Business Competencies

05:15 Business Development 1 comment

Injecting the business development unit with the necessary resources is an important aspect of managing business development effectively. But simply hiring people with a strong track record is not enough.

"Simply hiring people with a strong track record is not enough"

Managing the competences within the unit in coherence with the tasks it is fulfilling is an important part of the management of the business development unit – one that is often overseen. In many cases, people think that by hiring highly capable people, the competences are in place. However, since business development tasks are of such a changeable and complex nature, attention must be put into managing these competences over time and develop them to match the tasks at hand.

1. Competences of business developers

Even though business development units are often quite small (on average between 2-12 people), their tasks and role in the organisation require that they cover a wide spectrum of competences, ranging from specific knowledge about a market or a specific business process to their ability to manage, engage and interact in large-scale change programmes and with people whose commitment is vital for their own success.

Business developers must be multi-faceted; they must be analytically skilled and they must be able to manage big projects and communicate with many different kinds of people. That is why most business developers have very diverse backgrounds, often with industry experience combined with some sort of consulting experience.

"Business developers must be multi-faceted; they must be analytically skilled and they must be able to manage big projects and communicate with many different kinds of people"

To fulfil the roles as strategists, facilitators and/or executors, the following competences are necessary With the diverse range of tasks of business developers, it is impossible for one person to cover all aspects. This is especially true for companies with highly specialised functions. Business developers are not superheroes that can take on many forms to fight the day-to-day battles against evil – nor should they strive to become so. The competences mentioned above are representative of the totality of skills any effective business development unit must possess in some form or shape. The role of the manager is to manage the spectrum of competences so that it matches the tasks that the unit is to carry out.

2. Competences in a BDM context

The range of competences necessary to carry out tasks varies according to the role that the business development unit fulfils in the organisation.

Not all business developers must be excellent strategists, executioners and facilitators at the same time. Neither should they be specialists in project management only. Business developers must be knowledgeable of several disciplines and roles and while being proficient in them all, they must also know how to activate and make use of them through others.

When it comes to the orchestration of strategy management, competences pertaining to being a strategist must be present at all times in a business development unit since this is an ongoing process that has its affiliation in business development. However, when it comes to specific business processes that require specialist knowledge, the business development unit may also draw on competences from outside the unit: from other people within the organisation or from its network of advisers. Examples of this include highly specialised market or product knowledge, jurisdictional or legal resources, accounting and financial specialists, etc.

"Business developers must be knowledgeable of several disciplines and roles and while being proficient in them all, they must also know how to activate and make use of them through others"

The competence spectrum includes the tangible competences that are needed to know how to carry out the tasks. However, to be truly successful, business developers must do more than manage and carry out the tasks set out for them. BDM is also a human discipline that entails a focus on the people that are to adopt, implement and execute the strategy. This includes consideration of the way in which tasks are carried out.

We call these the intangible competences which are often contingent on the personality of the person in question. One such competence is the ability to be creative and think beyond the boundaries of existing markets, products and the organisation.

"The point is not to come up with as many ideas for business development as possible but to come up with a few, valuable ideas"

Being creative is indeed important, but it is not any kind of creativity that is appropriate for business developers. The ability to be creative is valuable when combined with an understanding of the business and an ability to critically analyse and evaluate alternatives. The point is not to come up with as many ideas for business development as possible but to come up with a few, valuable ideas.

Besides "qualified creativity", the other intangible competences that are important in the discipline of BDM are

o Ability to be humble
According to Professor Flemming Poulfelt, Copenhagen Business School: "Business development is too important to be left to business developers"

o Ability to navigate
According to Professor Anders Drejer, Aarhus Business School, business developers must "accept and deal with the insecurity and unpredictability – there is no fixed agenda of business development"

o Ability to engage
According to Professor Anders Drejer, Aarhus Business School: "The need to anticipate the context – the organisational, managerial, cultural and market context – and moving within and in between different contexts is pivotal to business developers"

o Ability to translate
Peter Læssøe, Business Development Director, Nykredit, states that "business developers must be able to talk strategy so that everybody understands it and knows what to do"

o Ability to impact
According to Nicolai Hesdorf, Arla Foods, business developers must be "empathetic tough nuts that are not afraid to state their opinion and speak up"

As with the competence spectrum, it is important to stress that all business developers within a unit need not be excellent in all competences. However, when it comes to the intangible competences, the manager of the unit is an exception. As the face towards the management and the organisation, it is necessary that the manager acts as a role model and contains all these intangible competences or traits.

Having a focus on the competences and on "selling" these competences makes it easier to define and conceive the role of the business development unit within the organisation. However, it also increases the difficulties of delimitating the kind of tasks that are taken on by the unit. Careful attention must be put into ensuring that the role as the connecting link between strategy and execution is fulfilled and that the unit does not become entangled in daily operations.

3. Guidelines for managing competences

To mature the business development unit professionally, start with the people. For talented and high-calibre individuals with a strong career motivation which characterises many business developers today, managing and developing both personal and professional skills is a vital point of succeeding with business development.

"If business development is there to stay, it is there to enter a structured professional development plan on par with all other organisational units within the organisation"

Depending on the role of the business development unit within the organisation, some competences will be more important than others. It is the role of the business development manager to co-ordinate and develop these competences so that the unit can solve its tasks successfully at all times. Developing business developers is an integrated task for the HR organisation, yet a completely overlooked area of responsibility for many HR organisations. But if business development is there to stay, it is there to enter a structured professional development plan on par with all other organisational units within the organisation.

We believe the following guidelines can be used to more effectively manage the business development competences

• Revisit the purpose, role and areas of responsibility
‒ clearly articulate the business development role and area of responsibility

• Map the unit's current competences using the competence spectrum
‒ allow for a 1-5 scale to plot both professional and people skills

• Involve HR in constructing a professional development plan individual by individual
‒ using the competence spectrum plot as a point of departure

• Build a compensation scheme that also rewards professional development
‒ allow for inclusion of soft measures in bonus schemes and long-term career planning

• Follow up biannually on needed development points and corrective action
‒ making the most of HR templates, tools and techniques

Being able to mobilise a meticulous set of competences combined with an ability to dissociate oneself from the subject matter is the ultimate role of the business developer. This means that the management of competences becomes an important part of the management process of business development units.

Naturally, the specific competences will vary according to the area(s) of responsibility, and attention must be put into matching competences and responsibilities. Aside from that, competences should be managed with careful attention to the role that the unit fulfils in the organisation.