CFO Leadership

Updating your colleagues on the latest financial information only matters so far that they understand the numbers. While this comes second nature to financial professionals, your organization's leadership team and entry-level professionals will not have the same background as you. The end goal of any presentation, after all, is to provide data-based conclusions. You can tailor any presentation to any audience. Incorporate the suggestions outlined in this blog to provide actionable next steps, highlight growth, identify potential areas for improvement and illustrate current successes.  By taking a strategic approach to your presentations, you can ensure that non-financial executives understand the data and message behind the numbers. Key Takeaways: People learn in different ways. While a spreadsheet or hard data may appeal to your finance team, learn to communicate visually or graphically as well. Present financial data in charts, slide shows, handouts or any other method you see fit.  Meet your audience where it is. In a mixed setting, you may have different versions of your presentation tailored to those with more or less financial acumen. You can create a handout or appendix to your presentation that meets the needs of each group. Consider developing internal continuing education programs for teaching company employees at all levels how to understand and work with financial information. This establishes trust among your team. Helping Non-Financial Executives Understand the Data As a CFO or financial team leader, you bring value to your organization in various ways.  Of course, you understand the company's financial planning, cash flow issues and asset portfolio—but your executive leadership team and other co-workers depend on your ability to explain this information in a manner they can understand. Source: Enterslice Adopting the following strategies will help make your information more digestible. 1. Know Your Audience An executive leadership team brings on a CFO to manage the company's financial duties. This also includes communicating financial information to non-financial executives so they can comprehend and act on that information.  This comes down to knowing your audience.  Before your presentation, consider who will be present. Is it a senior-level discussion related to business planning?  Will mid or entry-level staff be in attendance?  Which business units or departments need to understand the information you're presenting?  Answer each of these questions while drafting your presentation. Experiment with providing different versions of the presentation as well. For example, in an audience of mixed company, consider one handout for business units with financial knowledge and a different one for those who need to understand the key takeaways, but not the granular details.  You should also meet your audience where they're at in terms of their learning level. Recognize that all executives don't possess the necessary understanding of your team's financial information and data.  Also, account for your teammates' past experiences. Business units that don't typically deal with quantitative data may find the presentation of hard numbers overwhelming. The more you can empathize with your non-financial co-workers, the more you can equip them with the data necessary to meet your financial goals.  Empathizing with your team can help overcome any potential obstacles or tensions. 2. Tell a Story Besides empathizing with your teammates, you can build trust and buy-in by telling a story. Source: Gramener To tell a story, consider the audience. How are they best going to absorb the information you're providing? Different people learn in different ways. By varying your presentation style, you reach more of your audience and hold their interest.  You want to begin by giving a moral—don't just provide fast data as a string of numbers. Instead, explain the big takeaway you want your colleagues to leave with from your presentation. Then, provide an analysis to back up the moral. While complex financial information presented in a one-page summary may help, it doesn't necessarily mean your audience will understand the data. Try organizing your key facts and figures into an infographic or table. No matter the infographic you create, all data visualizations should combine data, design and function. Source: Orbit Media Now add context. For example, if you want to highlight the need for larger sales margins, use a successful colleague as an example. Walk through their key metrics to demonstrate how other colleagues can reach their goals. Join the Community Connect with your peers in the Plan To Grow™ member forum and bring your shared passion for finance planning and operations. Learn best practices, lend your expertise and get your questions answered. 3. Be Concise You and your financial team likely spent days or weeks obsessing over the precise numbers and financial details to prepare for the presentation. This makes it difficult to consolidate information into bite-sized chunks—particularly when every piece of information tells your team a different story.  Just as you must know your audience, you must understand their ability to understand complex figures. You'll need to defend your financial data while summarizing the key points.  Depending on your management style or that of your executive team, be prepared to defend your data. Prevent errors in the presentation and the underlying figures. Make the data directly available for users and leadership. 4. Keep It Relevant Nobody likes an unnecessary meeting.  Your audience needs to know what they did well and how they can improve. For example, immediately explain which targets the company hit and which it missed. Relate your presentation back to the executive leaders or other non-financial team members in the room.  You can keep your audience interested by tailoring takeaways for the whole group and individual business units. Shaping a Compelling Narrative With Your Data Is an Important Skill for Finance Leaders To Master Consolidating your financials and reporting the numbers is one thing, but shaping a powerful narrative to drive informed decision-making across the business is another. Strategic finance leaders don't just deliver the "what," but also the "why" behind every number and every business plan. That's exactly what data storytelling is all about and it's an essential skill every finance leader should master. The ability to convey actionable insights and help key stakeholders from across the business make important decisions based on financial data is a skill that strategic finance professionals at every level can benefit from to enhance their personal, professional and business understanding and growth. Take Your Financial Communication Skills to the Next Level Whether communication comes naturally to you or not, it's a critical skill in the new world of finance. Don't miss the CFO Confidential session—The Art of Impactful Communication, now available free and on demand on Plan To Grow—for tips on how financial professionals can "level up" their communication game.

