Onboarding - Samuel's CFO Website

October 19, 2011 By Samuel Dergel 11 Comments

The First 90 Days of a New CFO

Contrary to the way many people in the recruitment industry work, the successful placement of a CFO does not stop once an offer of employment is accepted by the new CFO.

Actually, this is one of the most critical stages in the successful hire of a new CFO – Transition.

If you look at the timeline for any well planned project, one project stage does not begin at the point in time that another ends.

For a New CFO, Transition begins…

before you start on the 1st day.
before you sign your offer letter.

Transition begins when you are interviewing.

You need to know what you’re getting yourself into. The more you can learn about the company during the interview process, before you sign your offer and before you start, the better off you will be as you transition into your new CFO role in the first 90 days.

As part of our complete CFO Search service, we provide the new CFO with our Accelerated Transition Program. This program coaches the CFO to get them up and running smoothly and quickly. (We also deliver our Accelerated Transition Program to CFOs who were not placed by us).

The ‘bible’ for successful transitions is “The First 90 Days – Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels” by Michael Watkins. Published in 2003, this book is the guide that we use in all our New CFO Transitions. Watkins clearly describes the process to ensure the success of a new leader, including the CFO. Our CFOs appreciate the coaching we provide in conjunction with this important handbook.

I do not want to summarize the content of the book here as I really could not do it justice. However, here are some additional recommendations that CFOs should consider as they embark on their new CFO position.

1) The numbers. A New CFO should really understand the numbers before walking in on Day 1. You should have reviewed the Financial Statements of the company for the last 5 years, including the MD&A (if publicly listed). You should review the current budgets or forecasts and the business plan going forward. You should not be learning this information when you’re at your desk – there will be too much to do once you’re there.

2) Relationships within the company. Yes. I harp on relationships. That is because they are the most important factor for your success with your new employer. I can’t stress this enough. Know your CEO, Board, your fellow VPs and your team. I urge you to follow the guidance in “The First 90 Days” on how to make the most out of these relationships. Remember, you may be the numbers guy or gal, but you will only be able to accomplish and become a Successful CFO by working with and for the people at your new employer.

3) External Relationships. Bankers, Lawyers, Auditors, and of course Investors. You are the CFO. You represent the financial face of the company. They may not have hired you, but they will have to deal with you. Don’t forget, you need them to trust you.

4) Understand the business. You need to really and truly understand the inputs, process and outputs of the company. You need to be able to internalize why people buy your product or service and understand the company’s value proposition. The role of Finance is to support the business. You can only support it if you truly understand it.

5) Smile. It’s simple. No one likes a sourpuss.

September 7, 2011 By Samuel Dergel 6 Comments

CEO and Investors: Are you ready for your First CFO?

Companies in growth mode face great challenges. One of the biggest challenges a growing company faces is bringing in their first Real CFO.

In a previous post we reviewed an article written by Emily Chasen in the WSJ CFO Journal about how More Companies are Ready for their First CFO.

A growing company built on entrepreneurial spirit can only continue to grow so far on that spirit alone. At a critical juncture in the life of a growing business, it needs to make a transition from decisions made by the entrepreneur alone to a dynamic team that works on a business model of delegation of responsibility and co-operation between interests within the company.

This is an inflection point for many successful growth companies — when a CFO is recruited because the management disciplines that grew the enterprise to its current state will not be enough to take it to the next level.

Intellectually, the CEO and other key managers may know things need to change. But that doesn’t mean they’ll be comfortable with a CFO who asks tougher questions, instills new disciplines or has a fiduciary responsibility to the investors as well as a loyalty to the management team.

So, what is the answer? How do you strengthen CFO readiness when the next level of success takes people out of their comfort zones? Courage.

That’s why we developed our CFO Readiness Program in conjunction with Dr. Merom Klein & Dr. Louise Klein, leaders of the Courage Institute.

The Courage Institute wrote the book on The Courage to Act — about 5 Courage Factors that equip effective leaders to challenge the status quo, champion new possibilities and get traction on breakthrough ideas and improvements. This is the foundation of the CFO Readiness Program.

