Well, a week into my role and it's been pretty exciting stuff! Being a Chartered Accountant I often get the jokes about being boring and all about the numbers and the same image is often portrayed about treasurers. But my early view is that there is a great, diverse and personable group out there doing some very interesting and important work for their organisations.
In my first week I have met with our Policy & Technical Committee and representatives of the Bank of England, attended our excellent Deals of the Year event (which you can read about here), and joined our President Fiona Crisp at the Lloyds Business Leaders’ Summit. I have attended our 2-day Smart Cash event, and of course have spent time with my new team, getting to know them all. (I have to say, I am pretty impressed by the quality of what they do, - and I can get away with saying that, being new! But happy to hear from you if you have suggestions for improvement. I know we all believe in continuous improvement here, and want to provide the best service possible for our members.)
I’d like to share with you some first, more personal, impressions too. Just before I started on 1 February I was feeling a bit out of sorts – but within the first hour of induction with Ria Robinson, who has been acting as interim Chief Exec for the last month (thanks, Ria!), I suddenly felt really comfortable. Thinking back, I realise I was just impatient to get started! I am sure there will be a period where I have a little ‘dip’, as that is normal when one changes organisation or culture (usually 3-6 months in) – but I know from experience it will be just that, and therefore not to worry about it. For now I am feeling very honoured and privileged to have been offered this role, and I will do my best to add what value I can for the membership.
One of the things that has struck me over the last few days is how broad as well as deep the treasurer's role is. Treasurers can add huge value to their organisation when they are accepted as strategic business partners. What is your experience of this? Have you or your team taken on more responsibility recently, and how is this viewed by the wider organisation? I'd really like to hear from you about this, and of course our Contemporary Treasurer survey picks up on this – look out for the results which will be released later this year.
