Worked example – Financial Control SEO to Grade 6
Business Partnering and Change
This worked example shows how the career planning tool works, and shows how someone in a role
corresponding to SEO in Financial Control and Operations could complete the tool. In this example the
aim is to reach a Grade 6 Business Partnering role, and it shows how the individual would identify the
steps they might need to take to prepare for a Grade 6 Business Partnering role.
This is an indication of how to use the tool. It isn’t prescriptive, and is complementary to any other
career planning activities that you undertake. Feel free to use the tool in the way that will best support
your plans for your career development – there is no need to share it with anyone else if you don’t
want to do so. And while this example is of using the tool for an upwards career move, you can use it
in exactly the same way to plan lateral moves across the Finance function.
1.
Identify your current role in the Government Finance job families
Use the job families and role composites to identify your current role. You will not find an exact match for
your current job, as the roles here are composites by grade and type of finance activity. For example, if
you are currently at SEO grade, you need to identify if your role falls (predominantly) in Financial Control,
Business Partnering or Strategic Finance. This gives you your current role as a starting point.
Open the career planning tool and enter your current role from the drop down menu.
[n.b. if you are looking at the tool because you are considering a Finance role but are currently in another
function you can simply leave this blank.]
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2.
Review the roles and consider where your target role may be
In Government Finance we are actively encouraged to move between the three Finance job families, so
consider roles in all areas as well as thinking about the grade you would like to reach.
Enter your target role in the career planning tool. The tool asks you to consider the time it may take to
reach that role. There are no specific guidelines around how long you should spend at a particular grade,
but as a general rule it will take at least two years to embed skills and be ready for another move.
If the role you target will take more than five years to reach, you will be asked to enter an interim role and
the interim target role box will appear automatically for you to complete. Consider which positions could
be part of your career path to help you reach your target. These should be roles that you can reach within
the next two to five years.
If you aim to complete a professional qualification, enter this in the tool.
[n.b. if you are considering a tour outside Finance, then you may not want to use this tool as it is focused
on capturing specific development needs for Finance. However you may find the method useful for
structuring your thinking about the learning you will need for your target non Finance role or for how you
will move back in to Finance after a role elsewhere].
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3.
Analyse your learning gaps
Review the profile for your current and your target role (or interim target if applicable). Work through the
skills and experience sections to identify what you already have and what you need to acquire.
As an SEO grade in financial control, you currently meet the following experience
and skill criteria:
Your target
role is a
grade 6
business
partnering
position:
You have
some
learning
gaps in
presenting
complex
financial
information,
which you
have already
noted in
your
personal
development
plan for this
year
Your biggest
gaps in
relation to
this role are
communicati
on skills, in
particular
with
presenting
complex
information
to senior
audiences;
broadening
your
experience
across other
areas of
Finance and
the Civil
Service, and
leading
complex
change to
deliver value
for money.
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Enter your learning gaps in the tool
Think through what types of learning will help fill the gap. You can enter more than one type of learning for
each gap. Remember to use the Government Finance Academy resources, as well as Civil Service
Learning to find ideas on learning you can access. And of course learning may not need to be a formal
training course.
You identify a course on distilling complex financial information, as you have seen this is available through
the Government Finance Academy. So you select a ‘10%’ learning solution in the tool. When you discuss
your plans with your manager they will need to agree to any formal courses.
You also know there is a chance to get involved in more activity presenting information in your department
at the moment. This would be great practice, and you can talk to your manager about doing this at more
senior forums. So you also select the 70% learning solution.
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You continue completing the tool with the other learning gaps identified and the types of learning you think
will help.
4.
After meeting your manager (optional), you complete the final sections of the tool
The document is yours, to update and review as and when you feel it will be useful. You may have further
conversations with your manager about your development ideas as and when you see fit. Or you may use
the tool to shape your plan but not return to it. It’s up to you.
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