Data-driven finance is becoming an essential function of CFOs and other business leaders who must leverage the power of technology to enhance company insights and strategy. However, knowing how to use and customize your FP&A solutions and other analytic tools will depend on your company's goals. As a result, figuring out where to start can be the biggest challenge for many. Thankfully we have several pioneers across multiple disciplines from whom we can draw inspiration. Read on to learn how seven business professionals are leading the charge on data-driven finance to help power organizational growth. Key Takeaways: CFOs and finance professionals increasingly see the value in using operational and other business data to provide the necessary context to financial data. Part of data-driven finance is focusing on the metrics that provide the greatest business insights and result in the greatest amount of financial growth. Using FP&A software that leverages automation, data integration and other technology, data-driven finance allows business professionals to proactively make decisions using current data instead of reacting based on data from months (or even years) prior. 1. John McLean: Current Health As the CFO of Current Health, John McLean understands that other metrics available in today's business environment greatly influence a company's financial state. Current Health is a healthcare company with the goal of delivering patient care to people when they are away from the doctor's office. John pays special attention to data on customer satisfaction with respect to their wearable devices because he knows the cost of acquiring business. This means he monitors customer use and adherence to their products. He believes that a strong focus on customer experience and satisfaction takes precedence over sales and growth numbers. 2. David Horan: NextGear Capital In the automotive industry, raw data can be overwhelming to consume and use for decision-making because of the many points of the business—including vehicle purchase, maintenance, repairs, warranty programs and more. David Horan is the VP of Finance for NextGear Capital and focuses on strategic planning. He uses an internal-risk scoring algorithm and data visualization dashboards to streamline data for addressing core needs such as determining price points, accurately predicting business risks and finding opportunities in the wholesale automotive marketplace. 3. Kevin Ingram: FM Global Kevin Ingram is the CFO of FM Global, a commercial property insurance company. Like most companies, profit is a top priority and indicator of success. However, Kevin realizes that the measure of profit requires a nuanced data approach. The company relies on the combined ratio metric to account for overall profitability by factoring insured loss costs and expenses with the company's earned premium. They review this metric monthly and on three to five-year time horizons. Source: PwC FREE Executive Dashboard Template for Excel View all of your Financial, Operational, People and Customer KPIs with this free best-practice Excel template. 4. John Collins: LivePerson After an extensive career as a data scientist, in 2020, John Collins became the Finance Chief of LivePerson, a brand-to-consumer messaging company. The company supports businesses by helping them measure the impact of their brand and manage customer signals as they happen. In the short term, John's focus has been on addressing data connection issues that can offload, extract, transform and load (ETL) tasks for his finance team—most of which automate the reconciliation of accounts for things such as cash flow reporting. His long-term mission for the company's system layer, however, is to expand the reach of its data. His hope is for people, regardless of skill sets, to be able to explore financial or other data of interest in a conversational way. In other words, they don't need to be data scientists to obtain and understand key business information. 5. Ilan Cohen: The Digital CFO As a self-described digital CFO, Ilan Cohen has led several different data projects in various applications. For example, he leveraged the access to data from open banking to develop a product that would help lending companies predict a loan applicant's likelihood of funding based on creditworthiness. This data-based approach resulted in a 300% increase in funded loans. Additionally, Ilan used other data frameworks to help a company intervene in customer relationships to improve retention rates, noting the value of keeping existing customers over finding new ones. Source: EBizCharge 6. Edwin Ang: Foodpanda Senior Financial Controller Edwin Ang for Foodpanda, a food delivery company, has seen its dashboard—which provides several data points for addressing profit and loss—as one of the company's greatest internal achievements. The dashboard's real-time data provides insight into the effectiveness of user incentives, pricing, new customer reach and other metrics. The immediacy of the data allows the company to proactively make decisions instead of waiting for the month to close and relying on old data. 7. Ben Goodband: London Stock Exchange Group Interim CFO for Data and Analytics Ben Goodband at the London Stock Exchange Group uses cloud-based software and machine learning predictive analytics to increase the accuracy of forecasts on sales data. Ben noted the adoption transition for this new technology system was challenging because of old processes but said the key was collaboration among team members in traditionally siloed aspects of the company—such as finance and data science. What’s more, Ben believes the CFO is a necessary bridge between these groups, thanks to their ability to frame and contextualize questions around company strategy. Data-Driven Finance Solutions Transform how your company accumulates and shares data to jumpstart innovation across your company's products and operations.

There’s nothing positive to say about a recession, right?  We certainly wouldn’t be the ones to say there is. But with a possible recession coming around the corner, it’s not all doom and gloom either. Many businesses that started during a recession have thrived (Airbnb and Uber, to name a couple). And with the right strategy, your business can do more than just weather the storm too. You can come out ahead.  But in some cases, your first instincts on how to do that may not be the right ones.  Case in point: when the market declines, many businesses decide that cutting back on marketing is one of the best cost-saving measures at their disposal. But since marketing contributes heavily to your business growth, the wrong cuts can leave your business hurting—unable to bounce back quickly once the recession ends.  So how can you deploy your marketing budget strategically to get the most return from your recession spending? The History of Recession-Era Marketing The first thing you need to know: continuing to invest in marketing and promotion during a recession can have positive effects on your business. And you don’t have to take our word for it—just take a look back at history. During the Depression of 1920 to 1921, researchers Roland Vaile and Reavis Cox found that companies that increased their ad budgets drove more sales than their competitors—both during the crisis and after. And during the 1981 to 1982 recession, the McGraw-Hill Research Laboratory of Advertising Performance found that B2B businesses that kept investing in marketing had “significantly higher sales growth” both during the recession and for three years after. Source: Marketing Tactics And in a lot of ways, that makes sense. After all, spending doesn’t stop entirely during a recession—and your potential customers need a way to know you’re still thriving if they do have dollars to spend. And when a recession is over, the market often responds with a period of growth. To bounce back quickly and to take advantage, you want to be ready when it comes. If you’ve clearcutted your marketing budget, you won’t be. So what should you be doing (and not be doing) as a recession looms? How can you make the necessary cuts while ensuring you have the marketing resources to maintain a growth position? 