The business landscape has transformed more in the past 20 years than the previous 60.
And the pace of change over the past handful of years, particularly going into and coming out of the pandemic, has seen that pace accelerate into overdrive.
That’s why Angela Floyd, CFO at DPR Construction, said “the skills that you gain around leading and change, being able to pivot, being able to plan, those concepts are critical.” Floyd was speaking to PYMNTS for the executive series “A Day in the Life of a CFO.”
Compounding this sentiment, while underscoring the need for finance teams to keep their eyes on the prize, is the rise of distributed workforces. As companies increasingly embrace remote work and global collaboration, finance teams in particular, have had to evolve their skills and strategies to stay ahead of the curve.
“I think back on my career, and so much of what I’ve learned was through opportunities to get involved in things and cross-train where you get to be the fly on the wall. And this is really hard to create in a virtual setting,” Floyd explained.
“The challenge is, ‘how do you continue to stay aligned, focused and develop your teams?’ ” she added. “There are many pluses that we’ve been able to gain [from a distributed workforce] and they’ve all come from making sure our teams are connected and not taking our eye off the ball.”
The ability to adapt and plan for various scenarios is crucial in navigating the ever-changing landscape of finance, particularly as the COVID-19 pandemic underscored the importance of agility and the ability to handle multiple fires simultaneously.
Floyd pointed out that leveraging concepts like pre-mortem and scenario planning when “the times are good” can offer organizations a valuable way to prepare for the unknown and better protect their balance sheet.
“I think again about my career, I’ve been through two or three of these challenging cycles. … it prepares you [to not] get comfortable. Whether the run is three years, five years, 10 years, there will be another crisis. It’s just a matter of figuring out what type of crisis and how that’s going to impact your business,” she said.
“It’s about having diversity of thought on your team, not just in the finance organization, but across the organization as a whole, because those individuals are going to bring different ideas and perspectives … [on] how to solve … things that are impacting your business,” she added.
At DPR, business author Jim Collins’ concept of a 20-mile march is foundational to the organization’s go-forward strategy, where the firm’s professionals are constantly striving to set rigorous performance marks and consistently meet them.
This self-imposed discipline not only fosters self-control and focus, but also ensures that individuals stay aligned with their internal performance objectives and set milestones, Floyd explained.
“We keep the teams moving forward no matter what confusion or uncertainty arises. And I think that has been foundational to our business model. It’s been foundational to our culture. And it has helped us stay focused and aligned,” she added. “One of the things that is core to us is that concept of ‘ever forward.’”
Floyd explained that when teams try to “do everything all at once, it creates a lot of confusion,” which is why she has been very “disciplined about prioritization.”
“In today’s rapid pace of change… [the biggest question] has really been about what is the most immediate problem that we’re trying to solve,” Floyd said. “[Being CFO] is not just about understanding finance anymore. And it hasn’t been for some time, in my view. It’s about understanding risk and the risk management processes and programs that you’ve deployed.”
And as the CFO role continues to evolve, with finance chiefs transitioning from taking a bean-counting rearview perspective to a more forward-looking point of view that encompasses high-level growth strategies, investing in innovative technology has made its way to center stage for the finance department.
“From a CFO perspective, we need to engage and partner with our counterparts in the organization, such as the CIO, to align around how to deploy technologies, how much to spend on technologies, what’s the pace of change around that,” Floyd said. “That’s one of the biggest areas from a macro perspective that CFOs need to stay in front of… because there is this benefit that you may not see for the first 12, 24, 30, 36 months, but it’s the right thing to do.”
“There is this balancing of when are you going to jump out in front versus when are you going to let it evolve a little bit before you start to deploy it,” she added. “And [technology investment] is about continuing to enhance traditional concepts like planning and budgeting and forecasting. How do we use more predictive information and [automate inputs so we don’t] spend all the time building out scenarios, but instead help the finance team build out plans for how to move the business forward strategically.”
Floyd explained that DPR has dedicated teams focused on integrating innovations like artificial intelligence (AI) and deciding on the right path forward.
“We have sophisticated clients that are going through major digital transformations, so there is a continuous engagement that is happening within our company [to stay current on] those kinds of things so that we can support our clients,” she said. “There is a lot more partnering that is going on…Firms are realizing you don’t need to go at it alone and that it’s not a differentiator, so to speak, to solve some of these things by yourself.”
“I think the more the CFO is engaged and collaborating — not only within the organization itself but with the key part and stakeholders that exist outside of the organization — the more informed they will be, and the more they’ll be able to contribute to support the company,” she said.
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