Knowing the difference can help build your company worth
Ask yourself this question – is my company CFO or controller a coach or a cop when it comes to working with my department managers and supervisors? One helps you build your company worth, the other could be impeding it and you may not realize the difference until you try to sell your company.
Most department managers and supervisors got their jobs because of a technical or department specific expertise that they have. But many lack a true understanding of managing budgets and don’t understand the connection between the decisions they frequently make and the potential impact on your financials. Then arrives your controller or CFO on their door step or in a meeting. Is this ensuing interaction a positive and enabling one or is it a demeaning and frustrating one? The coach can help educate and build someone up, the cop may apply pressure that makes them feel inadequate.
The CFO or controller coach can help build your company worth but a CFO or controller cop can hurt it. The cop hurts it because people are afraid to make decisions knowing the chastising or questions they might receive or managers/supervisors won’t want to proactively come forth with financial questions or looking for advice because the cop will view them as weak in their roles. Now in a turnaround situation, I may want a cop running my financial group for a period of time but in normal growth times for a company, I want a talented and firm handed financial leader on my team but one that helps people understand and respect the financials, not fear them.
As you are thinking about this for your company, you’re also thinking about your culture. Coaches can help build great company cultures, the cops unfortunately can hurt them. We greatly value and respect what law enforcement does for us daily in our lives, but inside your leadership team and company, it can be a different story.