The CFO Readiness Program is an assessment, feedback and action planning program that works to equip the entire executive team to:

Strengthen and align your veteran executives — so they have the courage to welcome new thought-leadership and collaboration
Clarify your wish-list of expectations and priorities for the new CFO
Prepare for healthy debates and challenges to “the way we have done things here” as the new CFO identifies new opportunities
Equip the new CFO to conduct an independent assessment of your enterprise’s infrastructure, financial well-being and resources
Ensure career paths and mentoring opportunities for the finance executives who brought the enterprise to its current level
Identify fears, sensitivities and bridge-building that the new CFO could face — and ways to build courage to lift performance
Lift courage to embrace and accelerate change to get traction on new metrics, new ways of working and new ways to ensure regulatory compliance and good investor/board relations
Identify debates, deferred decisions and risk factors that the new CFO will face — and the input desired from the new CFO
See how to move past rivalries, turf-issues, personality clashes and other fear-inducing courage inhibitors that can reduce luminary efficiency at the executive and middle management levels
Invite scrutiny and transparency to sharpen up team thinking
Navigate matrix structures, networks and alliances — where it is not clear “who is in charge” or “who settles which debates”
Overcome fear and reluctance — as veteran members of the executive team are asked for courage to share decision-making discretion and authority with a new CFO

To receive a copy of our brochure and find out more about how our CFO Readiness Program can help your company, please complete this form:

[contact-form subject=”CFO Readiness Program” to=”[email protected]”] [contact-field label=”Name” type=”name” required=”true” /] [contact-field label=”Email” type=”email” required=”true” /] [contact-field label=”Position” type=”text” required=”true” /] [contact-field label=”Company” type=”text” required=”true” /] [contact-field label=”City” type=”text” required=”true” /] [contact-field label=”State / Province” type=”text” /] [contact-field label=”Country” type=”text” required=”true” /] [contact-field label=”Phone Number” type=”text” required=”true” /] [/contact-form]

August 22, 2011 By Samuel Dergel 6 Comments

You’ve been promoted to CFO. Now what?

You’ve been in a senior financial role with the company for a while, and have been aiming for the CFO chair. One day, you get the call from the CEO (or the Chairman) and they offer you the CFO job.

Congratulations! You’ve been promoted to CFO. You have a new office, a new title, new business cards, and a better compensation package.

Except…

… You’re not exactly sure what to do as CFO.

Based on speaking with new CFOs in the same situation as you, you are not alone. When I speak with them and ask them if their job has changed since their promotion, they usually answer “Not really…”

As CFO, you should not be doing the same job you were doing before.

So now that you’ve been promoted to CFO, what can you do to ensure you become the best CFO you can be for your company?

1) Prepare a Plan

Your success as CFO depends on you having a plan for success. This requires that you be aware of the expectations the CEO and Board has from you, and putting in a plan to ensure you can deliver, and have a Strong Finance Team you support you in your goal to become a Successful CFO.

I recommend that this plan be completed within the first 100 days of your new tenure as CFO.

2) Get a Coach

If you ask your CEO, there is a good chance he or she has a Coach. It gets lonely at the top (see Lonely CFO). Being an Effective CFO requires someone that you can talk to that can guide you to make the right decisions and keep to your Plan.

Your success as CFO depends on your ability to deliver. Take responsibility for your new role. Make sure you have a Plan for your success, and have a Coach that ensure you keep to your Plan.

August 16, 2011 By Samuel Dergel 9 Comments

Dear CEO & Board: You can’t afford to hire the wrong CFO.

Hiring the wrong CFO can be detrimental to your business.

Costs of hiring the wrong CFO include:

Risk to your company reputation.
A weak CFO will not help your company with what it needs.
Not being able to get the most out of your CFO as soon as possible.
Opportunity cost – the wrong CFO misses the opportunities to add value to the company.

Yet, many companies fear doing a proper search because

Cost of a CFO Search.
Effort and time required to do a CFO Search properly.
Cost.

As CEO or Board Member, you may think that you know people (that know people) that know CFOs. And you ask yourself “How hard can it be?”

Let’s face it. The cost of hiring the wrong CFO is way more than the fees you will pay for a proper CFO Search.

Well. Have you ever hired the wrong CFO? Wonder why they were wrong for you? The CFO was not right for your company because you didn’t do a proper CFO Search.

Now, there are options to how to do a proper CFO Search. You can work with me, work with any good executive search firm, or even manage the process internally.

However, you must have the following elements in your CFO Search.

Assessment: You need to assess what your company really needs from the CFO, both today, and in the future. You need to assess whether your leadership is really ready for a good CFO that will add value and be a leader in the business. You need to assess what skills, knowledge and abilities your new CFO will have to have to be successful in your environment. If your last CFO failed, ask yourself if you did a proper assessment first before hiring him or her.

Search: “Who you know” will not cut it. You need to do a proper search for CFO caliber people that can meet the needs you’ve assessed. If you don’t do a proper search, you will not end up with the best possible CFO for your business.

Onboarding: For a new CFO to be successful, it is important to invest in ensuring that the CFO has what they need to be successful. Onboarding allows your new CFO to acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and behaviors to become most effective for your organization.

If you’re ready for your next CFO, do yourself and your company a favor. Hire the right CFO this time.

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