent soil erosion and particles from being washed into waterways, where sediment buildup causes flooding downstream. Add beavers to the equation for more effect: the dams they build on rivers hold back water upstream, slowing the flow during heavy rains and creating microhabitats for biodiversity. Although beavers can cause the flooding of adjacent farmlands in the process, the net positive environmental impact of beavers is now being recognised. In recent years, there have been an increasing number of successful beaver reintroductions across the UK.
Building our own resilience to natural disasters goes hand in hand with building nature’s resilience. Native tree species boost a forest’s ability to slow or stop the spread of wildfires. By contrast, monoculture plantations and non-native forests can exacerbate infernos. Lacking the natural complexities needed in a forest ecosystem, such as species diversity and age structure, can actually fuel and spread wildfires more fiercely.
Although there is a clear need for certain forests to be managed for timber and food production, there’s also an opportunity to integrate better land management strategies. This could mean considering using a mix of native species to mitigate the consequences of wildfires.
targets, we must spend big and quickly. Natural climate solutions in the way of protecting and restoring natural carbon sinks are a part of the equation that is largely being ignored. Wetlands, peatlands, mangroves, kelp forests, and sea beds are some of the ecosystems with immense carbon-storing capabilities that receive only a fraction of climate breakdown funding. For a complex problem that demands a multi-faceted approach, this source of natural capital is one we could be drawing much more from.
Take peatlands as an example; they are one of the most carbon-rich ecosystems on the planet, capable of capturing vast amounts of CO2 through photosynthesis. In the UK alone, healthy peatlands store roughly 3.2 billion metric tonnes of CO2. They also help reduce floods by regulating water flow, provide habitats and breeding grounds for important wildlife, and create a net cooling effect in the atmosphere. Right now, however, they are not our silver bullet to fixing the climate emergency. A familiar story of exploitation and mismanagement is having the disastrous opposite effect. Peatlands are drained to make way for agricultural use, conifer plantations, livestock grazing, and grouse hunting. All this activity instead releases masses of carbon absorbed in peatlands— 20 million metric tonnes emitted in the UK and 1-2 billion metric tonnes globally. With 80% of the UK’s peatlands in a degraded state, the political will has shifted to address this as part of the UK’s targets for a zero-emissions economy.
To transition to a carbon-free economy and meet stringent emission reduction
The potential cost savings of restoring carbon-capturing ecosystems far outweigh the cost of continuing down the same path of destroying them. Complete restoration of peatlands in the UK is estimated to cost £8–22 billion, but overall, it will save the UK economy £109 billion from the associated emissions.
NATURAL CARBON SINKS: SELF-REGULATING AND AFFORDABLE
With around 12 million hectares of degraded peatlands in Europe, there is huge scope to rewild this vital ecosystem cost-efficiently while supporting biodiversity. Based on the premise of rewilding, this would involve minimal human management (and costs) to create a self-sustaining natural system.
To quote Sir David Attenborough: “To restore stability to our planet, we must restore its biodiversity”.
The message couldn’t be clearer. The timing couldn’t be more critical. The peerreviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences states a “biological annihilation” is underway and, without drastic changes, will lead to a sixth mass extinction event with grave ecological, social, and economic consequences.
To stop us from hurtling towards such a diabolical crash scene, we need to rapidly return more landscapes to a wilder state. Rewilding is a vehicle for landscape-wide change for dwindling wildlife populations. Across Europe, governments, universities, and enterprises are some of the entities already supporting the reintroduction of large predators and keystone species capable of unlocking powerful trophic cascades. Still, a lot more backing is needed to restore and reconnect fragmented habitats at scale. Achieving all this will also depend on protecting key areas from existing and potential threats. We must reduce human impact and other drivers of degradation, such as invasive species and pollution. This doesn’t, however, mean completely removing people from the land. There are ample examples of successful human
coexistence with wildlife (including apex predators) to use as models. Nature-based tourism is also offering local communities and economies a viable alternative to traditional land uses, which don’t prioritise biodiversity. Demonstrating the value of wilderness in such ways hopes to forge a new mindset, mobilise funding, and galvanise people into action to end biodiversity loss.
So can rewilding save the planet? Not alone. We must immediately curb and reduce our emissions. But to repair the broken state of nature and revitalise life on earth, rewilding is our best bet.
At inlumi, we have a passion for sustainability and the wider societal impact we and our clients can have, and we are driven by a collective need to make things better than they were before.
We are partnered with Mossy Earth, a social enterprise with the aim of restoring wild ecosystems, supporting wildlife and biodiversity, and helping to fight climate change. As well as sponsoring rewilding projects, we plant four trees a month on behalf of each employee to support reforestation.
Begum, T., 2021. Soil degradation: the problems and how to fix them.
