Coaching CFOs: 2 lessons every CFO has to learn – or pay the school fees

When I was first introduced to the concept of coaching, I cringed at the idea.  

It wasn’t something specific but I definitely didn’t want to talk about my ‘issues’ with a stranger. I also didn’t believe I had ‘issues’ and I certainly didn’t need help from a ‘psychologist’. Today, I am extremely grateful that I was introduced to coaching. I quickly realised there is a big difference between therapy and coaching and that “life coaching” and “business coaching” are worlds apart. 

Being a CFO who is now coaching CEOs and other CFOs I have a unique skillset to interlink finance and coaching. My experience gives me a level of corporate empathy that other executive business coaches don’t have – and I truly understand the value of this as I had the privilege of experiencing coaching from both perspectives.  

My personal experience led me to realise the value of CFOs being coached by other CFOs with a diverse range of experiences and industries.  

As the concept of “coaching” has evolved, there is an interesting dynamic which has played out across gender lines. Interestingly female CFO’s and Financial Directors were initially more open to coaching but an increasing number of men are now seeing the benefit of experience and mentorship.  

Why do I point this out? Harvard Business Review published an article by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic and Cindy Gallop where they write that although women are not as insecure as they are portrayed to be in the self-help literature (and much of the popular media), studies do show that they are generally less overconfident than men. The authors state that this is good because it enables them to understand how people see them and gives them the capacity to spot gaps between where they want to be and where they actually are – and consequently make them more open to access coaches when needed.  

The reality is that men (unfortunately) still dominate the world of finance and fill more leadership roles than women. CareerJunction recently did some research showing that men fill 61% of the Executive Management positions in South Africa. 

On top of that, accountants are often labelled as “numbers” people with a high IQ but lower EQ. Those that have a higher EQ have been conditioned to communicate as finance wizards and that does them zero favours in a boardroom. When an accountant gets appointed as the CFO of a large corporation, they are placed in boxes that makes it difficult for them to interact with other members of management and employees. 

An accountant that grows into becoming a CFO needs to firstly learn a new language that will help him or her get into the heads of their peers and secondly, they have to realise their role as leaders within the company and exert the appropriate level of influence. 

Apart from other people labelling them, I notice CFOs disqualifying themselves as they don’t realise these two crucial lessons and end up suffering from “Imposter Syndrome”. They have the knowledge and ability to do the work – their appointment into the position already confirms that but, often when it comes to presenting ideas to make meaningful change, they get overruled by the more charismatic CEO or COO that joins them in board meetings – just because they don’t know how to get into the heads of their peers or realise the level of influence they’ve acquired with their appointment as CFO. 

John C. Maxwell once made the statement that leaders are not born, they are made.  Maxwell agrees that some people were born with gifts that helped them lead more naturally but stated that everyone has the potential to become a leader. Leadership can be developed and improved by anyone willing to put in the effort to develop the requisite skills. 

A CFO can no longer hide behind the numbers. They are required to use their knowledge of the financial situation of the business to strategically direct the business towards growth. This means they have to be excellent communicators and influencers – skills that can be coached. Otto Bismarck once said: “Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others.”  

Learning is inevitable – how you will learn is up to you. I can attest that as a coach I have encouraged people to take advantage of failures and mistakes made by others, apply the learnings, and cut back on some school fees, being a CFO I know, that’s the real bottom-line.  

Author: Matthew Comins, Regional Director at The CFO Centre

Get in touch with The CFO Centre, to chat more about CFO Coaching.