The CFO’s Secret to Unlocking Innovation 🤫

Stuck in a forecast cycle of meeting never-ending deadlines? When you’re too busy to slow down and look at the bigger picture, you can miss innovation opportunities that can supercharge your efficiency. 

Don’t get stuck pushing a cart with square wheels uphill… There is a delicate balance between innovation and delivering continuous outcomes. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to mean stressing your team out.

Start with understanding the root of the problem

One of the biggest bottlenecks in finance—people pleasing. We all want to make our teammates happy. Sometimes this can mean over-extending our personal resources like time, attention and focus. 

But the truth is, after delivering on day-to-day responsibilities, we’re limited in our ability to take on new, innovative projects and system improvements. 

Once finance professionals can take a step back and realize not every project can be a priority, we can focus on making incremental improvements one step at a time without losing too much momentum. 

Hosts Tom Seegmiller, VP of FP&A, and Melissa Howatson, CFO of Vena Solutions share their top tips for achieving innovation (without sacrificing quality or deadlines). 

Maniacal prioritization: 

It’s your responsibility as a leader to carve out time for your team to work on projects that drive the organization forward. Too many projects in the mix make for slow (or nonexistent) progress—or worse—leave your team spinning their wheels, frustrated and burnt out.

When presented with projects and ideas, learn to say “yes, and,” and define the prioritization of the project. This creates clarity and level-sets expectations.

Aim for 80/20:

It may seem obvious, but for your team to make progress on any new projects or improvements, they need time.

Ideally, your team will be busy 70-80% of the time, leaving 20-30% of their time open to work on innovative projects and incremental improvements. 

Celebrate the small wins:

In business, progress often isn’t monumental. Rather, small steps toward optimization and improvement pave the road to the future of finance. 

Set benchmarks and make sure to celebrate the small wins—this helps build a positive culture of progress where team members feel like they’re winning.

Encourage clear, safe communication:

Why do you use the systems you have now? Are the steps you created still important for your team today? How can they evolve as your people and company do?

Without an environment where your team feels comfortable and confident questioning processes and decisions, progress cannot be made. Your culture feeds progress—make sure to give it proper attention.

Create predictable, cyclic sprints:

Work philosophies sometimes apply to finance differently than other departments. Agile, Kaizen, Kanban, Continuous delivery—they can all be applied, they just look a little different.

Leverage the seasonality in Finance to help you master these principles. Consider designating a week for major progress. Perhaps the first and last week of your month is used for closing and the second is for forecasting and reporting. 

Set aside that third week for progress. 

With the proper steps in place, you can plan, prioritize and execute the strategies needed to drive your business (and your career) forward without sacrificing efficiency, deadlines or quality. Sometimes it takes a slight pause to elevate productivity, ultimately multiplying the ROI of your time, attention and resources in the long run. We tell you how—tune into The CFO Show today.

In case you missed it…

From TikTok to team meetings—Gen Z has officially started filling company ranks around the world… and by 2030 they are expected to make up 30% of the workforce. But what’s worked for attracting and retaining previous generations doesn’t work for Gen Z.

Janine Moir, National Digital Assurance Leader and A&A Innovation Leader at Deloitte shared everything you need to know about building (and keeping) today’s new talent. 

What’s next…

Today more than ever, digital transformation is paramount for businesses to stay on top of the game, sparking an evolution in the role of the CTO. We’ll share key takeaways for organizations seeking to foster a more impactful relationship between their CFO and CTO to drive business outcomes.

We share everything you need to catalyze your career and revolutionize your business. To hear the best advice from today’s finance visionaries, tune into The CFO Show today.