You may not realize it, but your company’s financial health and stability depend heavily on the people in its finance department. They’re responsible for managing the organisation’s money wisely and responsibly, and they have a lot of responsibility to shoulder.
As the Chief Financial Officer who is leading the finance team, you have a duty to keep the company financially sound and stable. And that means putting together a solid finance team full of reliable, efficient people who can take care of your company’s finances the right way.
Here are some tips on how you can make your finance department work like a well-oiled machine:
1. Build A Solid Relationship “With and Within” Your Finance Team
Building a great team starts with building great relationships. In fact, relationship is the “glue” that holds a team together and keeps them working towards achieving their goals.
As the team leader, not only should you build solid professional relationships with your team members but you should also foster a great “relationship culture” within the team by encouraging them to build relationships with each other.
For instance, encourage communication and teamwork, because a team that communicates well will build trust among themselves.
Although you’re in charge of your finance team, you can’t just give orders and expect them to be carried out if your team members don’t like or trust you. Instead, lead by example and set the tone for how your team interacts with each other.
2. Be a Good Listener
A mistake some leaders make is only giving out instructions and directions without actually listening to what their team has to say. As a result, employees may feel like they’re not being heard or valued by their leader.
Effective leadership is a two-way thing: it’s about effective communication and active listening.
Encourage feedback; give room for opinions; ask what they think you could do to help them instead of just giving orders.
3. Foster a Collaborative Mindset
People in the finance department have different roles and responsibilities, but they need to work together in order for the finance team to function smoothly.
Sharing resources, sharing knowledge, and working towards a common goal are vital for creating a collaborative mindset among your team members.
There are many benefits to collaborating, one of which is that it increases the creative process by allowing people to think outside the box and share their ideas.
4. Bring Organisation into the Team
A disorganised team will be a less effective team. Without organisation, there will always be distractions and other issues that get in the way of tasks and projects.
To bring organisation into your team, you need to start by bringing a sense of order and structure to your work environment.
You need to be clear on who is responsible for what, when they are expected to complete tasks and projects, and why those tasks and projects are important.
For instance, there are so many things your finance team needs to handle in order for your company’s finances to run smoothly. Don’t just go around assigning tasks to them randomly; understand their individual priorities first.
Your team needs to work as one cohesive unit, unstoppably heading in one clear direction and not as separate individuals who only look out for themselves.
5. Empower Your People
Guess what ties all of these together: an effective financial management system that is built to help your finance team do their jobs faster and more efficiently.
By investing in the right financial accounting software such as SunSystems, your finance team will be able to streamline processes, save a huge amount of time, increase productivity, automate manual tasks, keep costs low, maximise profits, and ultimately enjoy doing their work more.
This is truly how to empower your team; this is how to make your finance department work like a well-oiled machine!