5 Do’s and Don’ts to Drive Your Marketing Budget Funds are tight during a recession, so deploy your marketing budget strategically. And that means understanding your audience, the market and your place in it. Here are a few do’s and don’ts to get you started: 1. Do Understand Your Competition By “understanding your competition” we mean not just knowing who they are—but analyzing how they’re responding to the recession themselves. Are they slowing down on advertising, slashing their marketing budget or cutting key talent? Have the slashes they’ve made inadvertently reduced their share of voice (SOV), made them less agile or reduced customer awareness of their products or services? Those are all things you can use to your advantage as you make your own plans. Maybe it means hiring top talent that they’ve cut from their marketing team. Or it's upping your own advertising efforts to fill that gap in customer awareness to keep your product or service top of mind. Whatever the case, you’ll put yourself in a stronger position both during and after the recession—all while your competitors are floundering to win back lost ground. 2. Do Recognize Your Customers’ Needs Customers aren’t going to act in one homogenous way during a recession. And depending on the product or service you offer and the audience to whom you market, your customers might not respond in the same way as the customers of another company altogether. They may not even respond the same way they did during the last recession.  Keeping track of your most current customer and sales data, then, will help you better understand who your current audience is to anticipate where to spend your dollars when marketing in a recession. FREE Marketing Budget Template for Excel Track current and projected spend for your departments and ad platforms so you can plan with confidence with this free best-practice Excel template. 3. Do Invest in Brand Awareness Investing in building brand awareness during a recession might seem counterproductive. After all, what’s the use of getting your name out there when your customers are tightening their purse strings too? But keeping your profile up by marketing in a recession will keep you top of mind. That way, when a potential customer is ready to make an investment—whether it’s now or once the recession is done—you’ll be the business they think of first. Knowing you’ve stayed strong during a crisis will also give them confidence that you have what it takes to go the distance. 4. Don’t Be Afraid to Launch a New Product Sometimes, if you have a particularly innovative idea or one that fills a need, launching a new product or service during a recession—and investing in the marketing you need to get the word out—can be a good thing. For proof, just consider Twinkies, Scotch Tape and Kraft Miracle Whip—all first released during the Great Depression.  What did these products have in common? They all filled a specific need: a cheap sweet treat, a quick fix that let things last a little longer and a cost-effective alternative to mayonnaise. But none of that mattered without a marketing budget to get the word out. Miracle Whip, for one, was launched with an extensive marketing and advertising campaign, showing again the power of recession-era marketing on building awareness that lasts long after the recession is over.  5. Don’t Get Into a Technology Rut We get it. With a possible recession looming, your instinct is to batten down the hatches. To make do with what you already have. And that’s likely true in the case of your tech stack as well. But spending on technology can add efficiencies to your marketing efforts, get you more visibility into your return on investment and help you improve the processes you already have in place.  In other words, continuing with your digital transformation efforts and adding to the toolsets you already have will empower your team to make smarter cuts and improved investments, while getting more from the money you spend. All of which will help you not just during a recession—but for years and years to come. Marketing in a Recession: Looking Past the Short Term While a recession and all that comes with it can be a stress on all types of business, if you want to come out ahead you can’t be short-sighted. Staying aware of current market changes is imperative, but so is keeping an eye on the future and not letting go of your growth goals. By remaining proactive and agile, you’ll be ready not just for anything the market crisis throws at you, but you'll be prepared for when the recession ends as well. But for that to happen, you can’t neglect your marketing budget.  Instead, you need to look for new growth opportunities and continue investing in marketing in response. You’ll be in a better position if you do. FREE Marketing Dashboard Template for Excel View a high level summary of your sourced and influenced ARR, see a breakdown of your spend by quarter and track the performance of your lead funnel with this free best-practice Excel template.  

You need to come to an agreement on a business deal. Lead your team through an acquisition or merger. Maybe you want to get your leadership team or department heads to sign off on new strategic goals or a fresh budget. Or one of the team members you lead is requesting a pay raise. Whatever your current scenario, it’s clear you need strong negotiation skills to see it through. That’s not surprising. Today, negotiation is almost as much a part of finance as are proficiency with numbers or strong analytical skills. And as finance takes on more of the role of strategic business partner, those negotiation skills are becoming even more valuable. It’ll often be up to you to build a foundation of support among your business leaders for the strategy and goals you’re advocating for, to reach an agreement with investors, customers and your own team members. And those negotiations aren’t always going to start with an automatic “yes.” So whether you’re a naturally skilled “people person” or tend to shy away from all forms of confrontation, you’ll need to hone your negotiation skills and learn how to apply them to every situation. Need some help in becoming a skilled negotiator? Here are six tips to get you started. 1. Always Start Prepared Whether negotiating is your cup of tea or something you dread like a morning without your daily dose of coffee, it’s not going to go down well without proper preparation. Long story short: You’re setting yourself up for failure if you don’t prepare. And preparing for a negotiation starts with knowing who you’re negotiating with. Is it an investor, part of the leadership team or another department head? A board member, supplier or customer? More than that, who has the decision-making power on the other side of the negotiation equation? Once you know all of that, preparing means trying to understand what all of the parties are after from the negotiations underway. And that includes your own goals. What are you trying to achieve? What are you willing to concede? And what can’t you walk away without? Before you even start, write down all of the details you need to discuss and find agreement on so that you don’t miss anything during the process. In his recent keynote presentation at Excelerate =SUM(it) 2022, “The Art of Negotiation,” Chris Voss—former FBI Lead Hostage Negotiator and CEO and Founder of The Black Swan Group—took it one step further. Preparation, he explained, can help settle your emotions and get you ready mentally, not just intellectually, for a negotiation  “Getting ready to engage in a process actually settles you down,” he said.  A skilled negotiator starts every negotiation from a place of preparation, then. It puts you in a better position in more ways than one, to get more from the negotiation you’re about to begin. 2. Build Strong Relationships Not surprisingly, getting people to agree with your point of view is easier if you’ve already built a good relationship with them. We can’t only negotiate with our closest friends, though, so building relationships throughout the negotiation process can be a successful way to make sure everyone walks out happy. “Nobody would be surprised to know that we prefer to say yes to those individuals who we feel a liking, or a rapport, with,” psychologist Robert Cialdini, author of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, said in his Excelerate =SUM(it) keynote presentation, “The Science of Ethical Influence.” Another key ingredient in getting a “yes,” he added, is a feeling of unity—or a sense that you’re all part of the same group, working together towards a single cause. “If you can arrange for people to see you not just as like them, but as one of them, they will become significantly more likely to say yes to you as a result,” Cialdini said. In a negotiation, then, being empathetic and a good listener are key. They help you understand the other person’s point of view and use that knowledge to develop the kind of relationship that makes everyone feel like they’re part of the same team, with the rapport to match. Good communication and a foundation of trust can also make it easier to keep the negotiation civil and work through any conflict if it arises. “Focusing on influence and long-term business relationships is productive and profitable for both sides, long term,” Voss added. 