Leading in global payroll: key skills and attributes for exceptional payroll leadership

Regardless of how advanced an organization’s payroll system is or how experienced and skilled their payroll team is, leadership remains the key component for global payroll success. Managing payroll across multiple geographies is about more than numbers. It’s about navigating highly complex compliance requirements, understanding different cultures, and working with people from diverse backgrounds that all bring their own cultural perspective to the table.

In order to thrive in this challenging environment, global payroll leaders need a lot more than numerical skills, technical expertise, and other qualities that are typically associated with the payroll profession. What makes an exceptional global payroll leader?

To answer this question, we have talked to Bart van der Storm, a visionary leader in global payroll and the author of “The Payrollmind: How to Build Influence and Make an Impact As a Global Payroll Professional”. During his career, Bart has coached and helped hundreds of payroll professionals develop the necessary skills and qualities to excel in global payroll leadership. In this interview, he shares his insights from over 20 years of experience.

Global payroll professionals not only have to fulfill the demanding requirements of their role while keeping up with trends and developments that are changing the payroll landscape, such as automation, remote work, and global expansion, but they also have to overcome additional challenges specific to global payroll leadership.

Navigating expectations of stakeholders and C-level executives

Payroll leadership is critical to both operational excellence and strategic value within organizations. In order to deliver on these expectations, payroll leaders need to fully understand the structure of their organization, build bridges to other critical business functions and departments, such as HR, and communicate with stakeholders and senior leadership to build strong internal partnerships.

Yet navigating expectations from leadership can be challenging. It’s not rare for stakeholders and senior leadership to expect the payroll team to take on more responsibilities, tasks, and projects—even though current capacities and staff shortages don’t allow for it. The challenge for global payroll leaders is to take a strong stand.

“My advice to any payroll leader is to identify your core task and to ensure you do that task correctly. When faced with any additional tasks or responsibilities, provide the organization with a clear and factual understanding of why it is not possible or what you need in order to make it possible,” Bart says.

As an experienced global payroll professional, Bart acknowledges the difficulty of standing up to senior leadership and declining requests from C-level executives, especially given the accommodating nature that is characteristic for many payroll professionals.

“Payroll people are by nature very accommodating, and as a result, they are inclined to say ‘yes’ to too many things. Even in situations where they should say ‘no’. Prioritizing your focus, your goals, and your activities and sticking to them is an important quality. It's being able to articulate, defend, and precision your priorities.”

"Prioritizing your focus, your goals, and your activities and sticking to them is an important quality. It's being able to articulate, defend, and precision your priorities."

Bart van der Storm

Author, entrepreneur, and global payroll professional

The impact of technology on global payroll leadership

Technology is shaping the future of payroll and also the role of global payroll professionals. While the use of AI is gaining traction in global payroll processing and management, technological advancements also have a direct impact on payroll leadership, notably the ability to process payroll remotely.

“I think the main difference over the past couple of years has been that, during COVID, the world learned that payroll can be run remotely. Before, being part of a payroll team and asking to work remote was almost close to suicide. With COVID, it became apparent that there's no need for people to be in the office anymore, but that they can also work from home,” Bart explains.

As shown by the 2021 EY Global Payroll Survey, the top payroll consideration becoming a priority for organizations after the pandemic was to re-evaluate remote work policies and their impact on multi-country payroll and compliance. While the impact of the pandemic forced organizations to revisit their payroll strategy to also consider hybrid or remote work policies, the shift to more flexible working arrangements in payroll has also raised the bar for leadership.

“Keeping watch of people's mental state, keeping track of progress, and ensuring that payroll comes out accurately and timely has become more difficult. That's one clear change in technology that has changed the dynamic of payroll.”

“I think the main difference over the past couple of years has been that, during COVID, the world learned that payroll can be run remotely."

Bart van der Storm

Author, entrepreneur, and global payroll professional

Navigating cultural biases and different communication styles

Working in global payroll means interacting with people from diverse cultural backgrounds who have different values, perspectives, and ways of communicating. Global payroll leaders need to understand these different perspectives to build connections with their peers.

