Small moves that can steer organizational change

In the book Hone: How Purposeful Leaders Defy Drift, Goldbach and Tuff argue that while wholesale organizational change may boost margins in the short term, companies can drift toward irrelevance afterwards due to a growing misalignment between strategic intent and operational reality.

What role can CFOs play in all of this? Here are some approaches finance chiefs can use to guide lasting strategic shifts:

• Think small: Some senior executives try to figure out exactly how a new technology can be integrated into the business before they deploy it. However, instead of waiting to completely figure out a new technology, CFOs may want to immediately start testing it in small ways. This enables leaders to keep learning, add functionality based on the feedback they receive, and expand use of the tool over time.
• Prioritize behavior: Everyone in a business may recognize the need to identify new sources of value. But unless people actually start doing their work differently, they may revert to old habits. By designing metrics such as KPIs or OKRs as part of the CFO strategy, leaders can ensure that what gets measured and rewarded aligns with the behaviors and strategic objectives that the organization seeks.
• Detect and redirect drift: Subtle business shifts, if unchecked, can lead to an organizational crisis. CFOs are well positioned to spot indications of drift in financial data, giving them a potential early-warning role. Having spotted an undesirable trend in the financials, CFOs can then dig deeper to determine what behavior those numbers reflect and whether it is inconsistent with the behavior the company wants to drive.

How can your organization navigate in the right direction? Forward-thinking CFOs take small steps as a proactive and dynamic journey rather than a disruptive necessity. By leveraging the power and perspective of the CFO role, companies can embed continuous improvement into the organization’s DNA and deploy effective strategies that foster teamwork, innovation, and agility.

Check out our full CFO Insights article for more data and perspectives.