3. Don’t Get Lost in the Emotions Even when you’re empathetic to the other side of the negotiation, and try to be as good a listener as possible, negotiations can still become fraught with tension, as everyone tries to get what they want out of the process.  But when emotions drive a negotiation, neither side is going to get far.  “If they're frustrated with the situation, they're probably annoyed with you,” Voss said. To get past any of those negative emotions, he suggests demonstrating “respectful awareness.” In other words, calling out the emotions in the room as a way of deactivating them. “[It’s about] calling out negatives, not denying them—but simply observing them, calling them out, recognizing them [and] verbally articulating the negatives,” Voss added. All of which, of course, means developing your own emotional intelligence, so that you’re able to monitor and recognize the emotions in play—both positive and negative. Emotional intelligence will also help you see through the words being spoken, so that you can better understand how everyone really feels. From there, you’ll be able to get to a place where you’re all content and ready to proceed. Modern Finance Skills Watch “The FP&A Guy” Paul Barnhurst’s Excelerate =SUM(it) 2022 session, Contemporary Skills for Strategic Finance Professionals, on Plan To Grow to learn more about the skills needed in today’s FP&A. 4. Remember the Power of Compromise Building the critical relationships that help power negotiations, and recognizing the emotions in play, make it easier to understand and empathize with the points of view of the other side of your negotiation. And that’s a plus when it comes to another important part of all negotiations—compromise. Whether relationships already exist, or if you’re in the process of building them, it’s important to listen to what the other person says and to understand what they’re trying to achieve from the negotiation in progress. More than that, try to put yourself in their shoes so  you can understand why those goals are important to them. And sometimes finding out is just a matter of asking. “Start the conversation with ‘Before I give my perspective, let me make sure I’ve got your perspective right. That's your opening phrase. Then you follow up with, ‘So far, you've told me’ and you lay out the facts of what they've said,’” Voss suggested “Then the second part is, ‘As a result, you feel and you …’ and lay out your best guess, based on their demeanor, their actions or tone of voice.” But don’t forget that list of “must haves” you put together during the planning phase. It isn’t a successful negotiation if you find yourself conceding on everything—especially those elements most important to you and what you’re hoping to achieve. Remembering—and understanding—all sides of the negotiation will help you reach a compromise all parties can get behind in the end. But it will also help you understand when to walk away—because the most skilled negotiators also know when no one is going to get what they want. 5. Understand That “Winning” Isn’t Everything If you go into a negotiation like it’s a game—where there’s a “winner” and a “loser”—the kind of compromise we talked about above won’t be possible. But more than that, you’ll be missing out on new opportunities that spring up from the conversation underway that can add extra value for everyone. The most skilled negotiators will find new value for all parties—or at least look for it. Maybe that means bringing additional people to the table or considering other alternatives to the options you’ve already considered. Whatever the case, don’t get so caught up in your own expectations that you stay closed off to other options. 6. Keep Working on Your Skills Like any other skills, negotiation is learned. Some will take to it naturally and for others, it will require more work. Either way, practice. Coaching and critical assessment is sure to make you better. So whether you walk away from your first negotiation happy or not, don’t worry. Assess what went right and wrong, and learn from your experiences.  Identify the pain points and challenges. Explore the emotional ups and downs. Assess whether each party walked out with more or less of what they wanted. What could you have done better? More to the point, what can you do better next time? Don’t be afraid to consult others, either. If you have any trusted advisors or teammates who you know are skilled negotiators, they can be a good resource as you continue to develop your own skills. That is, until you become a skilled negotiator yourself and start mentoring those who come behind you. Feeling Like a Skilled Negotiator? Then Let the Negotiations Begin “Negotiation is not an act of battle; it’s a process of discovery. The goal is to uncover as much information as possible,” Voss wrote in his book, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It. Like any process, then, it can be learned, codified and improved upon. By building a negotiation style that works for you—then evolving it to meet the demands of each negotiation you find yourself in—you can make it just another skillset you bring to the table. And by doing so, you’ll be molding yourself into a strong financial leader in the process. Now go out and let the negotiations begin! Grow Your Finance Skillset Visit Plan To Grow to watch free, on-demand content of the latest skills financial professionals need today.

For more than 15 years, Microsoft MVP Megan Strant has been enhancing the end-user experience across organizations. She’s worked across a number of Microsoft partners, building and managing their change management practices and learning strategies. The experience of your people on their journey, and at times, relying on their uptake of technology or shift in behavior, is a major part of the success of any change across your organization. To drive that success and to improve your people's experience along their journey, you need to make it personal by answering their, “What’s in It for Me (WIIFM)?” In my session, Evolving Relationships With Change Management Methods, at Excelerate =SUM(it) 2022, when we polled the audience on which change management challenge they expected to be the most difficult, the top answer at 48% was “identifying each team’s WIIFM.” WIIFM is different across the business—for business owners, for managers and for individual contributors. Each stakeholder level will have a different experience along your change program. But overall, to drive change, you need buy-in from every person from every level. You’re asking more from your people, for them to perform extra work and in ways that often add stress. It’s crucial for you (the change agent) to connect with your people. By answering each team’s WIIFM, you can build the connection between: You and your people Your people and your upcoming change program your people and the ongoing change In this blog post, discover how to overcome change management challenges and learn the three key elements in answering each team’s WIIFM: 1. What Are the Core Reasons Behind My Change Program? Start with the “why.” As world-renowned author Simon Sinek has been saying for years—the “why” is crucial in business. While his work focuses on a business’s purpose and inspiring people, the “why” in change management also flows through everything in work. Think: What’s the point? Like how your business’s vision, strategic objectives and goals should flow through each department and connect to each employee’s role, your change program should too. Whether you’re going through a major transformation, driving culture change or implementing new software, you need to build a connection between your people and your change program. Think about your program as part of a greater purpose—not just an initiative. This will help you devise the language for communicating (I’ll get to this soon) the work ahead and its benefits. 