The CFO Leadership Program is designed to develop the leadership and wider business expertise required of today’s and tomorrows high-performing CFOs. Finance Directors frequently progress from being a controller and a good accountant or treasurer into a new role where they are expected to participate in developing strategy, manage a group and exercise leadership as well as keeping on top of the numbers. The CFO Leadership Program has been designed by a former Finance Director with global responsibility as well as considerable management development expertise for Finance Directors and aspiring Finance Directors to address those issues that move from technical expertise to the less structured issues of strategic development as well as leadership. A key aspect is the use of two professional psychometric tools which allow participants to understand their leadership style and how to understand the preferences of their teams and senior colleagues.

A range of strategic models are introduced, using a number of cases and then supported by debate using the real-life experience of those on the course. You will understand how to choose performance measures and communicate them to non-financial colleagues to guide your organization in a transformation program that creates value through the alignment of finance capabilities with corporate strategy.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

By the end of the course the participant should be able to:

• Lead the finance function to be a partner to the business
• Linking financial objectives and performance measures to business strategy
• Understand your leadership style and link this to financial objectives
• Evaluate the practical implications of investment decisions and acquisitions
• Build and lead a high-performance finance team
• Evaluate a deeper insight into how the business model translates into the accounting numbers
• Meet the different objectives of investors and funders
• Drive innovation and lead cultural change
• Lead organizational transformation

DURATION

5 Days

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

This course has been specifically designed for the benefit of finance directors and senior financial executives looking to become Finance Directors who will often have had a technical background as controllers, treasurers or other professional disciplines who are looking to understand the wider business and leadership context with a need to influence their organization and move it forward. Yes CFOs are also leaders and need to understand their own leadership style and how they can be most effective. The course will develop strategic understanding and awareness as well as exploring how Finance Directors can influence and lead the business whilst maintaining the key aspects of financial reporting and control.

COURSE CONTENT

Day 1

The CFO as a Leader – Setting the Parameters

The Evolving CFO 

The program begins with participants introducing themselves, their expectations and objectives. Focused on the individual participant, this initial session will explore:

• The scope of the CFO responsibilities
• Your strategic and leadership skill sets
• Your career aspirations as a CFO

Setting the Scene – What does the Modern CFO Do and how do you Spend your Time?

• Controller
• Strategic consideration
• Setting the tone
• Governance
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Investor relations
• What are the issues?

Exploring the issues that CFOs face during a time of change

Setting Financial Objectives– Key Financial Issues

• Shareholder value
• Setting financial objectives
• Capital structure
• Economic value added
• Need for growth
• Organizational issues

Choosing Financial Measures

• Using the Performance Prism
• Shareholder Value metrics
• Using the balanced scorecard

Behavioral Finance and Personal Bias

• Understanding bias in financial data
• The risks of believing the numbers
• The risks of sales forecasts
• The problem of too much cost control

Day 2

The Strategic Context – What are the Organization’s Objectives?

Introduction to Strategy

• Where does strategy come from?
• The purpose of the firm
• Levels of strategy – corporate, business unit and operational
• Determinants of strategy
• Sources of data

Designing and Implementing Strategy

• Analytic tools and techniques to design and build the strategy
• Integrating financial strategy into current operational plans and priorities
• Influencing, formulating and implementing strategy

Designing Strategy – Strategy from the Outside

• Introduction to industrial economic value of strategy
• PESTEL analysis
• Porter’s five force model
• Supply chain analysis

Applying the tools of competitive strategy to an industry

Designing Strategy – Strategy from the Inside

• Resource based theory
• VRIN model
• Strategic assets
• Implications for strategy

Linking Financial Objectives to Organizational Strategy

Aligning Strategies

• Introduction to value drivers
• Need for sustainable competitive advantage
• Identifying sources of competitive advantage

Public Share Markets and Share Prices

• Linking financial performance to share prices
• Understanding fundamental value
• The difference between firm performance and share price performance
• The role of stock market analysts

Day 3

Personal Style: Understanding Yourself

Personal Style

• Who am I?
• Decision Profile analysis – understanding the dimensions of risk, luck, decisiveness and intuition

Personal Style and Managing Others

• The Myers-Briggs type indicator and managing different styles
• The Transformational CFO: Leading Change

Day 4

Personal Style, Leadership and Culture

The Transformational CFO

• Building sustainable leadership
• Building individual leadership capacity through self- awareness
• Becoming more reflective about leadership and how it works
• Changing the way the organization thinks about leadership

Organizational Culture

• Culture web

Building and Leading a High-Performing Finance Team

• Assessing the strengths and weaknesses of your team
• Developing, influencing and motivating individuals
• Managing dynamics to ensure that your team is working at their peak performance

Day 5

The CFO as a Leader and Business Partner

Leading through Successful Change

• Analyzing the impact of change on people and the organization
• How your personal change style impacts your approach to leadership of change
• Supporting people through change
• Overcoming conflicts and chaos situations

Strategic Communication

• Investor relations strategy
• Designing the message externally and internally

Case Study: 

• Managing internal messages
• Preparation for own personal strategic plan