The actions you take in your first few months in as CFO have a large impact on the extent to which you succeed. If you fail to build momentum early, you can blow much of the goodwill that’s initially credited to every new hire. As an executive coach, I am typically called on by CEOs or PE operating partners long after the CFO initial phase, and often see the missed opportunities.
Whether you’re on the cusp of a new role, expecting to be hired or promoted, or actually in your few months in the role, the success strategies for new leaders follow a clear pattern. In 7 Ways to Set Yourself Up for Success in your First 30 Days as CFO the headlines were:
Prepare yourself mentally
Define your A-List priorities, and potential early wins
Neutralize your vulnerabilities
Create a learning plan
Focus on the fundamentals
Get engaged. Don’t keep away.
Plan 3 conversations with your boss
Wisdom from Michael Watkins, author of The First 90 Days and an expert on accelerating transitions, has been around for 15+ years, and I recommend it highly. But if you don’t have time for a full read just now, the next 6 tips can go a long way.
For Month 2 of your First 90 Days as CFO: a 10-second headline
Focus your energy
Identify your best sources of insight
Prepare for early tests of your authority
Build credibility
Have the resources conversation
Secure tangible results: 2-3 early wins
Specific ACTIONS around the 30-60 Day mark as CFO:
Focus your Energy.
Clarify your priorities and consider the answer to 3 important early choices.
• How much time will you give to learning vs. doing?
• How much time will you give to playing offense, vs. defense?
• What do you need to do to secure some early wins?
2. Identify your best sources of insight
Relying on CFO tools, financials, ops reports, strategic and functional plans, employee surveys and industry reports may be your default mode as a CFO. Yet talking with those who have critical insights about strategy, technical capabilities, culture and politics is vital. Watkins suggests meeting with each of your direct reports and peers 1:1 and asking them the same few questions, such as:
• “What are the biggest challenges facing this organization?”
• “What are the most promising unexploited opportunities for growth?”
• “What would need to happen for us to exploit the potential of these opportunities?”
• “If you were me, what would you focus your attention on?”
3. Prepare for early tests of your authority.
“Plan to meet each test by being firm and fair”, Watkins advises. “Establish limits early on, or you will live to regret it.” Especially if you are being promoted from within, it’s vital to get former peers and current ones to accept your promotion. What conversations do you need to have? Be clear yet gracious. Use this as an opportunity to model the way, and to convey your values as a leader. Sometimes leadership coaching early on can forestall issues and create balance.
4. Build credibility.
Early actions have a disproportionate impact on how you’re perceived. What message do you want to convey about who you are and what you represent? As a new CFO, it is valuable to quickly establish yourself as:
• Having high standards, yet able to be satisfied.
• Accessible, but not too familiar.
• Decisive, but not overly quick to jump into decisions.
• Focused yet flexible. Able to zoom in on issues, while encouraging input.
• Active without causing a ruckus. Not on a pace that burn others out.
• Willing to make tough calls, yet having values they can relate to and admire.
• Having the right kind of energy.
5. Have the resources conversation.
What will you need to be successful? It’s vital to negotiate for critical resources. Not just staff or budget. What messaging do you need your boss to send in support of your initiatives? Just be sure to have hard data to show why your resource ask is essential, before you ask. “Then stick to your guns. Keep coming back. Enlist others to help make your case. Seek out allies in the company and outside. It’s better to push too hard than to slowly bleed to death”, Watkins’ research has shown. The executives who are maters at this skill tie new resource requests to emerging issues: they are superb at connecting the problem with a fresh solution, and a clear estimate of what it will cost. When the CEO feels the impact urgently, and you are confident you can deliver a strong ROI if given the resources, funding often becomes more elastic.
6. Secure tangible results: a few early wins.
In your first 30 days, you will have identified 2-3 areas where you can see rapid improvement. The best candidates are problems you can tackle reasonably quickly, with modest effort and cost, and that show visible financial or operational benefits. If you take on too many initiatives, you can lose focus. But don’t stake your success on just one.
By the 2nd month in your new job as CFO you should be starting to show some progress on those few critical fronts. Identify and empower change agents in your department who can drive your agenda. Give them visibility and authority, then reward them well for success. You send a clear message to others as you promote change agents to positions of increasing responsibility.
Review your results with the CEO (and operating partners, if your company is owned by a PE firm) at the end of your 2nd month, adjusting your 90-day plan as you go. Course-correct as your initial assessment of strategy evolves. Your first Board Meeting is probably approaching: what is most important as you prepare?
Then review your results against the plan with your boss at the end of each 30 days, and course-correct the plan as your initial assessment of strategy evolves. For additional posts related to success in your first few months as CFO, see also:
#CFOcoach #ceo #privateequity #finance #leadership #first90days
Edith Hamilton, MBA, CPCC is a certified executive coach for CFOs and VPs in Finance and Operations, particularly recently promoted women in the C-suite. She is a former executive of Fortune 500s, and has a background in private equity. With over 25 years’ experience in finance, operations, and growth strategies in corporations of all sizes including middle-market and entrepreneurial, Edith is a catalyst who accelerates leadership growth using tailored coaching frameworks that typically have an ROI of 4x-6x.
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