2. What Are My Stakeholders’ Values and Motivators? Involve your people in your planning. Discuss the upcoming changes. If you’re running a change program, major activities—such as impact reviews and strategy assessments—should already be underway. In other words, talk to your people and pay attention to their pain points, blockers and de-motivators. Your goal isn’t to please your people. Try to find a middle ground rather than forcing change. They won’t care or invest their time and energy if they don’t see the benefit for themselves and the business. Think: What are they hoping to get out of this change? Your people will tell you. Listen to their perspectives and understand their needs. Ask each stakeholder what they want from the situation. In my session, we also polled the audience on pain points they experience when going through change management. Their top answer at 37% was “motivating team members.” While motivation drives success and you need your people on board and motivated to achieve positive results, it can be tricky. Whether you’re leading a specific project or have broader organizational goals, appeal to what drives them and keep it simple and achievable. Some possible motivators include: Providing free food Recognizing employees Sharing success stories Implementing gamification Fostering a culture of inclusion Every stakeholder has different perspectives, needs, values and motivators. Ask each stakeholder what they want from the situation. 3. How Can I Communicate My Core Reasons, While Aligning With My Stakeholders’ Values and Motivators? Craft your communication carefully. It’s not merely a task you tick off or updates you send. Communication is your opportunity to connect. It can require persuasion or even creativity to express the core reasons and benefits in a way that aligns with your stakeholders’ values and motivators. Communication that isn’t carefully and thoughtfully crafted is stating only the facts, such as an  implementation date, IT update or program update. Your people will ignore or delete these. Some possible methods of communication include: Emailing (this still has a place for communication as many people rely on it heavily) Sending announcements through business social platforms or intranet Engaging with people through their regular channels such as a weekly department update or monthly breakfast Driving awareness about upcoming changes through internal news or announcements Creating targeted posts in digital workspaces such as Microsoft Teams Providing short reminders or dates on a rotating desktop background Running lunchtime “Ask Me Anything” sessions to inform and have a place for discussion Put effort into what you communicate and ensure the communication is relatable. To be a strong, successful communicator who drives employees to embrace change, you need to be clear and convincing. Like values and motivators, your stakeholders have different preferred methods of communication. Think about your employees’ needs, rather than what you need from them. You’re not only informing them—you’re persuading them too. Persuasion is easier if you can determine their preferred methods of communication. WIIFM Change Management Whether you’re implementing the next change program across your business or helping your people through the ongoing state of constant change in our world, you need to identify your core reasons, understand their values and motivators and determine their preferred methods of communication. Answer the WIIFM questions to make it personal—and build stronger connections with your people. Driving Successful Change Watch Microsoft MVP Megan Strant’s Excelerate =SUM(it) 2022 session, Evolving Relationships With Change Management Methods, on Plan To Grow to learn which method is best for your change program.

Floating cars. Colonies in space. Robot servants at our beck and call. Let’s be real: That’s not exactly the reality waiting for us in 2030. We can’t expect the world to morph into a scene from The Jetsons in just eight years. But we can expect the world of finance to change. It already has. Over the past few years, finance has become more agile and proactive as the market around us has presented one challenge after another. Technological advancements have made collaboration easier. Automation has become the norm. And decision making has emerged as more forward thinking, with finance taking a leadership role in helping businesses grow and thrive.  So what comes next? At our recent Excelerate =SUM(it) event, Vena Chief Technology Officer Hugh Cumming presented The Future of Planning Technology. During the session, he gave us a sneak peek of what to expect as we go through a digital transformation in finance in the years to come. So here are his—and Vena’s—predictions for the future of finance in 2030. Prediction 1: Speed Will Be a Competitive Advantage “In the new world, it is not the big fish which eats the small fish, it’s the fast fish which eats the slow fish,” Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, once said. And in the world of finance, that’s truer today than ever, Hugh told audiences at Excelerate =SUM(it). That’s only going to continue to be more the case in the future. So for companies of all sizes, agility is key—and the financial organizations that have that agility will thrive in 2030. It will help organizations act quickly, stay ready for market changes ahead and make real-time decisions that will continue to drive them forward.  “Speed and agility, not size, [are] the things that define an agile organization,” Hugh said. “It defines the businesses that are going to win. And at the center of this is the ability to use data to make better and faster decisions, deliver insights to the organization and be at the center of strategy.” Which brings us to prediction two. Prediction 2: Accessible, Real-Time Data Will Drive Business Decisions Ideally, this isn’t something you’ll wait until 2030 to achieve. But the reality is that sourcing data from across the organization and making it accessible and operational in real time is still a challenge for many organizations. Nevertheless, data plays a key role in creating that agility we talked about in the first prediction. And as the digital transformation in finance evolves, the organizations that master their data by 2030 will be able to make faster, more meaningful decisions whenever needed. “Bringing this data together in meaningful ways means leading the way to creating an agile business—or, quite simply, a business that can swim faster,” Hugh said. More than that, though, in 2030, organizations will be able to use data in both retrospective and prospective ways—looking back, but more importantly looking forward. “We see that as what is the essence of this strategic transformation we see in finance,” Hugh added. Prediction 3: End-to-End Technology Will Connect Finance with the Entire Business When it comes to implementing new technology, it’s “the last mile” that’s often the biggest challenge for organizations. That is, introducing the connections and integrations that will let your new technology work together with the ones your business already has. It’s these connections that allow finance to integrate with the rest of the business and easily access the data you need, moving it in and out of the platform you’re using. Solving that last-mile problem will help businesses create a more end-to-end technology infrastructure that supports your entire financial organization—and connects it to the business as a whole. And by 2030, Hugh predicts, the solutions with those integrations and connectivity options available will rise to the top and allow finance to scale quickly and easily without struggle. That will make it easier for end users to integrate the technology they need to solve real, day-to-day business problems. Which fits into Hugh’s second prediction: Rather than seeing technology investments being driven from the top, he says, it’ll be those users who take the lead in finding functional, integratable solutions that fit their business requirements and connect the organization as a whole. Prediction 4: Even With New Tech Investments, There Will Still Be a Place for the Tried and True Technology and innovation will continue to play a growing role in the evolution of finance. That much is clear. But that doesn’t mean you need to replace what’s already working. Not if you want your team to stay happy and productive through those technology shifts. And for most finance teams, that means continuing to use Microsoft Excel. It’s still the go-to solution for finance professionals. Even companies that try to replace it will often find individual team members falling back into their Excel comfort zone. As a finance organization, pushing back against that can be like fighting an uphill battle.  So why bother?  