GrowCFO Show

It’s no secret that communication is hard. We’ve all been in a situation where we just can’t seem to get our point across. And it’s even harder when the person on the other end of the conversation has a different personality type than us. When you’re trying to communicate with someone who has a different personality type than you, it can be easy to get wrapped up in your own perspective. It’s important to remember that everyone experiences the world differently, and what makes sense to you might not make sense to them. You must try to see things from their point of view and adjust your communication accordingly. But adapting your style isn’t easy. In this podcast, we take a look at the common problems with communicating with different personality types. DISC is a personality assessment tool that can help you understand yourself and others better, and Merrick Rosenberg, CEO of Take Flight Learning, has adapted the DISC model into 4 birds: eagles, parrots, doves, and owls. The behaviour of each bird is easy to grasp and remember. Merrick has found the majority of finance people are owls. The owl needs to adapt to work with the other three birds. He shares some great strategies that will really help you understand how to do this, so make sure to check this episode out! Links GrowCFO for Finance Teams The communications module within GrowCFO for Finance Teams “What got you here wont get you there” by Marshall Goldsmith on Amazon UK and Amazon US Merrick Rosenberg on LinkedIn Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn Timestamps 00:46 Why use birds instead of the DISC letters? 01:20 The eagle 02:05 The parrot 02:20 The dove 02:35 The owl 02:45 Which style are you? 04:15 Finance are predominantly owls 05:23 Finance working with sales; owls and parrots 06:47 How does an owl get the parrots and eagles to provide the detail that’s needed? 08:50 Owls dealing with doves 10:15 The history of DISC 11:25 75% of your organisation has a different style to you, you need to communicate in all 4 styles 13:12 How each style manages change 15:20 Owls need detail so can be perceived as barriers to change until they have the information 15:40 Owls can actually be incredible champions of change 16:50 How do you communicate change? 20:09 Adapting your style as your career progresses 21:17 “What got you here wont get you there” by Marshall Goldsmith 22:43 How easy is it to develop the other 3 styles? 24:15 Bill Gates the owl 26:17 Working with organisations 30:19 Alternatives to DISC 35:31 Relationship building 38:09 What about children? When do the 4 birds start to emerge? 40:23 The danger of imposing your own style on someone else

As the finance lead, you probably present the business profit and loss account at many of the business meetings you attend. You place huge value on the financial results of the business each month or each quarter. But is that correct? Does the P&L account tell you what you need to know? Does it paint an accurate picture of business performance? Sometimes it does, but quite often it doesn’t accurately reflect the economics within the business. The P&L account tells you what you spent money on, your cost centre structure likely tells you who spent it, but neither tell you why you spent it. Is an adverse variance really bad? Is a positive variance good? The answer is not always. Unless you know the why, and also understand the economic engine of the business you don’t know. You probably grappled with the two fundamental accounting concepts of prudence and accruals when you passed your accountancy exams. Accruals are all about matching costs with revenues, while prudence is about taking account of liabilities as soon as they arise. But we are in strange times where we seem to like capitalising our empty office blocks and hardly used company cars while we write off our investment in digital sales-generating assets as soon as we spend the money. In the podcast, Kevin Appleby and Susana Serrano-Davey discuss these and other issues and conclude you need many more metrics than those in the P&L account and a much deeper understanding of your business through an economic rather than an accounting model. We didn’t mention it in the show, but Doug Hicks has written an excellent book about what’s wrong with the P&L account and why you need an economic model of the business. It makes excellent further reading on this topic. Links Mentoring at GrowCFO with Susana Serrano-Davey I May Be Wrong, But I Doubt It: How Accounting Information Undermines Profitability by Doug Hicks on Amazon UK or Amazon USA Evergreen Assets by John Lamerton on Amazon UK or Amazon USA 24 assets by Daniel Priestley on Amazon UK or Amazon USA Listen to Next 100 Days Podcast with John Lamerton talking about Evergreen Assets Susana Serrano-Davey on LinkedIn Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn Timestamps 00:59 The P&L account is a key tool 01:53 A history lesson; one set of accounts for investors and for the taxman 03:53 Modern systems and the ability to cut the data in different ways 04:28 Accounting standards and the 4 core accounting concepts 06:23 Are your fixed assets really the assets that drive business performance or are they just hidden future costs? 07:40 Evergreen digital assets 10:46 Depreciation 11:38 The pressure to report a better picture in the P&L 15:51 Unrealistic budgets 20:39 No surprises; don’t hide the truth 23:30 The P&L account doesn’t tell you why you spent the money 26:21 An economic rather than an accounting model of your business 29:41 Assigning costs to activities gives you a better understanding of customer and product costs 31:07 The tendency to over cost the simple and under cost the complex 31:39 An activity-based costing example