[Online][Accessed: 31 March 2023]
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UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, n.d. Peatlands factsheet
[Online][Accessed: 31 March 2023]
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is a recent economics graduate. In July of 2022, he joined inlumi as an associate, marking his first professional job. Benjamin has a strong interest in Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) systems and is eager to develop his expertise in this area. In his spare time, Benjamin enjoys hitting the slopes and tackling mountain biking trails. With a passion for adventure and a hunger for knowledge, Benjamin is excited to take on new challenges and contribute to the growth of inlumi.
is a Lead Consultant at inlumi, with experience revolving around delivering on IT projects across multiple industries, focusing on implementations of group consolidated reporting software. Cristian has 5 years of consulting experience in EPM projects, with the last two years’ focus being on OneStream. In his spare time, Cristian likes to be outdoors, practicing various sports like tennis, cycling and sailing or simply going for a hike.
joined inlumi in June 2021 and is a consultant with a focus on OneStream implementations and EPM advisory. With a Finance background, Edward provides expertise in developing client relationships, identifying solutions to current challenges, and technical accounting advisory. Away from work, Edward enjoys spending his time with his wife and their cats and dogs, following motorsport, and playing badminton. Having grown up in Italy, Edward also enjoys going to the gym to offset his love of pizza and pasta.
joined inlumi in February 2022 as Head of Education Services. Jan is an EPM education specialist with over 25 years’ experience of helping clients maximise the value of their investment in EPM through the design of targeted and compelling education programs. Jan loves being outside in nature, whether that is hill-walking, gardening or snorkelling. During 2023, she has set herself a challenge to climb one of the mountains in the Pyrenees, although she’ll be starting part way up the height of 2800m!
is a recent graduate of the University of Warwick, where he studied Management with Digital Innovation. He joined inlumi last August as an Associate, marking his first professional job. He has always been fascinated with disruptive technologies and he continue to apply what he has learned in university to his day-to-day tasks. Kannen is currently specialising in OneStream where he has helped with developing Tax solutions. In his free time, he enjoys playing video games, eating and playing basketball.
is one of the leading data science experts at Archetype. He is a reformed academic economist who likes to empower customers to solve problems with data. Ken has spent time in academia, consulting (Deloitte, Distill Data Science) and software development (SAS, H2O, Dataiku). He has worked with analytics departments in most of the Fortune 100 companies. He earned a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Kentucky in Lexington and his work on price optimisation has been published in peer-reviewed journals.
is a Lead Advisory Consultant based in inlumi’s London office. With extensive experience in both finance and technology, Lauren is passionate about helping organisations deliver sustainable change to impacted stakeholders. In her spare time, Lauren enjoys being outdoors, preferably with her Spaniel, Douglas, who is a regular attendee at the UK office.
Luiza joined inlumi in January 2022 as an Associate after completing her master degree in Finance and Accounting from University of Southern Denmark, and is now specialised in OneStream. Luiza has a passion for emerging technologies, AI, and coding. She has a strong foundation in business management and an acute awareness of how technology can be leveraged to improve business performance. Outside of work, Luiza enjoys staying active and challenging herself through a variety of adrenaline sports.
graduated from Durham University with a BA Honours in Accounting and Finance. She joined inlumi in July 2022 as an associate level consultant. Mary is currently specialising in OneStream, working on her first project with Finland. She finds the technology of these systems fascinating and is motivated to specialise in EPM consulting. Outside of the workspace, Mary enjoys travelling and engaging with new cultures and cuisines but misses her cat when she’s away too long.
is one of the leading data science experts at Archetype. Trained as an economist and an operations research analyst, who has expertise in business analytics, strategic planning, and applied economics. He possesses rigorous analytical skills with unprecedented attention to detail and a teaching mindset. Marty has spent time in academia as professor for the US Air Force Academy as well as worked for USAA for 6+ years as a Director of Data Science. He earned a Ph.D. in Mineral Economics from the Colorado School of Mines.
Is the co-founder of Mossy Earth, a social enterprise with the aim of restoring wild ecosystems, supporting wildlife and biodiversity, and helping to fight climate change. Matt spends his ever dwindling free time running ultra marathons, bodyboarding or walking his two dogs, both named Luz.
joined inlumi in July 2022 as an Associate after graduating her BSc Business with Finance degree from Bayes (CASS) Business School. Molly has so far assisted projects with project management, time management, organisation and communication. At university, modules like finance, technology and sustainability were subject that she really enjoyed studying and she is excited to learn more at inlumi. In her spare time, she has a passion for CrossFit, food and being outside in the nature.
is a dynamic and ambitious young professional with a passion for Enterprise Performance Management (EPM). As a Lead Consultant, Patrick drives EPM strategy and execution, working collaboratively with cross-functional teams to deliver measurable business value. He is a skilled problem solver with a keen eye for detail and a deep understanding of EPM processes, systems, and tools. Outside work, Patrick enjoys relaxing on the driving range and golf course, going to the gym and participating in obstacle course races.
is an Associate at inlumi, working in a new role as an Executive Assistant to the CEO. After completing his Master’s degree in Physics, he joined the very first inlumi graduate scheme back in January 2022. Once the laptop is closed, Yam spends his time bouldering, listening to the Lex Fridman Podcast and goofing with friends.
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