Building your technology stack around Excel will enhance acceptance and continued use, allowing you to naturally build on the technology your team feels most comfortable using. With this in mind, expect Excel to become the de facto finance desktop through 2030 and beyond—even as the technology around it continues to grow. Prediction 5: The Workflows of Finance Will Be Reinvented Forget about clunky spreadsheets shared over email. They certainly won’t have a place as the digital transformation in finance evolves. We can’t even wait until 2030 to say goodbye to those.  What will have a place is efficient, agile workflows that use technology to provide smooth-as-butter, real-time collaboration alternatives. That means better communication, less work for your team members and a better way of doing business.  “[It’s about] being able to collaborate on data in real time, in systems that allow multiple types of users to collaborate, to create a workflow that allows for different users to come in and join a data-centric workflow at different points on the journey,” Hugh said. Again, that type of real-time collaboration will make your business more agile—a faster fish in a sea of slow swimmers. Final Thoughts: When It Comes to Digital Transformation in Finance, Agility Is Key If we know anything about the future of finance, it’s that without that kind of agility, you risk falling behind—or getting caught scrambling the next time the market experiences a new challenge or change. And the less proactive you are, the more behind you fall—and the more you risk losing out to your competition. By 2030, then, it will be the most agile organizations that will emerge at the top. The rest will go the way of floating cars, never gaining flight. Future-Proof Your =FV Learn more about the challenges ahead—and how technology will help you prepare—by watching Hugh’s full Excelerate =SUM(it) 2022 session The Future of Planning Technology on Plan To Grow.

There’s a technological shift happening in your business. Perhaps you’re implementing a new technology platform or making changes to the way you use a platform already in place. Maybe you’re adding functionality or using it in new ways, updating your tech suite or changing it to better meet your goals. Whatever the case, it’s happening because someone in your business has done the research. They think it’s going to facilitate your business or help free up time for other things. After all, technology can be a powerful aid to businesses looking to build towards their goals and help set their teams up for success. But for any of that to happen, a technology change isn’t enough. If you want technology to become part of your culture and processes, you need to get your people on board as well.  After all, adopting a new technology or embracing new uses can represent a significant shift in your day-to-day business—something that can have a huge impact on your team. So throwing that change on them without any kind of plan isn’t likely to get the results you need. So how do you go about getting your people engaged? That’s where change management tips and best practices come in. What is Change Management? In his Change Management Playbook session at our recent Excelerate =SUM(it) virtual conference, Vern Redwood—CPA and Senior Consultant with Vena—gave audiences some advice on how to use change management tips and best practices to build acceptance in their organization for a technology shift. In doing so, he described change management as “a structured, adaptable and repeatable approach to enable the people-side of change to deliver organizational results.”  But what does that mean? What is change management really trying to accomplish? Vern used the analogy of driving a car along the highway. “In order to change lanes there’s a framework to do so. You’re driving along the road and you usually turn on your signal to tell everyone around you ‘Hey, I need to move over,’” he explained. “In a similar way, having a change management framework at your organization is critical because it allows you to make sure you signal a change so everybody around you knows what you’re going to do and it gives them time to adapt to it.”   With change management in place, employees can feel prepared, equipped and supported for change. And it helps: Organizations with a change management framework are six times more likely to meet their objectives, five times more likely to stay on schedule and two times more likely to stay on budget.  While there are different theories and models you can use to help drive your change management tactics (watch Microsoft MVP Megan Strant’s Evolving Relationships with Change Management Methods session on Plan To Grow to learn more about them), we at Vena like the Prosci Methodology for change management. “The Prosci methodology is an enabling framework for enabling the people-side of change,” Vern says.   Drawing on that framework, Vern offered several of his own change management tips to draw on to help enable change in your organization. Here are a few: Tip 1: Never Stop Communicating Communication is a critical ingredient in getting change right. Without it, you risk alienating your team and leaving them without a clear idea of what’s happening around them. And without that, how will they ever embrace the change underway? In his presentation, Vern suggests starting the communication process early, letting everyone know that change is on the way and when the process is going to begin. But don’t stop there: keep people updated on how the implementation is progressing, any delays along the way and what’s expected of them at every step.  In fact, communication should permeate every stage of the change management process. Keep your team informed so that nothing comes as a surprise. Educate them on what they need to know. Get leadership involved to provide guidance and demonstrate the key benefits they can expect from the initiative. And most of all, make sure that everyone truly understands how they can benefit from the initiative themselves. “Step into their shoes, step into their role and just work with them to understand some of the technical aspects of what will be changing,” Vern told the audience during Excelerate =SUM(it) 2022. Tip 2: Don’t Forget the Power of a Great Story Communication is a critical ingredient in getting change right. Without it, you risk alienating your team and leaving them without a clear idea of what’s happening around them. And without that, how will they ever embrace the change underway? Just as important as constant communication is how you communicate. And that, Vern says, is where storytelling comes in. “Stories add value,” he explains. “If you think of any great achievement or anything that has value to you, there’s probably a great story attached. A story of overcoming challenges and reaching your final goal.” For those reasons and more, storytelling can be a powerful tool during the change management process. One that will help you at every stage to underline the importance of the changes underway, understand the broader picture of what’s going on and build a narrative around the shift in progress.  “What we believe is built through stories,” Vern says. “If we believe something is worth a lot to us, how we perceive it will be formed through the stories that we’re told about it.” With that in mind, he breaks the change management process down like a story in progress: Prologue: Build awareness Act I: Generate desire Act II: Build knowledge Act III: Reinforce the change  It’s up to the person leading the change management process to be the writer, director and actor in that story. In other words, you’re in charge of creating the script and putting it into action, while still being a significant part of the change unfolding. Tip 3: Rely on Your Champions The right champions will help build your communication efforts, know what stories to tell and help your entire team through the change management journey. That means it’s critical that you have the right champions in place. Your champions will help identify who will require training on your new software platform and ensure each user gets the right training to meet their specific needs. They’ll help build weekly communications during implementation to ensure everyone knows where things are in the process. And they’ll play a significant role in asking for feedback from your end users at every step so that you know where the biggest obstacles exist and whether everyone’s needs are being addressed.  