Are you ready to be a CFO? To step into your first CFO role. How do you know if you are ready to make the transition to that number one role in finance? That’s the question Kevin Appleby posed to Dan Wells on this episode of the GrowCFO Show. Kevin asked Dan if there is any such thing as a CFO readiness indicator or CFO readiness index. Dan doesn’t believe there is one single measure of CFO readiness. He goes on to explain the various skills and levels of experience you need to be a successful CFO. These vary according to the type of CFO you want to become and the nature of the organisation you plan to work for. Are you ready to be a CFO? Some questions to ask yourself If you feel you are ready to be a CFO then as a minimum you should be saying yes to the following five questions: Do you have a strategic mind? As a CFO, you will need to think beyond the numbers and see the big picture. You need to be able to develop strategies that will help your company achieve its goals. Are you are a good communicator? As CFO, you will need to communicate with different stakeholders within your company. You need to be able to explain financial concepts in a way that non-financial people can understand. Are you comfortable with change? Change is inevitable in business. As CFO, you need to be comfortable with change and be able to adapt quickly to new situations. Are you a good problem solver? As CFO, you will be faced with many challenges. You need to be able to identify problems and find solutions quickly. You have leadership potential? As CFO, you will need to lead your team and inspire them to achieve great things. You need to be able to motivate and mentor your team members. But feeling ready is just a start. Listen to the show and hear Dan explain the other dimensions of CFO readiness, why one size doesn’t fit all, and why there is no easy way to measure CFO readiness or have a CFO readiness index. Links Landing Your First CFO Role: CFO Readiness Guide Join a taster session for the Future CFO Programme Take the CFO competency framework assessment Find out more about the GrowCFO mentoring team and how they can support you in your CFO role Dan Wells on LinkedIn Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn Timestamp 00:41 How do you know you are ready to be a CFO? 03:06 The skills every CFO needs 04:00 The three types of CFO 04:10 The financier CFO 05:37 The strategist CFO 06:52 The operator CFO 08:02 The GrowCFO competency framework 09:13 Which competencies are most relevant to you as an individual; Module 3 of the Future CFO Programme 11:29 Which type of CFO do you want to be? 13:30 3 Different scenarios for your first CFO role 17:56 The relationship with the CEO, and the cultural fit 19:54 A proper action plan, not a CFO readiness index 22:18 The things we cover in the future CFO programme 25:30 What are your next steps?

Do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day? Chances are, you don’t. All too often, our natural talents go untapped. We devote more time to fixing our shortcomings than to developing our strengths. So, Do you play to your strengths? Do you even know what your strengths are? Or how to best use them? The good news is that Strengthsfinder 2.0 from Gallup can give you a real insight and help you leverage the talents you have. Jim Brophy has worked as a CFO and is both a mentor and a Strengthsfinder 2.0 (or CliftonStrengths) accredited coach. He joins us on the GrowCFO Show to explain how he uses Strengthsfinder as an integral part of his mentoring. On the podcast Jim tells us about his career as a CFO, how he discovered Strengthsfinder and gives us an overview of what it is and how you can use it to best advantage in your day to day. Links Buy Strengthsfinder 2.0 on Amazon UK or Amazon USA Find out more about mentoring at GrowCFO Find out more about CliftonStrengths at Gallup Jim Brophy on LinkedIn Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn Timestamp 00:46 Jim Brophy’s career as a CFO 03:49 FD & CFO roles in Asia 05:26 Becoming a portfolio CFO 07:24 Becoming accredited by Gallup 09:31 Mentoring 11:30 The stresses of a new CFO role in a new organisation 15:25 Where does Strengthsfinder fit in? 16:55 Linking values and strengths 20:02 What exactly is Strengthsfinder 22:22 Myers Briggs and DISC 24:47 How do you take the test? 25:49 The 34 talents 28:00 Our top 5 talents 32:24 Your top 10 talents, and the extended assessment 34:27 Developing talents instead of fixing weaknesses 35:31 The “Analytical” talent in more depth 40:59 Matching your talents to the immediate situation 41:30 Talents vs skills and experience 46:11 Maximising talents across teams

