Effectively managing time, talent, and relationships is critical to CFO success in the first year and beyond. Of the three, however, creating supportive relationships may sometimes be the most vital—and the most vexing – to executing key priorities.

Think about it. CFOs have to quickly establish effective relationships with the CEO, the audit chair, the board, peer executives, and staff members as they advance their agendas. Failure to master any one of these relationships can often drain the energy of a CFO and sometimes stymie a career. Failure to balance these relationships can handicap the very agenda the CFO is trying to advance.

There are a few guiding principles to help CFOs win friends and influence critical stakeholders and explicitly addressing the following in a transition can go a long way to avoiding relationship pitfalls.

Sometimes knowing what stakeholders don't want, is the most important piece of information for CFOs

New finance chiefs often undertake listening tours to understand what their key stakeholders "want." These conversations are seen as vital to establishing relationships and to addressing any legacy issues a finance organisation may have with these stakeholders. But despite these conversations, some CFOs often run into roadblocks to their change initiatives due to a lack of information. To really know what key stakeholders want, CFOs should:

  • Understand that some stakeholders may not be 100% clear on what they want from finance. For example, a business-unit leader may say he needs better information and support from finance to create budgets or make investment decisions. But he may not have a full understanding of all of the potential information and support that Finance can provide, therefore the CFO must challenge stakeholders on the exact information requirements to ensure expectations are met.
  • Understand the full set of stakeholder 'wants and do not wants'. Cultural due diligence and finding out what key stakeholders do not want, is as vital as discovering what they want. Any CFO looking to make change to an existing process or the 'way things are done here' may find that their initiative receives significant opposition from stakeholders who are comfortable with the status quo. CFOs must therefore be aware of likely push back and manage it up front.
  • Understand the power you have to influence without authority. As keepers of the purse strings, CFOs have some power. But in most organisations, the CEO has final operational authority. Thus, to successfully drive change or accomplish priorities, CFOs must master the art of influence without authority, to become the first amongst equals. Once they know what key stakeholders want, they need to determine what bargaining chips are available to trade for influence and support of key stakeholders.

It is often difficult for stakeholders to clearly articulate what they do and do not want, therefore a savvy CFO will need to construct and test his own approaches through a series of conversations directly with stakeholders or indirectly with peers.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.