But notice we said champions. There’s a reason there’s an “s” at the end—even when a single champion may seem like enough for your organization. People leave or change roles, after all, which leaves a void behind when there’s only one person championing the change along. So to ensure a seamless change management process and ongoing acceptance of your technology shift, it’s always better to have a team of champions smoothing the way. Tip 4: Ask for Help When You Need It Even with the best team of champions in place, though, you may still hit hiccups along the way. If that’s the case, you may need help figuring out how to move your people to the other side.  For that, Vern recommends reaching out to your technology partner. They should be just as invested as you are in seeing your implementation or technology shift succeed. Not only that, but they’re used to working with teams across their customer base, many of them probably dealing with similar issues as you. That means they likely have the experience and/or resource materials you need to help modify or build on your change management plan. And that can be a key difference in keeping things moving smoothly. Change Is Underway Let’s face it: Simply introducing a new piece of technology or unveiling a shift in your tech usage isn’t going to suddenly bring about the change you’re looking for in your organization. Bringing about real change means your people and processes need to change as well—and for that to happen, your team needs to be ready. They need to accept the change. Better yet, they should be excited about it. In order for that to happen, you need to have the right plans and processes in place to get your people up to speed and engaged in the transformation underway. Only once you do will you be able to get the most out of your technology investment. Change Doesn’t Happen Overnight Even with all of the right pieces in place, it takes continual planning, monitoring and communication to be successful when it comes to effective change management. Check out our recent session on change management methods with Microsoft MVP Megan Strant.

  The chief financial officer (CFO) is an essential part of your company's C-suite. Not only do they spearhead your business's accounting and finance activities—but they also serve as a strategic partner to other executives, such as your CEO, CTO, COO and more.  But as our business environments continue to change and adapt, so too must the role of the CFO. With this in mind, whether you're a current CFO or an aspiring CFO, you’ll want to understand how the role of CFO is evolving as a strategic business partner. 💡Key Takeaways: The CFO's position is growing to include duties beyond traditional accounting and transaction logging roles.  FP&A software allows CFOs to dedicate more of their time to strategic planning.  Access to integrated financial and operational data means CFOs must be savvy in big data analytics.  As a bridge of financial and operational data, businesses will increasingly rely on CFOs to be stewards of the organization's long-term success and planning. The CFO's Transition Beyond Accounting Duties Traditionally, the CFO's core job duties have been to oversee and execute your company's accounting and finance needs. This includes activities such as: Preparing budgets and other forecasts Generating key financial statements (e.g., profit and loss statements, cash flow statements, balance sheets, etc.) Being responsible for audits and other compliance matters These roles were often independent and isolated jobs that were separate from the other business activities of an organization (e.g., sales, marketing, operations, etc.). While CFOs will always be leaders of these core functions, businesses are increasingly becoming aware of the power finance leaders can have as a strategic bridge to other key decision making. From their financial insights, they have an extraordinary opportunity to participate in far-reaching business analytics such as identifying market trends, areas of weakness or liability and places for growth. Source: https://fortune.com/2021/08/02/49-of-cfos-say-they-have-a-data-gap Technology Advancements Offer a Growing Role for CFOs Thanks to the benefits of FP&A software and other accounting technology solutions, CFOs can increase the amount of time they have to dedicate to the business analytic opportunities stated above. Moving away from spreadsheets and other legacy accounting methods can help your finance team automate the transactional aspects of their jobs and shift greater focus toward planning and deeper analysis. Some of the other key benefits of adopting technology as a CFO include: Integrating financial data with operational data (tech, sales, etc.) into a cohesive system Decreasing or altogether removing the risk of data entry errors through automation of accounting practices Seeing instant and real-time figures and analysis from FP&A software that continuously updates transactions and data in your other systems The CFOs who leverage the power of today's technology are the ones who will have the time and ability to deliver quick and useful insights about the business to key employees, the board of directors and other executives. Source: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/mastering-change-the-new-cfo-mandate CFOs Must Engage in Data Science for FP&A Functions The opportunities that arise for CFOs from greater collaboration of financial and operational data means that CFOs must become strong in data science practices (or have team members with those skill sets). We live in a business environment where key data moves quickly because of the technology we use that produces a wide range of metadata and other insights in the IoT. The speed at which data moves further increases the volatility of market industries and increases the opportunity for disruption.  CFOs and their teams must be able to process this information in a fast and actionable way because that is what other executives and leaders will expect when it comes time to make an important business decision. While CFOs will have a firm handle on the financial implication of big data, they will also need to know how to interpret other KPIs and metrics important to a business's mission.  Finance leaders are also used to hiring accountants, bookkeepers, comptrollers and other traditional employees. With the emphasis of big data on the role of CFO, they will also need to expand their finance teams to incorporate other skill sets from the following roles for example: Computer programmers Database administrators Analytic specialists Machine learning experts Businesses Will Rely on CFOs To Be Stewards of Long-Term Success When given access to immediate and powerful financial and operational data from technology, CFOs will become the figurehead responsible for blending the short-term goals and decisions of a company with the long-term plan. The challenge will be learning how to present data and analysis with a tint that keeps decision makers conscious of how the short-term action will align or detract from long-term goals. CFOs will need to have a solid footing of what their organization hopes to achieve and figure out ways to drive data to those ends. Being proactive in this regard will help to minimize the risk of your data overwhelming decision-making abilities. Creating an Action List To Become the CFO of Today and Tomorrow You know that your business can benefit from a forward-looking CFO and finance team that embraces the tools of the future to achieve unprecedented growth. However, taking those first steps in this direction can be daunting. You can begin the process by taking into account the current processes in your finance department that are ripe for automation (e.g., repetitive data entry, batch processing, and other recurring tasks). Identify your current data silos and which ones can benefit from immediate integration with your financial data sets. These initial steps will put you on the right path to finding the FP&A solutions that will enhance your role as CFO and allow you to prioritize the analytical work of your office. Speak With a Vena Expert About Our FP&A Solutions At Vena, our mission is to help businesses Plan To Grow™. We offer a wide range of solutions in FP&A, workforce planning, regulatory compliance reporting and other business planning functions. Our Complete Planning software can benefit all industries, but we offer tailored programming for banking, insurance, higher education, professional sports, healthcare and many others. Transform how your company accumulates and shares data to jumpstart innovations across your company's products and operations. Enhance the Role of the CFO Excel at more with Vena today with a demo to see how our FP&A solutions can enhance the role of CFO.

