Good morning,
You're probably asking your younger staff members for ideas. But are you actually listening to them?
Recent EY research found that by excelling in six key areas that address psychological and emotional pressures, CFOs can help increase the likelihood of a successful company transformation from a 28% chance of success, up to 73%. EY and the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School surveyed 935 senior leaders and direct reports, and 1,127 workforce members from 23 countries and 16 industry sectors.
One of the six recommended actions for CFOs is to create a vision and define a compelling “why” for the transformation, or else it will be misunderstood. Another key finding: 46% of finance leaders say they accept ideas from junior personnel, but only 31% of finance workers felt leaders listen to them, according to the report. “The highest performing CFOs have emotional intelligence,” listen to their teams, and understand their needs, says Myles Corson, EY global strategy and markets leader for financial accounting advisory services.
‘I felt like sharing my opinion was not needed'
I decided to ask the perspective of a young finance professional just starting in her career whom I previously met on LinkedIn. She graduated from college with a degree in finance about 18 months ago. Her first job in finance is as a financial planning and analysis (FP&A) analyst for a health care startup that went through a transformation process. She reports to a director but has regular contact with the CFO.
Are you comfortable sharing your ideas with the CFO? “Since I joined very fresh out of college, at first, I was holding back a little bit,” explains the young professional who chose to remain anonymous. At the time, the company was working on raising capital. “Some of the times when we were discussing topics with the CEO or other high-level executives, I felt like sharing my opinion was not needed when my opinion was very contradictory to what was being said at the table.”
But over time, her perspective changed. “Eventually, when I was talking to the CFO, as well as my other team member who was a senior FP&A analyst, they encouraged me to share my opinions no matter who's at the table.”
The company’s tech transformation and automation of processes also helped in her FP&A role, she says. “When I joined, initially, I worked 10-plus hours per day, and sometimes, even over the weekend,” she says. “But when we had the system up and running, I was able to cut back on my time, normally working eight hours, and fully not working on the weekends. And now, I’m able to be a strategic partner of other departments, like sales or marketing. We weren't able to do that while we were just so bogged down with just doing the day-to-day finance.”
It seems the CFO was impressed with the young FP&A professional’s talents. When he recently took a job at a different health care startup, he asked her to join the team. “I've just joined; I have to update my LinkedIn profile,” she told me.
I asked her what she expects from leadership, and it may be what her peers expect as well: “I think the main thing that I look for is that they’re open and transparent with their decision-making process for the organization as well as for the team. I’m also looking for a leader who’s going to invest in me to help me learn all the processes that are happening at the company as well as to grow my career.”
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
