Amid Uncertainty, Finance Leaders Must Have a Certain Mindset

As finance leaders strive to navigate uncertainty and excel in their strategic roles, they should embrace technology, prioritise foundational principles, and foster personal growth and collaboration.

Those are key insights from finance leaders from around the globe in the latest entry in our CFO Insight Series, Lead Through Business Uncertainty with Technology and Strategic Vision. The paper, like others in the series, is intended to help identify challenges as well as pathways for leaders to surmount them.

A key element of success for finance leaders is how they frame and accept adaptability, both for themselves and their teams. “As the pace of change continues to grow in speed and volume, we need to ensure the right tools, technology, and mindset are in place now to secure profitable business success in the future,” says Hagit Ynon, CFO of WalkMe.

The CFO’s Guide: Navigating Through Business Uncertainty

CFOs have reached a pivotal moment in their evolution. They have long been moving towards more forward-looking, strategic partnerships within their organizations. However, accelerating change and uncertainty have made these evolving skills ever more important; finance heads are now taking the lead on managing risk, maximizing strategic opportunities, and helping companies face the unexpected. Read more in the CFO Guide. 

Download the CFO Guide

Adapting But Keeping Attention on the Basics

Integrated, intelligent solutions have, of course, tremendously changed finance functions, improving efficiency, productivity, and spending transparency. Automation reduces the nuts-and-bolt work finance teams long did with budgets, invoices, and other areas. But it also empowers finance to scrutinise data better and provide the analysis that fuels better decisions and strategy. Managing cash flow, payables, and receivables while ensuring compliance and preventing fraud remain key duties. But those duties should be seen as part of an integrated and comprehensive approach that, when done well, makes finance teams a much more visible and powerful part of the company and culture.

“The evolution of the finance leader’s role demands their involvement in the entire spectrum of business lines – from product development to technology, HR, compliance, and treasury,” says Sinead Fitzmaurice, CEO of TransferMate Global Payments and CFO of Taxback.com.

Making Personal Development a Top Priority

Choosing technology and how it’s used puts a good deal of responsibility on finance leaders. There’s much to manage and to learn. It requires a good deal of resiliency, according to the CFOs sharing their views. This circles back to the tremendous value of mindset, of seeing change as a potential opportunity instead of a burden. A commitment to personal growth is a key part of building a finance culture that envisions going beyond working with numbers to embracing change and solving problems.

“Increasingly, technologies, such as process automation and AI, are used to execute transactional tasks, while people in other business areas make critical spending decisions,” says Benoit De Saeger, regional director and CFO at Terumo Corporation. “But this doesn’t mean that the finance function should feel threatened – instead, this moment should be viewed as an opportunity to redefine their roles and extend their skills as value creators and business partners.”

The Power of Working Together

With finance leaders now expected to gather insights and not just numbers, it’s essential that they build better working relationships with leaders and teams across the business.

How, for example, is new technology supposed to provide the desired dashboards and reports if finance and IT leaders don’t discuss in detail the intended outcomes and the solutions to provide them? Or how can the company achieve its recruiting and hiring strategy if finance and HR don’t work together on resource allocation? In both cases, the result will likely be less than ideal without collaboration.

“Sharing challenges, goals, and progress with the executive leadership team fosters engagement, empowerment, and alignment with organisational objectives,” Ynon says. “This openness not only boosts employee engagement but also enables a more comprehensive understanding of company goals.”

Deepen Your Insights

Explore other recent entries in the CFO series:

• CFO Insights: Why Finance Is Ready for a Breakout Transformation with Artificial Intelligence
• CFO Insights Report: Repositioning for Growth
• The Role of CFO: Risk Manager and Storyteller
• CFO Insights Video: The Benefits of Always-on Forecasting