Business strategy, financial plans, cash flow projections – obvious tasks in any CFO or Controller's routine. These functions are integral parts of our job descriptions and inability to perform them would simply disqualify us as senior financial professionals. No matter how sophisticated, at the end of the day they have to do with allocating limited resources over specified periods of time.
Well, what about our very own personal intellectual resources? Are all of us capable to allocate them in an efficient manner?
Practically every single employer (in subconscious recognition of the responsibilities scroll's heftiness) feels obligated to mention multi-tasking, work-under-pressure, and tight-deadlines in their job ads for financial execs. And yet, nobody ever asks during interviews about the candidates' actual time-management skills.
It is very flattering to our professional class that bosses simply assume their present and future CFO's and Controllers to have their own self-organizing tools, but the sad truth is very few of them do. They consistently spend long hours on a single task, while the day runs away from them leaving huge volume of unattended work behind, which over time may pile up into a mountain. And it applies to other execs as well, but I don't care about their well-being in the context of this blog.
To my fellow financial professionals in the small and mid-size companies, however, I want to say three words: schedules, lists and schedules. Yes, schedules two times – short-term and long-term. I have briefly mentioned scheduling before in my post on prioritization (The Importance of Prioritization for CFOs and Controllers), but this topic is never exhausted.
I want to emphasize that the value of time organization lies not only in the increased professional efficiency but, more importantly, in its ability to reduce job-related frustration and anxiety. Schedules and lists create a framework for your multi-tasking and provide you with stability of a clear action plan. They especially help those prone to experience anxiety about forgetting the "back burner" projects.
Once the need for self-organizing tools is recognized, you will be capable to design your own. And I believe that it is important for every CFO, Controller, etc. to develop their individual practical schedules and lists based on their actual business circumstances and preferences.
Just as a reference point let me share that, at the very minimum, I usually have the following lists: (1) functional breakdown of departments with tasks assigned to each group/person and their time frames; (2) a list of mandatory daily functions; (3) a list of periodic reports with fixed dates, responsible parties and intended recipients (weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual); (4) a long-term list with projects that are not crucial to immediate commercial goals, but are necessary to bring the company to the next level, with tentative start dates.
Accordingly, at any given moment I have four schedules: (1) today's schedule, which I usually prepare previous night; (2) current and next weeks outlines; (3) current and next months highlights; (4) tentative 4-month plan.
I would like to emphasize that FLEXIBILITY is a key: don't let yourself to be trapped into an obsessive rigidity. Changes and diversions are to be expected and there is no reason to get worked up about them – after all, we live in a very fast-changing business world.
The Frustrated CFO 