Thanks to constant innovation and competition, finance teams are evolving. The CFO role has expanded beyond financial stewardship to include strategy, risk management, digital transformation and more.
Finance teams can find themselves overwhelmed and disengaged when faced with this continual cycle.
HR is uniquely positioned to support this challenge, alongside CFOs, ensuring that organisational transformation is both successful and sustainable.
Understand the psychological response to change
Before implementing more change, HR professionals must recognise the particular psychological response to transformation in finance. Having been hardened to delivering to deadline, the task of switching between the more traditional month-end focus and being a strategic growth driver, on top of delivering transformation, can lead to finance teams lacking the headspace to seamlessly move and prioritise between these expanding and competing demands. Having dealt with previous waves of change too, financial staff are at risk of scepticism and burnout.
Read more: Bridging the gap between HR and the CFO
The key to breaking through resistance is acknowledging these emotions, creating a safe space for teams to express concerns, doubts, and conflicting loyalties. By being available, and fostering open dialogue, HR professionals can unearth hidden barriers to transformation, and address them before they derail current transformation efforts.
HR: a trusted advisor to the CFO
HR’s role within transformation projects is often seen as one of implementation: introducing new structures, policies and contracts. But to maximise impact, HR business partners (HRBPs) should partner with CFOs from the outset by:
- Coaching CFOs on change leadership: While finance leaders excel in data-driven decision-making, HR can enhance their communication, influence, and cultural leadership.
- Building alliances across the business: HR’s organisational oversight can help CFOs strengthen internal networks, essential for successful transformation.
- Translating vision into action: HR can assist CFOs in crafting a compelling transformation narrative, making change meaningful for finance teams.
Embed change management principles
As in-house change experts, HRBPs can actively shape finance transformation by:
- Clarifying the purpose of change: Finance teams need to buy into the benefits of transformation, and answer certain key questions, given their variety of specialisms, on what makes them a cohesive team post-transformation. This process is enhanced through HR’s objectivity and organisational-wide view.
- Proactively addressing resistance: HR professionals can spot underlying concerns and offer targeted support through coaching, workshops, engagement tracking and being accessible, to face and address ambiguity. This reinforces the creation of psychologically safe environments.
- Leveraging data to influence decisions: Speaking finance’s language means using data-driven insights such as engagement surveys, productivity metrics, and case studies to guide decision-making.
Read more: CPOs need a toolkit for 2030, amid permacrisis conditions
Support the CFO’s mindset shift
For transformation to succeed, CFOs must transition from a financial focus to a strategic leadership role. HR can bridge this gap by:
- Providing skills development: Through leadership coaching, mentoring, and training, HR can ensure that CFOs and finance leaders build transformation capabilities and develop an innovative, flexible mindset.
- Embedding a growth and feedback culture: Encouraging continuous learning and open feedback makes change adaptation smoother. This is easier said than done, but by role-modelling this behaviour, HR and CFOs can strengthen the growth culture.
- Prioritising wellbeing and resilience: CFOs often focus on their team and results at the expense of their wellbeing. HR has a key role in advocating for resilience interventions like coaching, mental health resources, and prioritising time for reflection.
HR plays a critical role in finance transformation, beyond transactional implementation. By acting as a strategic partner, coach, and cultural role model, HR can help CFOs navigate change, drive innovation and build engaged, high-performing finance teams. This partnership strengthens the finance function and highlights HR’s role in the front seat as a key driver of business transformation.
By Caroline Duncan≤ an executive coach and founder of North-52