When did you last get your whole finance team together in person outside the office for a team event? Probably a long while ago. Your team has been working remotely for extended periods in the last two years. They may have started coming back to the office, but are rarely all together on the same day. Training and team development are some of the things that have suffered. You have struggled to invest the right amount of time and energy into your people’s future. 2022 is the year you have to do something about it. How about a special event for your finance team? Maybe now is time for a team away day? But where do you start? What do you cover? What exactly is the purpose? Moreover, how do you make it enjoyable, memorable and get a great outcome? On this week’s podcast, Kevin Appleby poses that question to a professional trainer and facilitator, Paul Maltby. Paul is the professional development leader for IBM Global Business Services in Europe and is responsible for running development programmes for many of the most senior people in IBM. He is also branching out with his own independent business that specialises in designing and delivering personal and team development activities. Paul has taken his many years of experience in facilitating events and put them into a book, “The Fearless Facilitator: A proven plan for leading successful meetings, dynamic workshops, and effective training events”. He gives you some great advice about what to think about as you plan your finance team event. Paul talks about what to do and what not to do when you want to create a memorable experience. We also talk about handling a number of tricky situations. Links Find out more about GrowCFO finance team development Enquire about GrowCFO supporting your next finance team event Find Paul Maltby on Linkedin Kevin Appleby on Linkedin Get the book “The Fearless Facilitator” on amazon in UK and in USA Timestamp 00:39 What does Paul Maltby do? 01:40 The Fearless Facilitator 03:32 The three sections of “The Fearless Facilitator” book 06:54 Facilitating in challenging situations 10:38 The deficit in finance team development 12:04 The importance of purpose 14:36 The “So What?” question 15:50 How do you create energy? 19:50 The answer is always 42 23:15 Forget the PowerPoint slides 24:42 Handling difficult questions 27:27 The finance leader developing facilitation skills 31:01 How much time does it take to plan a great event? 34:38 How GrowCFO and Paul Maltby can help you deliver your next event

Things are changing fast in finance. You are more than likely struggling to keep pace with the latest technology. You might be in a fast growing business and your team is struggling to keep pace. There’s pressure to get better management information sooner. These are all challenges for the finance team leader. In GrowCFO, the Future of Finance Functions regular events are designed to help you with all these challenges. Future of Finance Functions is a live Zoom webinar that takes place to discuss all things concerning the modern finance function. These range from systems to processes to people issues. Automation, integration, faster close, and the latest cloud accounting are all subjects we cover. Chris Tredwell is the regular host of the events and he joins Kevin Appleby on the GrowCFO show to tell us what to expect in the 2022 series. Meetings taking place on the second Tuesday of each month and the 10 topics we will cover in 2022 are: Is now the right time to change?  (8/3/2022) Why Strong Foundations are key to your departments’ success  (5/4/2022) What is True Cloud Accounting?  (10/5/2022) Ensure you are able to scale alongside your growth ambitions (14/6/2022) Automation in Finance (12/7/2022) The value of Integration (9/8/2022) What should I expect from Reporting (13/9/2022) Improve your Month-end close (11/10/2022) Get it right – Do’s and Don’ts / Procurement Checklist (8/11/2022) How to review the software market (13/12/2022) The series of events looking at change management will continue on the last Tuesday of each month. Links You can book a place on these sessions by RSVP at www.growcfo.net/events/ Find out more about Chris Tredwell Find out more about Kevin Appleby Timestamps 00:56 The reason we started Future of Finance Functions 04:13 The topics we’ve covered in the last 2 years 09:35 The 10 themes for 2022 12:08 Is it the right time to make the change? 12:30 Cloud accounting 13:00 Scaling the team in line with business growth 14:34 The difference between automation and integration 17:02 Reporting and KPIs 17:42 The do’s and dont’s: learning from others experience 20:01 Selecting and procuring software 21:35 How to book your place at any of the future of finance functions events 22:00 The change management series of future of finance functions events 26:25 Accessing recordings of past events 28:19 What else does GrowCFO do?

