Top 10 CFO Hacks for Elevating Leadership: Strategic Communication in Action

In the dynamic world of finance, effective communication is the bedrock of success. As CFOs navigate the complexities of organizational dynamics, Board interactions, and team collaborations, taking actionable steps in crafting a strategic communication plan becomes paramount. Join me as we explore concrete actions that will not only enhance your leadership prowess, but also establish you as a thought leader in the financial realm.

1. Design and Circulate a Stop, Start, Continue Survey and Continuous Feedback Loop

• Action: Initiate the survey to assess current perceptions of finance across the entire organization?
• Deliverables: Stop, Start, Continue Survey circulated, survey results collected and summarized into report, key actions assigned with owners and due dates incorporated into the finance strategic alignment document (See deliverable in section 3 below).
• Cadence: Annually.

2. Collaborate on Corporate Strategy with Senior Leadership

• Action: Collaborate with the senior leadership team to define mission, vision, strategic pillars, and key performance indicators (KPIs) for each strategic pillar. Recommend max of 5 strategic pillars.
• Deliverables: Clearly articulated corporate strategy with monthly progress report-outs by assigned corporate leaders for each KPI.
• Cadence: Annual setting of corporate strategic pillars and KPIs with monthly progress report outs on strategic execution.

3. Establish a Finance Team Mission, Vision, and KPIs linked to Corporate Strategy and Time Matrix

• Action: Develop a mission, a vision, strategic priorities, and KPIs for finance organization in particular. Tie each KPI to a corporate strategic pillar (See deliverable #2), finance strategic priority (See deliverable #3), and time matrix designation (See deliverable #4). Recommend max of 5 finance strategic priorities.
• Deliverables: A strategic pillars alignment document that outlines the finance mission, vision, strategic priorities, and KPIs. Each KPI is linked to a corporate strategic pillar, at least one finance priority, and time matrix and has an assigned owner accountable for report outs on progress.?
• Cadence: Document created annually to align to annual corporate strategy with monthly report outs on progress in strategy execution meetings and regular report out in finance strategic alignment meetings.

4. Create a Finance Time Matrix

• Action: Embrace a priority-driven approach to managing tasks. Create a Finance Time matrix to categorize tasks. Focus on the important quadrants, addressing tasks that require immediate attention (important urgent) and contribute significantly to your longer term goals (important not urgent). Identify the unimportant and remind your team that time spent on those is not valuable. Revisit weekly. For more info, check out FranklinCovey’s Time Matrix resources here.
• Deliverables: Finance Time Matrix documents for finance as a whole and each finance function with key finance tasks identified in each quadrant so everyone is clear on what is considered important-urgent, important non-urgent, not important-urgent, and not important-not urgent.
• Cadence: Quarterly review and adjustment.

5. Create a Finance Change Agent Template and Conduct Change Agent Reviews

• Action: Have CFO’s direct reports develop a comprehensive template showcasing their department overview, strategic drivers, key strategic partners, performance gaps, solution strategies, current and future organization charts, and finance department KPIs tied to corporate pillars, finance priorities, and finance time matrix. Host quarterly meetings to discuss change strategies, gauge organizational needs, and approve open requisitions.
• Deliverables: Change agent templates on shared collaboration space, quarterly change agent meeting minutes documented, and approved open requisitions.
• Cadence: Quarterly

6. Lead Senior Finance Leadership Team Strategic Alignment Meetings

• Action: CFO's direct reports present weekly progress updates to the senior finance leadership team in strategic alignment meetings
• Deliverables: PowerPoint template and meeting showcasing weekly progress for each finance priority (limit to no more than 5) and report out each week on an up to 5-week rolling basis.
• Cadence: Weekly?

7. Create a Monthly CFO Newsletter for the Organization

• Action: Design a monthly CFO newsletter reporting key financial performance, strategy updates, organizational developments, progress, and key learnings for each finance function.
• Deliverables: Monthly email distributed to all employees, saved on a centralized site for anytime reference.
• Cadence: Monthly.

8. Develop a Quarterly Finance Newsletter for the Board

• Action: Curate a quarterly newsletter for the Board, providing updates on financial results and forecasts, progress, and organizational developments. Consider bilingual if the Board is made up of individuals that primarily speak a language other than English.
• Deliverables: An email with accompanying PDFs with financial and organizational highlights (provide pictures of key events).
• Cadence: Quarterly.

9. Design a Meet the Finance Leadership Team Brochure

• Action: Develop a document showcasing senior finance leadership, including photos and bios. Canva has many free and cool templates to choose from here.
• Deliverables: Meet the Team pdf document for sharing on the intranet, with new finance team members (See deliverable #10), and at career fairs to attract new talent.
• Cadence: Updated as needed with leadership changes.

10. Create a Welcome to the Finance Team Deck

• Action: Develop a welcome deck including an introduction to the senior finance leadership team, corporate history, structure, a financial overview, FY corporate strategy and pillars, FY finance priorities tied to corporate goals and time matrix priority, the latest finance time matrix, links to intranet sites, team collaboration sites, key training, and standard operating procedures.
• Deliverables: Welcome to the Finance Team PowerPoint presentation stored on finance shared collaboration site and presented to new employees monthly or as newcomers join.
• Cadence: Updated monthly with each member of the CFO leadership team responsible for delivering training to new finance hires on a rolling basis.

In conclusion, I'm sharing these practical communication hacks that I’ve personally employed as a CFO with a steadfast commitment to driving results. My core purpose in sharing is to equip fellow financial leaders with actionable strategies that translate into tangible outcomes.

These hacks are not just theoretical concepts; they are pragmatic tools rooted in discipline, aimed at optimizing communication for operational efficiency and strategic impact.

By embracing these practices, my goal is to assist CFOs and other financial leaders in navigating the complexities of financial management with practical, hands-on solutions. It's about delivering measurable results, fostering a culture of efficiency, and ultimately contributing to the bottom line of organizational success. Do that and you will witness your influence as a CFO and finance organization as a whole soar to new heights. Let's turn these CFO hacks into a collective legacy of leadership excellence.

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