The Dialogue> Feature: The CFO's Role in Learning and Development
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| A recent set of interviews by Robert Bruce, accountancy editor of the Times, London, revealed that in 2010, organizations were looking at the chief financial officer (CFO) as a pivotal and increasingly powerful role within the corporate entity of the future. Ten CFOs from leading companies around the globe indicated a need for the finance function to become more strategy oriented, bringing the need for leaders with strong personalities and a wide understanding of markets and cultural issues. |
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| As building a high-performance organization becomes a strategic imperative and perhaps even one of company survival, it should come as no surprise that chief executive officers (CEOs) would look to their CFOs to play a more decisive role in performance improvement programs. Learning leaders should view the CFO as not only an important ally for learning and development but also someone who can play a positive role in the departmental efforts to help mitigate organizational risk and ensure the long-term sustainability of the organization. |
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| Why is the CFO such a valuable resource? Because the CFO's role has traditionally focused on metrics and measurement, this expertise readily lends itself to helping ensure that learning and development efforts map to organizational goals. Since there is much that the CFO can learn from the chief learning officer (CLO) as well, the two can form a mutually beneficial partnership. For example, while the CLO can provide innovative strategies for talent management and advise the CFO on the "people" side of the business, the CFO can help the CLO quantify the impact of training programs on business with which Learning and Development (L&D) teams often struggle. |
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| While the CFO and CLO may seem like they are at different ends of the organizational spectrum, they are important entities in planning and positioning their organizations as the organizations poise for growth with the recovery of the markets. In a recent talk, Jillian Broadbent, a nonexecutive director of several public companies and a board member of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), referred to the finance function as "the circulation system that runs through the body of the business." The CFO, being responsible for that circulation system is, therefore, a key player in all the organization's activities. A CFO is essentially the guardian, not only of the financial reports and corporate conscience but also of the overall health and work culture of the organization. |
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