Finance is a numbers game. Or at least it has been, traditionally—drawing on those numbers for budgeting, forecasting and planning. It’s not surprising, then, that the types of skills most finance professionals thrive at are also numbers driven. As finance becomes a strategic partner to business, though—interacting more closely with internal and external stakeholders to build and push forward business goals—means other skills become just as critical. Softer, people-oriented skills that will help you bring your strategy to fruition. In other words, skills that rely on choosing the right words.  One of the most important among those? Strong communication. More than ever, finance teams need to be able to effectively communicate the message behind the numbers, to share their findings, build enthusiasm for what’s ahead and create advocates for their strategic plans. Yet impactful communication doesn’t always come easily for finance professionals. To help take your communication skills to the next level, Vena CFO Darrell Cox and Vice President of FP&A Tom Seegmiller hosted CFO Confidential: The Art of Impactful Communication. Now available on demand to members of Vena’s Plan To Grow platform, the session brought in Amy Schwalm, Vice President of Investor Relations for Canada Goose and Paul Lima, Managing Partner of Lima Consulting Group, to share their ideas on how financial professionals can up their communication game. These are four of the do’s and don’ts that emerged: 1. Don’t Get Too Caught Up in the Details Details matter. Any finance person can tell you that. But finance people can also sometimes get too stuck on the details, forgetting the bigger picture along the way.  At least that’s what Amy Schwalm told audience members during the Art of Impactful Communication livestream. “As a finance professional and somebody that's used to getting into the details and the numbers, you can get caught up in what I sometimes refer to as inside baseball. You need to step back,” she explained. For Amy personally, that means narrowing down the three key messages she’s trying to communicate and focusing her messaging around them. That way, she says, she understands exactly the takeaways she wants her audience to leave with and can whittle down the details to provide only those required to make her point. To do that effectively, though, those three key messages should track back to a larger company strategy or business goals. When those aren’t clear or don’t exist, it becomes more difficult to focus your communication on what matters—or to get people to listen to you at all.  “I’ve been at companies where they don’t have that overall strategy,” Amy added during the livestream. “And even if they do, you’re always looking at what are the expectations of the market and for investors, that leads to what are they expecting from the numbers, in the results—and even more importantly, how does that factor into what the company’s going to do looking forward.” 2. Do Have the Data To Back Up Your Message  You may not want to get lost in the details, but that doesn’t mean the details don’t matter at all. Without some details available to back up your message, you risk seeing that message crumble at the first sign of pressure (with a well-placed question from an investor or your CFO, for example). And the best details—as with most things in finance—start with solid data. If you want your message to be heard, data is the foundation upon which your argument should be laid. Without it, the loudest—or highest-ranked—voice in the room will often be the one that wins out instead. Just as important, though, is that the data be correct. Don’t pull out the numbers that best fit your narrative or throw one in without checking its veracity first. Rather, ensure your data is accurate and precise, then build your message around it.  “If the culture is aspiring to be data driven, then there has to be an acknowledgement that we can trust the numbers,” Paul Lima told the audience. After all, if the person you’re communicating with can’t trust your data, they’re not going to trust you either.   3. Don’t Be Afraid To Follow a Script Does all of that sound daunting? It doesn’t have to be. Not if you plan ahead.  Following a set script or framework can help ensure you have everything you need to communicate your message effectively—without forcing you to ad lib if communication isn't usually your forte.  For example, Amy creates a detailed script for all of her investor calls, laying out those three key messages we talked about earlier ahead of time. She even suggests extending that script if you know off-the-cuff communications really aren’t your strength, leaving less time for questions after. “There's a little bit more of a risk in the question-and-answer period,” she explained. Paul, on the other hand, uses the Balanced Scorecard framework to structure much of his communication with clients. “It starts off with the financials,” he said. “And then from there, it goes into the customer-centric objectives and the internal operations. Then it’s what you need to do to innovate and learn and grow. It's a waterfall.” However you choose to do it, building your communication off of a predetermined structure or set script can help you draw on the skills you use every day—building a plan—to facilitate a skill you may not feel as confident in. 4. Do Tell a Story We’re big advocates of storytelling here at Vena—-and from his words during the CFO Confidential livestream, it’s clear Paul Lima agrees. Building your message around a story can make that message more impactful—in turn, making your communication more effective too. “A story has an arc. Sometimes there’s even a villain,” Paul said during the event. “Sometimes the villain’s the problem, not the person.” By using the tried-and-tested tools of storytelling—adding in a complication, for example, and ending with a resolution—you’re adding drama to your message. In doing so, you’re entertaining your audience and keeping them engaged. After all, those are the same techniques the world’s greatest storytellers—from Shakespeare to Spielberg—have effectively drawn on throughout time to keep audiences at the edge of their seats. And who’s better at communicating than them? Conclusion Whether communication comes naturally to you or not, it’s a critical skill in the new world of finance. To take on a more strategic finance role and thrive as a partner to your business, you’ll have to find the communication style that best works for you. Building soft skills like these can help you excel in that role and collaborate with stakeholders throughout the company and beyond. Hopefully, some of these tips will come in handy. Communicate the Message Behind the Numbers Watch the full episode of CFO Confidential: The Art of Impactful Communication.