“In a meeting with people from around the world, I expect everybody to be respectful to each other. If everybody's able to accept and navigate around each other's cultures, you get the best of your team dynamic,” Bart explains. For the seasoned global payroll professional, it’s not about getting people to change their way of communicating, but rather about acknowledging and respecting differences and creating a collaborative environment.

“When working with payroll professionals from Japan, Germany, England, and North America, for example, it’s not about changing them to fit a single mold. It’s about accepting the fact that there are four different ways of communication. I think that there's a unique dynamic that will sort itself out if you provide the necessary structure within your organization that allows for collaboration.”

Global payroll is a highly demanding job that requires a range of different skills and attributes. Successful payroll leaders need to combine payroll-specific skills, such as strategic thinking, technical expertise, problem solving, adaptability, and effective communication, with key attributes of effective leadership in a global environment, such as independent thinking, curiosity, cultural intelligence, accountability, and empathy.

But what distinguishes a good payroll leader from an exceptional one? Which qualities and attributes do global payroll leaders need to excel?

Looking at payroll leadership through a different lens

Bart takes a slightly different approach in defining what global payroll professionals need to become successful leaders. “Of course, they need to have technical skills, good communication and so on. But to me, those skills are given. I think what really makes a difference is the ability to commit, the ability to show courage, and the ability to take chances,” he says.

In a highly regulated field like payroll, this approach might sound counterintuitive, since deviating from regular processes and standards might put a risk to payroll accuracy and timeliness. However, Bart stresses the importance for payroll professionals to look at the bigger picture.

“Whether it’s implementing new tools or integrating a newly acquired company, anything that impacts payroll requires a clear mission and a vision. And the people that are typically able to endure this and persevere are those with a sense of courage, commitment and a willingness to go above and beyond. If you expect security in the way you operate, the reality is that you will not grow.”

"I think what really makes a difference is the ability to commit, the ability to show courage, and the ability to take chances."

Bart van der Storm

Author, entrepreneur, and global payroll professional

Beyond regular skills: perseverance and the 4 C’s as the essence of a great payroll leader

“In my opinion, the most important quality a payroll leader needs to succeed is perseverance,” Bart says. Additionally he names four intrinsic qualities which he refers to as the “four C’s”: confidence, competence, courage, and commitment. “I'm not saying that you're never going to be successful if you don't have these qualities. But I do think that these attributes are what’s needed to succeed.”

“Let's assume that you're mid-level in your payroll career and aspire to become a senior leader. You want to be the person who presents to boards and leadership to convince them of your vision of the direction payroll at your organization should take. To achieve this, you better learn fast to have the courage to express your opinion and to show your commitment to persevere through all the issues that you will encounter.”

Payroll is a business function where the stakes are high, and payroll professionals often find themselves in situations where they have to make critical decisions with very little time. In such a high-stakes environment, poor decision-making comes at a high cost.

“I believe that not having any confidence, or willingness to commit, or courage to pursue something different and new that's going to change the environment in which you work will probably lead to failure, because you cannot drive change if you play it safe and if you’re afraid of the choices you're about to make,” Bart says.

Yet, despite the need to make courageous decisions that have a direct impact on people’s lives, it is important for payroll professionals throughout their career to acknowledge the reality of the situation. Under these circumstances, courage takes on a different meaning.

“If leadership wants you to change your payroll approach or procedures, and the current headcount, budget, or resources don’t allow for it, being able to say it as it isand explain that it’s simply not possible under the current circumstances, that’s also courage,” Bart explains. “If you say ‘yes’ to something you shouldn’t, the reality is that you're likely to fail. You have to make sure you provide a true testament to what you believe is the current situation.”

"You cannot drive change if you play it safe and if you’re afraid of the choices you're about to make."

Bart van der Storm

Author, entrepreneur, and global payroll professional

In his book, Bart often stresses that payroll professionals need to “become a force in their organization”, meaning that it’s not just about successfully guiding and managing a team, but about building influence and leveraging it to really make an impact.

“Being a force in your organization means that people can count on you to be honest, straight, balanced, and factual, and that they can always count on you to try to find the answer to whatever is in front of you,” Bart elaborates. This becomes particularly important at times where there are arguments about expectations and deliverables, either within the payroll department or between different departments.

