Building relationships as a new CFO

As the leader of the finance function, building strong relationships early on will have a huge impact on your potential in a new role - from your ability to make strategic decisions to driving employee retention and engagement down the line.??

To help you quickly establish yourself as a competent and trustworthy leader, I often advise the senior executives we work with to follow the ‘trust equation’ created by David Maister, an American professor and expert on business management practices, which states that trustworthiness is the sum of credibility, reliability, and intimacy, divided by self-orientation.??

In this article, I’ve summarised each aspect of the equation.??

Credibility?

When you’re having introduction conversations with people in your function, use opportunities to credentialise yourself in a way that is authentic to you, referencing to specific work you have been involved in or roles you have held before.??

It goes without saying that you’re an experienced finance leader if you have secured a CFO role – but what skills and experience can you use demonstrate that you are the right person for this specific job??

Not everyone in the function will know your background and experiences, so it’s a great opportunity to demonstrate why you have been given the role.??

Giving your team the chance to do the same – showing real curiosity about their background and specific skills - will also help you build rapport, and encourage junior team members to consider their own career pathway and future career ambitions.??

Reliability?

Do you deliver against the things you say you are going to do – even in an incredibly busy first few months???

Give yourself the opportunity to deliver on commitments you make to the team as you go through your introductions, whether it is something as small as sharing an interesting article you mention during a meeting or connecting them to someone with a similar hobby, there are plenty of opportunities to show your commitment to your word which will go a long way within your team.???

Conversely, it is easy to commit to things early on when meeting many people that you may not be able to deliver against long term, so make sure that where you are making these commitments you are keeping a note of them and that you are able to deliver against them.??

Intimacy?

How are you going to make sure people feel safe and secure in entrusting you with their views and information???

You need your team to feel comfortable being honest with you from the get-go about what has been working well in the finance function and what has not, making it important that you quickly instil in your team that they can trust they can be open you when things go wrong.?

Ensuring you are tailoring your communication style to work well with others, encouraging transparency, proactively listening, and looking for common ground in your conversations all encourage confidence in you.?

Self-orientation?

What are your personal motivations for your role and interaction with your function? Can people trust you based on this to have their best interests at heart??

Ensuring you are transparent in communicating openly how your decisions and actions are aligned to the business’s priorities will naturally minimise skepticism around financial decision-making, and foster better collaboration between teams.??

You’ll only be able to implement change effectively once you have the support and buy-in from your team, so try to build rapport early on.?

Regardless of your level and the team member you’re working with, trust is a two way street, and giving others the opportunity to demonstrate each of these areas as you do so yourself will not only support your finance function in feeling valued and respected, but will also accelerate how quickly you can get to know the team, and how much you can trust them.???

Building relationships is only one aspect of settling into a new CFO role – which is why teams across Grant Thornton came together, backed by first-hand insight from CFOs, to publish a ‘First 100 Days as a CFO’ guide to help you make the transition. You can download the guide here: Your First 100 Days as a CFO | Grant Thornton UK LLP?