The ‘Marketable’ CFO: relationships and communications - Caroline Stockmann

The ‘Marketable’ CFO: relationships and communications

Caroline Stockmann CFO, British Council

CFO Zone, Vienna 8th May 2015

British Council: Purpose

“The British Council creates international

opportunities for the people of the UK

and other countries and builds trust

between them worldwide.”

• English & Exams

• Education & Society • Arts

What is expected of today’s CFO?

In our fast-moving, demanding business world, where there

is no shortage of talent and education, finance leaders

need to have the following skills:

• technical

• business acumen

• leadership

• developed relationship-building

• … and (excellent) communication skills.

(Only one of these is actually about specific professional

skills…)

Communication

If you cannot communicate well, and if you cannot market

yourself and your ideas, you will not be successful in any

leadership role.

An ‘either/or’ question for you:

Do you:

• communicate well with senior leadership? Or…

• communicate well with your team/subordinates? Peers?

Often it is one or the other, but the best leaders can cover

off all bases.

Relationships

If you cannot build successful relationships, and thereby

have people wanting to understand your point of view, you

also will not be successful in any leadership role.

Without a relationship there is often no trust.

Without trust there is no mutual understanding.

Without mutual understanding there is little possibility of

creating win-win situations, and getting the best results.

Some Challenges

• not all those attracted to our profession are extroverts,

i.e. getting their energy from others

• often we are communicating with more than one person

– and they all have different needs/ways of hearing

• the subject matter can be found ‘dry’ by others, and it is

tempting to overplay the detail

• we work in a service function, and therefore will often be

on the receiving end of criticism/feedback/challenge –

and success can be measured in how well these are

dealt with

• sometimes we see ‘networking’ as a forced activity, and

professional relationships as cronyism or favouritism

One Answer: Developing Your Own Communications Strategy • treat this as a project, like any other piece of work to be

taken seriously

• make sure you know your strengths and your

weaknesses – ask if in doubt!

• focus on exploiting your strengths: brings most rewards

• also work on weaknesses and specifically develop a

strategy to focus on what you might not ‘naturally’ tend

towards (eg ‘introvert’ → more personable, strategically

influential; ‘extrovert’ → more content-focussed

• remain ‘authentic’ - this has still to be you, or there will

be no trust

Developing Your Own Communications Strategy

Take this project seriously, identify opportunities to ‘practice’, and allow

monitoring and follow-up. This will ensure you reach your goal of being

an effective communicator. 1. Set yourself a plan (use RIVAS?)

2. Identify key meetings/occasions of potential influence

3. Research different styles, as well as your own

4. Get trusted feedback arranged

5. Try out different approaches, in a safe environment, whilst still being

yourself

6. Take time to think about your audience, and how they like to receive

information 7. Work on your presentation skills.

If you take the time to think about how to communicate effectively, you will

reap the results, and become more ‘marketable’…..

Models Which Help You to Know Your (Potential) Audience • know yourself (360 feedback, observer), know your

boss, and know your audience, by:

– Belbin

– Myers Briggs

– visual/kinetic/aural tendencies

– functional ‘styles’

– gender differences?

– left brain/right brain

– body (left/right position; gestures, etc)

…… and by listening…….

Other Tips

• practice makes perfect

• don’t give up – it is a continuing journey

• be authentic, but ‘use different muscles’

• the customer is always right

• play baseball (see later)

• adjust your pace of ‘reaction’ – up or down

• fill your ‘gaps’ with others

• with group communication, say things differently

Sounds Simple?

• it is – so why don’t we do it?

Relationships:

Building good relationships can transform your function, - we just

need to understand the importance of this. And it is not about

dishonest or unprofessional/non-objective relationships

Case study: forecasting in Unilever.

Again, there are tips and tricks to this, for those to whom it does

no come naturally…

And I would like to start with looking at how we see the

world…

How We Perceive the World: a Blocker?

• we interpret based on experience – a good

thing when the bush is shaking and we are

not sure why…

• there are downsides too: we often

misinterpret, and therefore do not make

decisions based on sound information

• let’s look together at the ‘ladder of

inference’:

Feedback loop –

what we believe

impacts the data

we select

FEELINGS

So, the Learning Is:

• try to be clear on the FACTS

• be authentic/honest

• catch yourself when you are at risk of

over-interpreting (remember, other people

do not see it the same way at all)

• ignore the snake on the shoulder

• be aware everyone else is also

experiencing their own ladder…

Opening Up to Others’ Ideas

• sometimes we believe we know best…

• we say we listen to others, but we often go into

meetings with a result in mind that we want

achieved: with no room for others’ ideas or joint

thinking/creativity; conflict arises as both parties

feel the other is not seeing it the ‘right’ or only

way….

• …so, there is another model which can help us

here, and hence help build relationships:

DESIRE

OBLIGATION

SURVIVAL

IMPOSSIBILITY

THE ZONE

© Bradford K Brown © Bradford K Brown

I Can’t…

I just have to…

I should…

I have to have…

RELAXED

PURPOSEFUL EMPOWERED

PRESENT FUN

LIGHT

EASY

CREATIVE

STRONG

FREE

OPERATING FROM VALUES

EASE

FLOW

WILLING

BALANCED

AWAKE

REALISTIC

TRUTHFUL

OPEN

CONNECTED

MOTIVATED

Relevance to Working in a Global Environment Not only is there the obvious challenge of cross cultural relations (that would have to

be another presentation) but simply the fact that people are in different locations

means adjustment on several levels.

Some key learnings I have made:

- communication has to be EVEN clearer, and speech must be slower, without idioms

- contact has to be regular, otherwise trust breaks down - schedule it in/keep a log of

stakeholder contact

- you need to meet people as soon as possible, to give a platform for the relationship

(easy to be aggressive/come across as difficult through a phone 'meeting', when

you have never met personally – and people can hide behind this)

- involve people in central or regional projects, so they feel part of the whole

- develop a mentoring system or approach

Relevance to Working in a Global Environment (cont’d)

- use technology, whether Skype, blogs, or any other form which makes and

maintains connections

- when physically together, use the time to work on relationship building

and softer skills, as opposed to technical/content learning, which can suit other

media well

- stand when speaking on the telephone...

- don’t forget the people who have dialled in

- don’t forget the social side and create some ‘traditions’.

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Further Tips and Tricks

• ‘the greatest risk is taking no risk at all’ – or is

it?

• to be or not to be (authenticity)

• ‘do not be afraid’ (Isaiah 41)

• respect

• the greater good/pay it forward

• it’s not so bad…settling for second best?

• my way …. step into my shoes

• and I referred to a couple of resources…

RIVAS

• RIVAS is a technique which helps in

achieving results:

– Result

– Intention

– Visualisation

– Actions

– Support

©

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Let’s Play Baseball…

2nd

base

1st

base

3rd

base

Home

base

You matter

I hear you, - what you

say makes sense

I make sense too

We create results

The Final Word?

• these were some thoughts and learnings I

have made, over the years – I hope they

will help you

• there is far more to say on the subject of

communications and relationships, but the

main thing is…

• …giving thought to it.

© [email protected]

Questions?

Thank you!