Do you struggle to write compelling reports that get the right response from the rest of your business team? Business Writing doesn’t come naturally to many finance leaders. You are probably much more comfortable with an excel spreadsheet than drafting a report that needs to be persuasive and encourages others to back your arguments or take the right actions. When you produce a finance report you aren’t just articulating the numbers, you need to tell a story. You need to make the numbers come alive and turn them into something meaningful that your audience will understand. It’s often not an easy task. Martin Booth is an experienced copywriter and is the ideal person to help you improve your business writing. Martin is featured in the communications course within GrowCFO’s new finance team training package. The course examines all forms of communication including sections on both powerful presentations and writing persuasive reports. Martin spent more than 20 years on the sports desks of various national newspaper titles including The Times, the Sunday Mirror and the Daily Express. More recently, he worked in the betting industry. Martin’s focus now is on creating, refining and delivering written content of the highest quality for business owners and leaders. In the podcast, Martin tells you about the things you should avoid when you draft your next finance report. He goes on to explain to you how to create better business reports that are properly targeted to the audience that will read them. He explains that even in finance it’s all about telling engaging stories to real people. Links Enquire about finance team training and development for your team Find out more about LeBoo Media Martin Booth on LinkedIn Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn Timestamp 00:43 Martin’s background in sports journalism 02:18 The biggest challenge in moving from sports journalism to business copywriting 03:01 What do finance folk tend to get wrong when they write reports? 07:12 The importance of creating a persona or an avatar from your intended audience 09:38 Getting behind the numbers and saying what they really mean 10:39 Storytelling brings things to life 14:01 The importance of a good headline and first paragraph 16:23 The power of the executive summary 18:27 People don’t read reports start to finish they dip in and out 19:44 Have a call to action, tell people what to do next 20:20 The importance of a good structure 22:18 Audience research 27:11 Remember that while the report is about the business you are talking to people think about “what’s in it for me?” 30:15 Paul Gascoigne…..If you want to know what Gazza has to do with writing better finance reports you have to listen to the audio!

You have just landed your dream job. Now your challenge is how to make an impact in that new finance role. You need to hit the ground running. What you do in your first hundred days in your new role is critical. If you get the first 100 days right then you will get the first year right. Get the first year right and you will set yourself up well to excel in years two and three. The first 100 days are vitally important. There are multiple challenges you will need to address. You have a new team, you need to get to know them as individuals, assess their abilities, and understand their strengths and weaknesses. You also have new business colleagues, you need to get to know them, understand their issues and begin to build a successful working relationship. On top of all this, you will need to find out how the business actually works, and understand its processes and systems. Particularly those you own or are directly responsible for. Where are the issues? what do you need to fix? You will need a clear plan for those first 100 days, and you will need to execute the plan effectively. In this episode, Kevin Appleby and Dan Wells go deeper into all of these issues and discuss how to approach the first 100 days in your new finance role; how to plan for those 100 days; what you can do even before your first day; and some of the things you can do to help execute your plan effectively. Links Enrol in our free course: “New Role: Your First 100 Days” covers all the things that Kevin and Dan discuss and goes into much more detail. If you are about to move into a new role then this course is ideal for you Enquire about finance team training and development for your new team Find out more about the GrowCFO mentoring team and how they can support you in your new role Listen to the podcast: “Build a Heatmap for Change” with Susana Serrano-Davey, which focusses on a key activity in your first 100 days Dan Wells on LinkedIn Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn Timestamp 01:16 People move roles on average every 3 years 01:57 Franklin D. Roosevelt and the origin of the first 100 days 04:15 The different challenges of an external appointment and an internal promotion 05:46 Think carefully about your No.2 08:00 Why were you appointed to the role? What are you expected to fix? 09:49 Getting up to speed with business as usual 10:34 The first 10 days in your new finance role. The settling in period 11:33 How to plan the next 90 days 14:40 The first 30 days: Fix 17:03 The middle 30 days: Blueprint 18:00 The final 30 days: Transform 19:05 Involve your team. Build a heatmap for change 22:00 The importance of mentoring