“In payroll, there are always squabbles about what has been agreed and the expectations surrounding it. Making an impact means making sure that you're clear on what was agreed, that the agreement was documented, and that people know what performance was expected of them,” Bart states.

“Once the issues are there, you bring the facts to the table. You explain to them what those facts are. You tell them what your expectations were. You show them the agreement. And the reality is that, if you go about it this way, such issues will probably not occur because you're on top of things and people recognize you for it.”

Another aspect Bart stresses is the importance of calling the issue where it really sits while focusing on solving it collaboratively. “If HR has an issue with providing data in time, then that's the issue and nothing else. Don't take the issue on your own shoulders. Let the issue remain where it sits, but help with resolving it. It’s about always having a collaborative mindset. That's how you become a force.”

"Being a force in your organization means that people can count on you to be honest, straight, balanced, and factual."

Bart van der Storm

Author, entrepreneur, and global payroll professional

Using governance to enforce decisions as a global payroll leader

Situations where payroll leaders need to show courage to make the right decisions and defend them against stakeholders and leadership are decisive moments for building influence. “These are the moments in your career as a payroll professional where you need to learn how to use governance to influence people to get them to make the right decisions,” Bart explains, He illustrates this with the example of a global payroll implementation project.

“Let’s imagine you’re working with a global payroll vendor. You’re going through the different project milestones and they want you to sign off on the blueprint or on a particular test to move forward. If you say ‘We're not good to go’, this means that the project will be delayed. It also means that it will cost more money and that there will be difficult conversations with your vendor.”

Having been in similar situations himself during his career, Bart knows that the pressure in these situations is high and that doing the right thing isn’t easy.

“Your entire human being will urge you to say ‘yes’, because if you say ‘no’, even if it's for the right reasons, it's going to be very hard and difficult. But if you're responsible for this project and you have the data and facts that provide you with a clear understanding of the project state and it’s apparent that you're not ready to move forward, you need to show courage to make the right decision. At the end of the day, people will respect you for it.”

With the increasing reliance on AI and data analytics and the growing focus on employee experience and personalization, the role of global payroll leaders is set to evolve in years to come.

“I think payroll will become more data-driven and also a lot more specialist-driven. Payroll professionals will take on specialism in different fields, such as data specialist, technology specialist, or communication specialist. It will become less of a generic role,” Bart says.

For aspiring global payroll leaders, Bart’s main advice focuses on two major aspects: to follow their own plan and to be their true authentic self. “If I had to give aspiring payroll leaders a single piece of advice, it would be ‘Follow your own plan and be who you are’. Don’t try to be something you’re not because it will make you appear less authentic and less relatable.”

In his book “The Payrollmind: How to Build Influence and Make an Impact As a Global Payroll Professional”, Bart highlights the importance for payroll professionals to know who they are and to work towards creating the best version of themselves. He identifies a natural connection between having a strong sense of oneself and having a high level of confidence which is one of the four intrinsic qualities he identifies as the key factors for being successful in global payroll.

“I wrote my book for payroll professionals to learn what they have to do in order to be successful. I hope that, when people read it, they get some inspiration from it to say ‘It starts with me, and if I'm not committed, if I'm not willing to show courage, nothing's going to change—not for myself, not for my team, not for the organization, not for the world’, and that's where it starts.”

“It’s about governance, communication, commitment, courage, and about staying true to yourself and manifesting yourself in an environment where the stakes are high,” Bart concludes.

"The Payrollmind" Expert Guide

The Payrollmind is a practical guide that aims to inspire payroll professionals to take ownership of their role, cultivate essential skills, and make a lasting impact on their career, their team, and their organization’s overall culture.

Learn more

Bart van der Storm is a visionary leader in global payroll who has worked as a payroll professional for over 20 years in several Fortune 500 companies. Throughout his career, Bart has mentored, trained, and coached hundreds of payroll professionals to succeed in higher leadership and C-suite positions. As the founder and CEO of Payrollminds, he continues to drive innovation and transformation across the industry.