In most companies, the majority of employees won’t be directly involved in your finances — which means it’s often hard for them to see the larger financial picture and how their own day-to-day actions and decisions affect it. 

Communication is the remedy to this issue, but without a deep financial background yourself, you might struggle to find the right methods to share your financial story with your team. 

That’s where a Fractional CFO comes in. By leaning on their financial expertise to guide non-financial team members through money discussions, a Fractional CFO can help you make more progress toward your company’s goals.

Build strong relationships with non-financial team leaders

Making your department managers feel heard is one of the best ways to get their buy-in and cooperation with financial issues — and it helps prevent your finance team from being seen as the “Department of No.” Sharing your capital expenditure plan with them is a solid place to start.

In a previous role, I’d sit down with the production manager for our facility and ask him to make a list of his needs — he knew them better than I did, of course. We’d walk through the list and look at the ROI for each one to justify it. If there wasn’t a strong enough ROI, I’d share why. That gave him insight into how the decisions he made each day affected the company as a whole.

The same concept applies to everything from laptops to forklifts  — involving department leads in the discussions about where spending will have the biggest impact builds trust that pays off down the line. 

Set goals – and reward those who meet them

Too often I see CEOs distributing bonuses as an end-of-the-year given, but those leaders are missing an important way to motivate and engage their team. 

While individual employees might not all understand the complexity of corporate finances, they definitely understand their own. The key is tying overall company profitability and individual productivity to bonuses, rather than just asking employees to meet basic targets. 

Be careful not to make things too competitive, but let employees see that the people who clear the bars you set are the ones who receive the biggest rewards. Set goals and pay bonuses only to those who meet and exceed them — doing so eliminates any ideas of favoritism because it’s all based on actual results. This also eliminates paying out bonuses to those who just show up and don’t participate in the profitable growth of the company.

This method isn’t just limited to production staff or your sales team — there are ways to tie outcomes to bonuses in every department. For instance: 

• HR: Align bonuses with their efforts to limit turnover, a costly problem for any company.
• IT: Reward team members who meet ticket resolution goals, which keeps company tech operating smoothly.
• Marketing: Tie bonuses to the results of key partnerships or to internal communications goals that create a more transparent, efficient working environment for everyone. 

Focus on your culture to achieve an intangible ROI

Sometimes one of the best investments you can make in your business comes from giving up a bit of productivity to spend time together as a team. That could be a company picnic with family members, a long group lunch for a chili cook-off, or really anything where people can socialize and take business out of the equation for a while. 

Everyone needs a break, including you, so everybody from the top down should participate. Having leadership team members actively engaging with employees at these events is what makes the difference. When the team can see leaders as people who care about them and their success, it strengthens those relationships you’ve worked to build and makes the team more excited about achieving the goals you set. 

A Fractional CFO is a vital part of your team

Bringing in a Fractional CFO to guide your company’s finances has many advantages, but boosting productivity and strengthening relationships aren’t always the first things a CEO looks for when hiring one. But they should be — a CFO is much more than an accountant with a lot of experience.

A Fractional CFO has deep, diverse expertise and helps you look ahead in your business to plan and act strategically for maximum success. The right Fractional CFO will help you take a wider view of your financial picture and find new ways to achieve your goals.

If you’re in Kansas City, one of our experienced financial leaders at Crown CFO can help you strategically guide your company to more success. Contact Kerry George at [email protected] to bring a trusted, expert Fractional CFO to your business.