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Promoting Teamwork between Shared Services and Business Units (BUs)

Published November 2022

There typically exists a natural tension between shared services organizations and the business units which they support. The table below summarizes some of the major differences or challenges between members of shared services teams and Business Units (BUs).

Potential Conflicts Between Shared Services and BUs

In general, because they do not generate revenue, shared services teams can be viewed by BUs as pseudo-outsourced employees (“they”), residing in corporate “La La Land” and detached from the reality of running a day-to-day business. This can cause shared services employees to feel like second-class citizens, removed from the purpose of the organization.

Ideas for addressing each of the four challenge areas are included below. In addition to driving improved coordination and business results, improving the relationship between shared services and BUs can have a marked impact on improving employees’ work experience (especially for shared services employees) by increasing a sense of community and purposeful work.

Focus:

Leaders of shared services and BUs should agree upon and document philosophies regarding process standardization, roles and responsibilities, process automation, etc. This, in effect, establishes the set of rules by which shared services and BUs agree to play.

It is critical to ensure that collaboration occurs on process improvements. A proven recipe for disaster is to hand work instructions for which they’ve had little/no input to those doing the actual work. While process improvement almost certainly must be led by shared services, it is vital that BUs are included to:

Prioritize processes for improvement.
Understand exactly how an existing process really occurs (versus perceived to work).
Identify frustrations and shortcomings with an existing process.
Brainstorm and vet potential improvements.
Establish standards for an improved process (which paves the way for process automation).
Prioritize processes for automation.

Assigning shared services team members lead responsibility for various processes as subject matter experts (SMEs) provides opportunities for personal ownership and growth. It also reinforces the concept of a valued partner (see Team Awareness below) by identifying a specific person for BUs to contact with questions, concerns or ideas regarding a specific process.

Assigning share services team members responsibility to act as a liaison to a specific BU provides opportunities for them to learn more about the business. It also reinforces the concept of an internal customer (see Team Awareness below) as they reach a deeper understanding of the challenges facing the respective BU to which they are aligned.

Location:

This may be the most impactful barrier. Unfortunately, it seems to be human nature to be cynical about those with whom we don’t have a relationship. I’ve worked with organizations that had two buildings separated by ¼-mile, each with its unique culture. Considering that shared services and BUs can exist in different states or even continents, the potential for disconnection is enormous.

Fortunately, this may also be the easiest to overcome, requiring only attention and creativity. The rapid optimization of video-conferencing software and the acceptance of meeting virtually as a result of the pandemic offers additional low-cost opportunities for “face-to-face” meetings.

A partial brainstorm list of ideas for addressing the location barrier is included below:

Make plant visits a part of the onboarding process for new employees (potential to go both ways).
Invite visiting BU managers for a meeting, lunch or after-work activity with the shared services team when visiting headquarters. Provide a list of questions or discussion topics beforehand so that a meaningful discussion can occur.
Co-locate or (virtually locate) process improvement activities.
Hold periodic (quarterly?) virtual meetings between shared services and BU internal customers.
Have shared services employees (SMEs) provide on-site training to BUs in their area of expertise.
Set and monitor a quantifiable objective for in-person visits for shared services employees.
Set and monitor a quantifiable objective for virtual visits for shared services employees.
Consider career development paths that move talented team members between shared services and BUs.

Metrics:

Collaborate with BUs to develop and track shared metrics that reflect meaningfully on the effectiveness of the various processes from the BU’s standpoint. Examples might include:

First Pass Yield – percent of times the process works correctly the first time through
Response Time – time from request initiation to closure
Cost – personnel time involved to support

Establishing meaningful metrics can be the final step in the process improvement process. Measurements should be easy to obtain (and ideally automated). Setting goals for the various metrics and conducting shared celebrations when goals are met will also help address the other three barriers.

Team Awareness:

Consistent vocabulary is important. Words matter.

BUs are internal customers to shared services. This also implies that customer awareness training should be included in onboarding new shared services team members. Aspects of the training can be periodically reinforced by shared services leadership, preferably by reinforcing team members’ desired behaviors.

Shared services is a partner to BUs. This requires that both parties understand and demonstrate aspects for a successful partnership, both when things are going well and when they are not. Most importantly, this requires that leaders of shared services and BUs model a value partnership in how they communicate and act.

The wall between shared services and BUs can be knocked down with awareness, intentionality and a little bit of creativity.

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Promoting Teamwork between Shared Services and Business Units (BUs)

If you found this helpful, I think you'll enjoy my new book Working Great! Lean Leadership Lessons for Guiding Your Organization to Excellence. Click on the link below for more info.