finance
Every company dreams of having an efficient finance team that can handle even the biggest threats to financial security.
However, hiring a competent team isn’t that easy. As the head of the finance team, or even the CFO, you’ll have to make a lot of calculated decisions to choose the right people.
In the US alone, there are over 131,815 CFOs, and financial heads in corporate companies, and every one of them seeks ways to boost their team’s performance.
So, if you’re also interested in improving the performance of your finance team, here are a few tips and tricks!
Identify the ones that reduce productivity
Before you even begin to sort out financial problems, it’s important to identify the productivity killers in the team.
The productivity killers might not even be aware that they hamper the overall performance of the finance team, so it’s your responsibility to point it out.
For example, look out for employees who often make calculation errors, misplace financial documents, or miscommunicate information.
You have to either give them a strict warning or remove them from the finance group and reassign them elsewhere.
This will make sure that your operation runs more smoothly and that there are no bottlenecks in the team.
Eliminate paper processes
In today’s world, it’s imperative to reduce paper in the office and opt for more sustainable workplace operation methods.
Moreover, the fewer papers you use, the more efficient your team will become.
In the finance team, for example, you don’t need to keep storing the various types of money receipts or pay slips that go in and out of the company.
These papers will clog up your workspace, and there’s an increased chance of losing important documents.
After the Covid-19 pandemic, most offices understood the importance of going paperless. However, if you still heavily rely on paper-based documents and files, this is your cue to go digital.
Communicate properly
As the financial leader of your company, you need to ensure that all kinds of communication are crystal-clear, both oral and written.
Whenever you need to implement a new financial policy, ensure that everyone in your team is on the same page and that all your team members clearly know their job roles.
Financial Education is extremely important, so also make sure that everyone in your group has a basic idea about financial literacy.
If anyone’s knowledge is lagging, but you believe they can bring promising results, enroll them in the necessary courses. If you can invest, you can also enroll the entire team just to make sure everyone is updated about the latest knowledge.
Alternatively, you should also be open to suggestions from your teammates. Finally, hold a meeting once every week to keep everyone updated and to share feedback and comments.
Automate low-value jobs
Unfortunately, hundreds of people in the financial sectors of a company choose to leave their jobs simply because they get burnt out.
And the most common reason for feeling physically and mentally exhausted is the overwhelming workload that could have otherwise been automated.
If you automate your tasks, it will not only save the company a ton of money but will also make it easier for everyone in the financial team to work well.
If you’re wondering which processes to automate, there are countless ones. First, identify your most repetitive and low-risk tasks like manual data entry. Next, ask your peers to check which software can do these jobs effortlessly.
Give priority to customer service
This might sound surprising, but in reality, every single branch of a company wishes to deliver the utmost satisfaction to the customer.
While marketing is at the forefront, it doesn’t mean the finance team has to be less invested.
If sales forces work well and bring in revenue, then the finance team will also work hard and take the company to newer heights.
Most importantly, it’s necessary to encourage an open flow of communication among all the teams so that everyone works together and sees to it that the customers are happy.
The main goal is to involve the financial department in major decision-making processes.
Over to you…
These are the basic tips you can carry out to see that your finance team significantly improves and brings back good results.
However, you also need to make sure that every team member is equipped with the right tools and software. Provide your workers with reliable and updated financial management tools to obtain accurate data.
