The controller's leap of faith
Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2024 4:06 am
In recent months, the Spanish Controllers Network (REC) has worked hard to spread a modern vision of the Controller profession. In this way, we want to dispel the idea that the management control department is the company's " internal affairs " department .
To be fair, the word control has not helped us much in the dissemination of our profession. The RAE defines control as Checking, inspection, supervision, intervention , just the opposite of what many of us defend should be management control. From the REC, we believe that the controller of the 21st century will be a professional capable of helping his company achieve its strategic and operational objectives , thus supporting the company's management to improve its competitive position in the market. Therefore, management control in the 21st century has much more to do with management and much less with control .
In the years that we have been spreading this vision, we have detected that the controller complains a lot . He complains because he feels like the person who is asked to request impossible information. He complains because he is asked to produce useless and worthless reports, and to top it all off, despite doing all of the above, he does not feel valued within his organization.
At this point, I think that management control professionals should do some self-criticism. If we are asked for useless reports, what do we do to change them or avoid small business email list them? Are we not capable of redirecting impossible requests for information towards information that is available and could be useful for our interlocutor? Do we listen or do we make excuses? To top it off, many of the controllers, among whom I am undoubtedly one, have at some point in our professional career felt misunderstood and undervalued, but have we put in place an action plan (as we controllers like this) to solve it? Have we analyzed the needs of our internal clients?
Whenever I think of these things, a scene from the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade automatically comes to mind . Indy has to find the Grail in order to save his father, who is seriously injured, and faces a terrible test: the leap of faith . He has to cross a ravine where there is no bridge and at first glance it seems an impossible leap. However, when Harrison Ford tries it, he discovers that beneath his feet there appears a bridge that was imperceptible to the human eye. The moral is that his faith allows him to cross.
Well, the controller finds himself in the same dilemma that our friend Indy found himself in. His leap of faith consists of deciding whether he wants to get more involved in management or, on the contrary, stay in his reactive position . Both decisions have risks, but there is one in which the end is known. If you don't change, things will remain the same or worse.
To be fair, the word control has not helped us much in the dissemination of our profession. The RAE defines control as Checking, inspection, supervision, intervention , just the opposite of what many of us defend should be management control. From the REC, we believe that the controller of the 21st century will be a professional capable of helping his company achieve its strategic and operational objectives , thus supporting the company's management to improve its competitive position in the market. Therefore, management control in the 21st century has much more to do with management and much less with control .
In the years that we have been spreading this vision, we have detected that the controller complains a lot . He complains because he feels like the person who is asked to request impossible information. He complains because he is asked to produce useless and worthless reports, and to top it all off, despite doing all of the above, he does not feel valued within his organization.
At this point, I think that management control professionals should do some self-criticism. If we are asked for useless reports, what do we do to change them or avoid small business email list them? Are we not capable of redirecting impossible requests for information towards information that is available and could be useful for our interlocutor? Do we listen or do we make excuses? To top it off, many of the controllers, among whom I am undoubtedly one, have at some point in our professional career felt misunderstood and undervalued, but have we put in place an action plan (as we controllers like this) to solve it? Have we analyzed the needs of our internal clients?
Whenever I think of these things, a scene from the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade automatically comes to mind . Indy has to find the Grail in order to save his father, who is seriously injured, and faces a terrible test: the leap of faith . He has to cross a ravine where there is no bridge and at first glance it seems an impossible leap. However, when Harrison Ford tries it, he discovers that beneath his feet there appears a bridge that was imperceptible to the human eye. The moral is that his faith allows him to cross.
Well, the controller finds himself in the same dilemma that our friend Indy found himself in. His leap of faith consists of deciding whether he wants to get more involved in management or, on the contrary, stay in his reactive position . Both decisions have risks, but there is one in which the end is known. If you don't change, things will remain the same or worse.