By Andy Burrows
One of the common questions I get asked relates to meeting resistance in the business.
For instance, I was explaining in a webinar recently that Finance and the CFO are like coaches to the business. We provide the performance management framework.
And someone said, “what if colleagues in the business don’t want to be coached?”
It’s a really good point.
And it’s worth knowing how to address the issue, because if you think about it, great CFOs don’t seem to have this problem.
So, if you want to progress in your career you need to develop those kind of CFO skills that will give you influence within the business.
It also affects your job satisfaction as a Finance professional. Because it’s disheartening when you can see that you really can make a difference and add value, but no-one seems interested in what you have to say.
Here's a little video clip of my answer to that question.
By Andy Burrows
Influence is something that Finance people in business really want, it seems to me.
I hear it a lot:
“How can I get more influence in the business?”
“How can I increase my visibility in the business?”
“How can I get included in strategic discussions, instead of being kept out?”
And that’s thinking in the right kind of way, fundamentally. We don’t want to just provide information, or even merely insight based on information. We don’t want to turn our work over to the non-Finance areas of the business in a “take-it-or-leave-it” kind of way.
We want our work to make a difference. And it can only make a difference if people listen to us, understand us, take note and act on what we tell them.
Our information should deliver insight. But for our insight to have impact we need to have influence!
So, this article gives you five ways to do that. It’s not the whole story, but it will give you a lot to think...
By Andy Burrows
This will not be news to some of you, but taking a route through Finance business partnering is now the best way to achieve your ambition of getting into a CFO role.
It used to be the case that financial control and reporting was the established path to the Chief Financial Officer’s chair. A solid Financial Controller was seen as not only the CFO’s right hand person, but the CFO’s natural successor.
This, I believe, is not the case any more.
And the reason for writing an article about this is that it helps in guiding your development plans and career plans. At its most basic level that equates to thinking about the job moves you choose, and the courses you choose to take, after completing your accountancy qualification.
But, what’s changed to give rise to these changes in career paths?
Firstly, the CFO role has become more about strategic partnering with the CEO and the Board, to maximise the performance of the...
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