The Role of a CFO: motivating people, managing assets and hedging risks. Денис ДубовцевЧитать онлайн книгу.
Officer (CTO) is responsible for system support, data storage, cybersecurity, user system support, maintenance of computer and office equipment, and access organization.
In North and South America, a CFO serves as a general manager with broad responsibilities, including investor relations, corporate governance, reporting, liquidity control, risk management, and authority in representing the company and signing documents. In the United States, functional department heads are often referred to as Vice Presidents.
Notably, in the United States, when a company goes public, the CEO and CFO bear full legal responsibility (up to criminal liability with sentences exceeding 20 years) for the organization’s activities and the information provided to investors. It is not the business development director or CTO, nor the Vice President for legal matters, but rather the financial leader, who is also the Vice President for finance. The CFO and the CEO share full personal responsibility for the company’s activities and accurate representation of its affairs in public documents. Consequently, the CFO is essentially the second most important leader in the organization, with the same level of responsibility to shareholders as the CEO.
In the Asia-Pacific region, the functionalities of financial directors vary from country to country. Historically, European, American, Chinese, and Japanese style of management and business culture have had varying degrees of influence on the development of general management principles, or approaches, in different countries.
No matter what area of responsibility you take on as a CFO, you need to structure responsibilities, authorities, and resources within the various department. Consider the workload of line managers: every manager should have some unallocated time, free from current operational tasks and requests, to invest in process improvement, mentoring their team, and professional self-development. Also, remember the golden rule of management: the optimal number of direct subordinates for any manager does not exceed seven people, though this may vary based on functionality and tasks. Some leaders require an expert team of two or three assistants for maximum efficiency, while others may need a team of five to seven people.
Flexible Management and Planning
The contemporary world is too dynamic for rigid long-term plans. If predicting events a month ahead is challenging, making year-long or multi-year strategies futile, if not counterproductive. You’ve probably heard something similar. Perhaps you are also an advocate of adaptable management and, consequently, flexible planning.
In a world where «black swans» have become increasingly common in recent years, accurately forecasting the future becomes exceedingly difficult, as does constructing reliable forecasts.
This holds true, but only to an extent. We are indeed navigating periods of economic and geopolitical instability, alongside technological advancements that were unimaginable fifty years ago, accompanied by the rapid accumulation of information and methods for its processing.
At this juncture, to avoid potential disasters, our new pilots must swiftly orient themselves in the turbulent environment with limited visibility. They need to grasp which data is essential at the present moment, swiftly filtering the incoming stream of information, utilizing only the necessary instruments without being distracted by secondary tasks and data. Additionally, they must analyze the situation, pinpoint its primary threat, and ascertain which tasks should be genuinely prioritized.
In this evolving world, planning, forecasting, budgeting, and laying the groundwork for the future remain imperative. Without a systematic approach, filtering information overload, determining priorities, setting objectives, and fostering motivation within the team is impossible to achieve. A rational, systematic approach to forecasting and planning is crucial for building and developing a business, as well as navigating the challenges of growth. That is precisely the financial leader’s mission.
Here, we embrace the concept of future planning, organizing team motivation around a healthy desire for accomplishments and self-improvement, innovating, and overcoming external and internal constraints.
This concept of self-motivation, organizational goal setting, flexible planning and budgeting is precisely what interests me, and I’m eager to share it with you. In the forthcoming chapters, we will explore fundamental principles, techniques, and mechanisms for preparing oneself, the organization, and its processes, alongside key stakeholders, for adaptable goal setting, planning, and budgeting.
Need for Self-Realization
Prior to any action, there lies the determination and establishment of goals, the selection of paths, and methods for achieving these aims. To effectively plan outcomes, establish goals for employees, and choose motivating tools for organizational leaders, it’s imperative to identify individual responses to questions like, «How do we establish and achieve goals?» and «What motivates us?».
For effective responses, it’s crucial to initially pinpoint deep-seated goals and motivators: what holds significance for the organization; why the company exists, what issues it addresses for customers; why employees come to work, what they aspire to (aside from financial rewards); what stakeholder groups exist within the company and how their goals intersect. Ultimately, the goal is to seamlessly integrate all motivators and goals into a unified goal tree for the organization.
In the era of rapid technological advancement and the creative economy, a company’s primary competitive advantage is its well-motivated, efficient, and loyal employees. In this context, «appropriate» motivation entails fostering an environment in the company that fosters creativity, self-expression, continuous self-development of employees and, consequently, the organization’s advancement. Such an environment is unattainable within the strict hierarchical corporate structure of large 20th-century companies.
Many leaders hold the belief that streamlining decision-making processes, eliminating intermediate management layers, incorporating elements of discussion into decision-making, abandoning strict dress codes, and transitioning to flexible working hours all dampen employee morale, undermine discipline in the team, and ultimately lead to reduced manageability, anarchy, and the organization’s downfall. In reality, these traditionalists primarily fear losing authority and diminishing their own significance within the company, and perhaps even losing their jobs.
In contemporary science, the prevailing view is that what drives us in work, business and creative endeavors is the desire for self-realization, predominantly fueled by our own attitudes and internal aspirations. We often do this subconsciously, striving to engage in activities that bring us satisfaction. If we don’t find satisfaction in our daily work and goal fulfillment, achieving high-quality results becomes not just challenging, but potentially highly detrimental to mental and physical well-being.
Drawing from my experience, studying management practices of successful companies, insights from international consultants and researchers in the field of management and motivation, all indications suggest that a modern organization striving to remain effective must align its strategy and goals with those of its employees. Only content employees who are in suitable roles and engage in fulfilling work every day will enable a company to develop rapidly and adapt flexibly to rapidly changing external factors and the competitive landscape. Initially, this may appear utopian, but it’s the only viable approach to building a successful long-term business.
Incidentally, parallels can be drawn here with family dynamics. In recent years, child-rearing methods in modern society have undergone a similar transition – from strict hierarchy and authoritarianism towards younger generations (and women, incidentally) and negative reinforcement and motivation techniques to a nurturing environment fostering personal experience and free exploration of the world, empathy, openness, and discussions on sensitive issues, as well as collective decision-making that impacts the everyday lives, existence, and destinies of offspring.
It’s crucial to underscore that our strategic orientation in life must align with the company and its values. If you favor traditional authoritarian-hierarchical approaches, the laid-back atmosphere of a youthful startup will seem frivolous and incongruent with your work values and you, in turn, will be detrimental to the team. Conversely, a democratic leader who embraces flexible management and planning approaches won’t fare well in a company with aggressive management practices. Such mismatches, akin to personal relationships, result in