How Finance Leaders Can Create A High-Performing Finance Function

This article is co-written by Talita Ferreira and Anders Liu-Lindberg

Click "subscribe" to receive notifications when future articles get published 

The two-decade-long finance transformation that we’ve been running has been with the aim of increasing company performance. In the negative story, we’ve done this by minimizing the cost of Finance and by chasing efficiencies at every step of the way. The positive story speaks about freeing up time for work that really matters which can re-engage the function and super-charge value creation in the company.

Mostly until now, we’ve only seen the negative effects. The cost of Finance has indeed been minimized and fewer people now work in the function (or at least they’re not employed at the locations they used to be). We’ve struggled to deliver on the positive story. How to break the tie? How can we create a truly high-performing finance function?

Over the past weeks, we’ve been discussing that it’s the leadership of the function that needs transformation to make this happen. We discussed the self-awareness of the leader, how culture (and the need to change it) is a significant driver of transformational success, and how leaders must re-engage their teams to make them excited about the future. Do all of these well, and you’re on the verge of creating a high-performing finance function. 

The team dynamics of the transformed finance function 

The first thing to realize is that Finance equals a Team of individuals that all desire to be engaged and motivated and because of the difference in individual styles; this means the finance leader needs to use different approaches. Secondly, the dynamics of the finance team are very important. Do people trust each other enough to voice their real opinions, do they even feel like a team and act like a team supporting each other, is there enough psychological safety to ensure high performance? Often the solution when this is not the case, is to have a team building day, do some exercises and everything seems fine for a while.

However, high performing team dynamics require consistent effort and a willingness to do things differently. It is consistently thinking about how to get the team to collaborate, as a team, and to think differently or more creatively to solve problems together. Creating a common language in Finance could be the first step towards collaboration and increased team dynamics, for instance using the book ‘Strengthfinder 2.0’ by Tom Rath to follow a strengths-based approach to identify and leverage each individual's strengths.

Another step could be to understand each other’s individual values and how these show up in daily behaviors at work. Integrating this into the day to day language and interactions of the team will start to shift the dynamics and allow for a higher level of trust to unfold. The focus changes to consistent use of activities and mechanisms to increase the positive dynamic within the finance team and to foster higher levels of collaboration.

We know one of the excuses will be we are already so time poor, this will be very difficult. Perversely from our experience, the more time invested in team dynamics means that the challenges in motivation, misunderstandings and people issues reduce and solving complex issues or delivering on larger projects becomes easier. In short, team effectiveness increases and your time investment pays off big time! 

The Finance Leader as an integral role player within the transformed team 

So often we work extremely hard to progress within Finance, and when we are in a position of leadership, a distance starts to form towards the team. This is natural as the leader takes the ultimate responsibility. But the leader should not always have all the answers. Better, more creative, innovative solutions are found when brainstorming with the team. Creating the conditions where the finance leader plays an equal role as a team member and acts as one with the team (in certain situations); brainstorming, learning, creating and adapting together — elevating back to leading and inspiring the team and taking overall responsibility for the finance function. Often this feels counterintuitive as we have been elevated to the position of leader. However, being able to simultaneously shift between the different roles improves the dynamic and fosters greater trust. 

Setting the tone for future Finance meetings 

Team activities are not something that should be left for an away day when we have time. We can just as easily change our mindset towards regular meetings in Finance to create the breakthroughs we need in team dynamics and collaboration. This means that we should prioritize the interactions and collaboration in Finance to the same level of the most challenging forecasts or budgets that we need to complete. We can dedicate a portion of our normal, regular finance meetings to topics that will foster collaboration. These are a few examples of activities that can be integrated into regular team meetings: 

• Individual and collective strengths
• Brainstorming a particular challenge together (either an individual or team challenge)
• Discussing a recent challenge or topic and what went very well and/or not so well
• Creating team charters around specific challenges, e.g. business partnering, increased creativity and agility, working differently
• Team values exercise
• Culture and behaviours in the team and how these need to change for the future
• Team purpose 

Effectively we are setting a new tone for team meetings and prioritizing team dynamics for success. Finance meetings are not only used for discussing targets, challenges and workload but also used equally to engage and foster greater team dynamics and collaboration. 

The new way to lead the finance function “in a nutshell” 

Leaders in Finance must become more conscious (self-aware) and connected to their teams. They need to prioritize the culture, habits and beliefs that will drive change and become role models for the behaviors that exemplify true business partners. Leaders must invest time with their teams, create a compelling purpose to engage, inspire and drive value creation, set a new tone for team meetings and prioritize team dynamics for success. This might seem to be a huge challenge but is not if we prioritize small incremental steps daily and move in the right direction to ensure a huge impact over time. 

Why don’t you start tomorrow by deciding to lead differently? Invest in your own growth and development (self-awareness) and the development of your team, commit to understanding the current culture in Finance and where you would like it to be, focus on re-engaging your finance team with purpose and changing the format of regular finance meetings to increase collaboration and trust. Are you ready to truly transform finance and create greater value?

This was the seventh and final article in the series about leadership transformation in the finance function. We hope you have enjoyed and found new insights that you can action right away to become a better leader and create a high performing finance function. You can read previous and other articles below.

A History Of Finance Transformation. Are We There Yet?

Why We Must Change The Way We Lead The Finance Function

Here's How Finance Leaders Must Lead In The Future

All Leadership Starts With Self-Awareness, Even In Finance

Leader, Did You Notice The Culture Changing In Finance?

A New Way For Finance Leaders To Engage With Their Teams

You can read a lot more articles about FP&A, Business Partnering, and Finance Transformation below. It all start's with “Introducing The Finance Transformation Nine Box” where you set the ambition for your transformation. You should join the Finance Business Partner Forum which is part of the Business Partnering Institute's online community where we will continue to discuss this topic and you can click here to follow me on Twitter.

How To Create Value Through Business Partnering

Everyone Can Adopt A Business Partnering Mindset (part of a six-article series about FP&A Business Partnering)

From Business Partner To Working Within The Business (part of an article series where I interview finance professionals about their careers in FP&A and Business Partnering)

Is Your Product Optimized For Value Creation? (part of a toolbox series where we look at what tools FP&A professionals should leverage to drive value creation)

How Business Partners Turn Analysis To Insight (part of case study series where I interview business partners about how they drive value creation using real cases)

The Future Of FP&A: Two Ways To Take The Reins

What Is The Accounting Profession Paradox?

What Defines A Finance Master?

The New Career Path For Finance Professionals

How Finance People Can Be More Successful

The CFOs Roadmap To Transforming Finance

How To Become A Finance Business Partner

Financial Analyst vs. Finance Business Partner

You’re A Finance Business Partner, Now What?

Building A Team Of Finance Business Partners

Anders Liu-Lindberg is a Senior Finance Business Partner at Maersk supporting our largest product and I have more than 10 years of experience working with Finance at Maersk both in Denmark and abroad. I am also the co-founder of the Business Partnering Institute and owner of the largest group dedicated to Finance Business Partnering on LinkedIn with more than 7,000 members. My main goal at Maersk is to show how to be successful with business partnering and drive value creation as a trusted partner. I am the co-author of the book “Create Value as a Finance Business Partner” and a long-time Finance Blogger with 33.000+ followers.