The first months in the CFO position are undoubtedly the most critical for establishing the foundations for successful future leadership. These times are both tough and exciting, requiring maximum dedication to learn about the company's organisational culture. This knowledge will help define the type of management necessary to meet medium and long-term challenges.
At the same time, we must not overlook the current evolution of the CFO’s role, a role increasingly tending towards more strategic functions, involving a deeper understanding of the new company's business model, its key variables, and the potential risks to be faced. Additionally, the CFO must identify key individuals with whom they will have significant interaction and how to position themselves within the organisation's strategic plan.
Moreover, it is important to consider that each case is unique, depending on the company's situation, where the timing and decisions to be made will differ. A company in crisis that may require restructuring will have different needs than one experiencing rapid growth.
In any case, various actions can be identified for the CFO to follow in this initial stage, wherethe CFO will need to focus on issues that are not typically part of their usual functions.
In other words, we can say that it becomes necessary to make greater use of the right hemisphere of the brain, that is, everything linked to emotional intelligence and the non-verbal aspects of communication, and not so much the left side, which is in charge of the more "rational" functions and is used for decision-making based on analysis, which is what the CFO usually uses most, so it will be necessary to…
What you do during the first few weeks of your new position is crucial, both for yourself and for the company that has selected you. Therefore, you should devote your time to "listening and observing," distinguishing what is really happening within the organisation and getting to know the set of rules and values by which it operates.
This action involves introductory discussions, not only within the finance department and its members but primarily at a general level, getting to know and interacting with other key people. This way, you can obtain an initial (complete) vision, which will have to be "perfected" over time.
The most important task that will determine whether you are recognised as a new leader in the organisation (or quite the opposite) is knowing how to manage the people you interact with. This goes beyond the financial area to encompass the entire organisation. Effective management will allow you to "build" lasting and cross-functional leadership over time.
Generally speaking, personnel management is often a "weak point" for CFOs, who are typically seen as "numbers people" focused on managing costs and risk-averse. Therefore, it is crucial to become a "key reference" within the organisation, recognizing and enhancing the skills of each person you interact with.
Following the initial phase and linked to the previous points, it is equally important to dedicate sufficient time to effective communication with other areas of the organisation. This communication should primarily focus on defining how you intend to manage the short term, while also addressing critical actions to be taken in the medium and long term. This includes optimising treasury management processes, enabling the CFO to make agile and informed business decisions.
Communication must be clear and "transparent," both internally and externally (to stakeholders), establishing the most effective channels with various members of the company's management, the Board of Directors and shareholders, if applicable.
Achieving these objectives will allow the CFO to balance their more "traditional" functions with more strategic actions, which add greater value to the company and support its long-term growth. On a personal level, this also provides the tools necessary to become the CEO's "natural partner" and to lead internal change management within the organisation.
In summary, the first 100 days of a CFO's tenure represent a unique short-term opportunity to "build" a solid leadership foundation both internally with different areas of the company and externally with key stakeholders.
An Arabic proverb aptly advises that we have two ears, two eyes, and one mouth, emphasising the importance of observing, listening, and learning about the organisation's values, in order to subsequently carry out a "non-interfering" communication about how it will be managed, even if this implies a greater initial effort, going beyond the more traditional functions of a CFO.
.png)
