The Soft Skills that Drive Treasury Success: Collaboration, Negotiation, and Empathy

In today’s dynamic and complex financial landscape, the role of a treasurer extends beyond traditional responsibilities such as liquidity management, risk assessment, and capital structuring. While technical proficiency in treasury functions—such as cash forecasting, funding, and investment strategies—is essential, soft skills are emerging as critical differentiators for success. Specifically, collaboration, negotiation, and empathy are the foundations that support strong treasury functions and elevate the impact of treasury professionals within an organization.

In one case, a treasury team struggled to align a new procedure with a core company department. After several months of drafting, discussions, and revisions, they still had not reached a satisfactory conclusion. The treasury manager opted to renegotiate directly with the department head, proposing, “Let’s take control of 80% of this now. During the year-end review, we will demonstrate the team’s capability to manage the entire process, which will free up your team’s time for core activities.” Though not everyone was fully pleased with the terms, the compromise helped overcome the impasse and built trust with the stakeholder. The treasury team took on the initial task and is set to assume full responsibility for the process in the coming review cycle.

1. Collaboration: The Power of Teamwork in Treasury

Effective treasury management requires collaboration across a diverse range of internal and external stakeholders, from finance and procurement to legal departments, banking partners, and regulatory bodies. When collaborative efforts thrive, treasury functions can operate seamlessly to support cash flow management, compliance, and strategic financial planning.

Key points:

Cross-functional teamwork is essential in treasury as it bridges departmental gaps, aligning cash management with operational requirements. This alignment improves financial efficiency and ensures that each department’s objectives are met.
Building trust with internal teams facilitates streamlined treasury processes, enhancing cash and risk management. By establishing relationships with accounting, accounts payable (AP), accounts receivable (AR), and procurement, treasury teams can better anticipate cash flow needs and foster an environment of shared goals.
External collaboration with banks and financial institutions strengthens access to favorable terms and dependable funding. By building these partnerships, treasury teams gain greater flexibility and stability in securing resources, particularly during times of volatility or rapid growth.

For example, during a treasury-led M&A process, two newly combined teams faced challenges in meeting deadlines, partly due to a lack of trust that developed from remote communication constraints. After identifying the root issue, the team proposed in-person team-building activities at the headquarters. These activities fostered a more collaborative environment and open dialogue, enabling the combined teams to address their concerns and ultimately meet project milestones successfully.

2. Negotiation: Driving Favorable Financial Outcomes

Negotiation is central to treasury operations. From securing optimal terms with banking partners to reducing borrowing costs and negotiating advantageous foreign exchange rates, successful negotiation ensures the financial health of the organization. A skilled treasurer must balance assertiveness with diplomacy to achieve the best financial results.

Key points:

Negotiating with banks and financial institutions is essential for securing lower fees and beneficial financing rates, directly impacting the organization’s bottom line. Treasury professionals often negotiate for services that enhance financial resilience and lower overall costs.
Internal negotiations help manage competing organizational priorities, such as balancing operations’ desire for capital expansion against finance’s need to mitigate liquidity risks. Effective internal negotiation ensures that treasury goals align with corporate objectives.
Data-backed negotiation enables treasurers to leverage financial data and market trends, providing a strong basis for their positions. By using quantitative insights, treasury teams can negotiate from a position of informed strength, aligning negotiation outcomes with market realities and organizational goals.

In a past project, for instance, treasury negotiated funding to establish a production facility in Brazil. Global banks were approached to provide financing, with target rates based on local and international benchmarks like the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) and long-term interest rates. This data-driven approach ultimately helped secure favorable funding terms, benefiting the business’s financial position.

3. Empathy: Understanding Stakeholder Needs

Treasury professionals interact with a wide range of stakeholders, each with distinct needs and perspectives. Empathy enhances these interactions, allowing treasurers to better understand underlying concerns, align objectives with those of other teams, and build trust.

Key points:

Internal empathy involves understanding the challenges and constraints faced by other departments. This understanding helps treasury professionals offer more relevant and supportive solutions, fostering stronger internal relationships.
External empathy allows treasury teams to put themselves in the shoes of financial partners, which can lead to more cooperative negotiations and durable relationships. By recognizing the perspectives of banking and investment partners, treasurers can facilitate mutually beneficial agreements.
Crisis management benefits from empathy, as it enables treasury teams to communicate sensitively and build consensus during financial stress. This quality is particularly vital in helping teams navigate difficult decisions and maintain morale during challenging periods.

Encouraging treasury teams to “think like stakeholders” is a crucial approach to empathy in action. This perspective shift helps uncover reasons behind resistance to change, allowing treasury teams to respond to these concerns effectively. Understanding stakeholder perspectives allows treasury teams to adjust their strategies and align more closely with the organization’s broader needs.

Conclusion

While technical expertise remains indispensable in treasury, soft skills—particularly collaboration, negotiation, and empathy—are the hallmarks of exceptional treasury professionals. These interpersonal capabilities improve decision-making, strengthen relationships, and contribute to better financial outcomes across the board. Strong communication and relationship-building skills are, in many ways, the keys to becoming a well-rounded treasury professional. Treasury professionals who combine technical acumen with solid interpersonal skills are poised to drive the future of the industry.

However, success in treasury requires more than just articulating strategies or envisioning best practices—it demands action and accountability. Exceptional professionals “walk the walk” by embodying the principles they advocate. This means proactively fostering collaboration, demonstrating empathy in stakeholder engagements, and translating strategic ideas into measurable results. It’s about showing, not just telling, how these qualities lead to real-world success.

By consistently living out these values, treasury leaders inspire trust and build credibility, both within their teams and across the organization. Ultimately, those who align their actions with their words create a legacy of integrity, innovation, and impact, setting themselves apart as true drivers of progress in the field.

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