Many finance leaders have approached GrowCFO asking for help with training their finance teams: what sort of training and development does my team need? What should it cover? And how should it be delivered? In this episode, Dan Wells and Kevin Appleby discuss the requirements and options for effective finance team training and development. We draw valuable insights from our 2021 survey of over 200 finance leaders. There is a clear need for a broad range of skills training, ranging from financial topics such as cost control to soft skills such as communications. Self-paced online finance team training is popular, but many leaders still favour in-person training and where possible, have this bespoke to their organisation’s requirements. We talk you through GrowCFO’s team training online courses, mentoring and coaching, workshops, and team-building events and their benefits. Our team training resources are designed to cover the topics that will have the most impact on your team and organisation, free up your own time by delegating more, and improve your ability to retain your best staff. Links Enquire about finance team training and development for your team Dan Wells on LinkedIn Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn Timestamps 00:59 Finance leader training survey results 02:16 The training deficit caused by the pandemic 03:43 The four most sought-out areas of development 05:15 Bespoke workshops available to you 07:13 Online training (courses, mentoring and coaching, workshops, and team-building) 08:09 The 10 most popular topics for training 10:53 The typical time needed to complete an online course 13:16 Cost-effectiveness of online training 15:11 Saving your time by enabling you to delegate additional tasks 16:01 Why investment in training and development helps you retain your best staff 18:11 Taxation and local regulations 20:35 How to find out more

In this episode, Kevin Appleby interviews Felix Velarde, author of best selling business book Scale at Speed: How to Triple the Size of Your Business and Build a Superstar Team. Felix is also the founder of 2y3x.com, a growth acceleration program. Felix has distilled some of the best strategies he’s learnt over twenty-five years of leading businesses of varying sizes into an easy-to-read framework. He expertly lays out the journey a business needs to undertake to scale. He breaks it down into digestible steps, allowing you to achieve your goals through well-structured frameworks and engaging stories along the way. It’s a great guide to achieving 3x growth in 2 years (2Y3X). We use this framework to examine the role of the CFO. The CFO’s role within the team charged with setting strategy and delivering growth is vital. The CFO is key to the entire process. We also consider businesses that are in trouble and need to transform quickly in order to survive. Felix strongly believes that the same framework that allows you to scale at speed works just as well in a short-term crisis. He backs this up with evidence from his own clients who lost significant revenue at the start of the pandemic. Links Felix Velarde on LinkedIn Kevin Appleby on LinkedIn Buy scale at speed on Amazon UK or on amazon.com Listen to Felix on The Next 100 Days Podcast Timestamps 00:53 Felix’s background as a serial founder 03:02 2Y3X: triple your revenue in two years 08:29 Scale at Speed: The role of the CFO 14:24 The CFO is in a unique position on the Growth Lab team 17:08 The Growth Lab team and its purpose 18:43 Scale at Speed, the book 19:30 Jim Collins and the Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) 20:27 Edwin Locke and Goal Setting Theory 23:17 The Scale at Speed framework in a crisis 31:14 Team’s holding each other to account 37:34 Motivating the growth team: Do you need incentives such as EMI? 40:01 The importance of shared values for your team 46:37 The financial goal, the quality goal, and the people goal 47:40 Summarising the role of the CFO in the growth process