4 tips for being a productive CFO

4 tips shared by CFOs to become more productive every day.

Being productive is every CFO's goal. But how do your peers actually achieve it? What are their secret weapons? Every month on Once Upon a Business, the podcast powered by EMASPHERE, a finance expert speaks candidly and shares all their secrets. Here is a roundup of productivity tips from 4 finance leaders who don't mince words. 

"Having a child is actually a pretty good way to learn how to get organized," Pierre Mariage, CFO of Selectra, told us in his episode of the Once Upon a Business podcast. Joking aside, no one would argue with this father who has just turned thirty. CFOs have plenty of tips about life at work. But do they ever get the chance to share them and learn from their peers' experiences? Rarely. 

Once Upon a Business aims to change that. In every episode, we hand the mic to finance experts. Each of them shares the tips that have guided them throughout their careers. They tell their story and what they have lived through. 

Once Upon a Business in a few figures…

In total, Once Upon a Business has already reached just over 46,000 minutes of listening, which shows how much interest finance professionals have in this new podcast. How can you be productive? Our four guests reveal their tips and tricks.

1) Follow your intuition and give meaning to what you do

This tip deserves the top spot. 

It comes from Nicolas Leonard, Group CFO of Gaming1, who reveals his plan of attack when projects pile up: "I often leave projects on the back burner for 5 or 6 months, during which I feel like there is a kind of fog hanging over my head. Then, when I decide to dive into one of those projects, everything becomes clear and things can move very quickly," he explains.

"If you do things just because you have to, without giving them meaning, you will never go in the right direction."

Nicolas Leonard, CFO of Gaming1

The moral of the story? "I realized that when I can't get into a project, it's actually because it wasn't ready. If you do things just because you have to, without giving them meaning, you will never go in the right direction." He concludes: "Follow your intuition and give meaning to what you do. That's what has allowed me to write a pretty great story in my career."

2) Turn off your notifications and stay away from social media! 

This is a welcome reminder. Everyone knows that sense of urgency when notifications pile up in your inbox or internal messaging app. The rise of remote work after COVID-19 has increased the volume of notifications. And yet… turning off notifications really is a way to stay focused on a task. An urgent request? The person will call you! On top of that, how much time do we spend scrolling like robots through our favorite social networks? Too much! Wouldn't it be wiser to spend that precious time reading, playing a game of pool or getting some fresh air? That's certainly what Pierre Mariage, CFO of Selectra, thinks. 

He tells us: "The cell phone is a fantastic tool, but I advise my team to turn off their notifications so they aren't disturbed while they're concentrating. Also, at Selectra, we encourage our employees to spend as little time as possible on social networks, whose business model is to eat up your time. There's no outright ban, but if you have the choice, do something else!"

"We encourage our employees to spend as little time as possible on social networks, whose business model is to eat up your time"

Pierre Mariage, CFO at Selectra

3) Give your brain a break from time to time

For Laurent Pellet, a former CFO turned CEO (Accor, then Edenred), taking a management program at prestigious Harvard University was beneficial in every way: greater self-confidence, a sense of legitimacy in his day-to-day role as a manager, and a real mental break. "It's important to step out of your daily routine, out of that washing machine, out of that arena. Every now and then, you need to give your brain a break to recharge." 

He highlights the "control freak" impulse that can pull at us. "As a manager, you always feel like you need to be there nonstop for your team, but that's not true. You also have to learn to give your employees some breathing room," he counters. 

"It's important to step out of your daily routine, out of that washing machine, out of that arena."

Laurent Pellet, CEO on sabbatical

The question of trust then becomes especially important in the art of delegating: "Some people believe trust has to be earned and wait for proof before giving it to their team. I think the opposite. I trust people by nature, and if I ever feel betrayed, I reconsider. But when you place your trust in an employee, they feel it. Even if someone tends to push the limits, chances are they will do everything they can not to disappoint the person who trusted them from the start," concludes the executive, who took a one-year sabbatical to recharge by sailing across the Atlantic. 

4) Deliver a solution within the time available

Now it's the turn of Winncare's CFO, Olivier Pouillot, to share his tips and tricks. He owes this one to his mentor, a CFO he worked with during his career who taught and showed him "everything a finance professional should be" in his view, namely: "Not hiding behind an income statement or a balance sheet, but being a true business partner."

 "This mentor taught me what a finance professional should be: a true business partner"

Olivier Pouillot, CFO of Winncare

That famous secret weapon was "being able to compress different expectations to fit them into the time available and manage to deliver a solution at a given moment." In other words, always keeping in mind that you need to deliver a solution within the time you have.  

Once Upon a Business reveals its upcoming guests

Curious to know who's coming up next on your favorite podcast? Here's an exclusive preview: 

• Thomas Mémurlin (CEO of Huggy’s Bar) will reveal the recipe for the success of the Belgian gourmet burger chain, which now generates 15 million euros in revenue and has 11 restaurants in Wallonia and Brussels. 
• Marc Vossen (former CEO of Nostalgie, NRJ) will talk about his vision of optimism in management and how it contributed to the success of the radio stations Nostalgie (No. 1 in French-speaking Belgium) and NRJ. 

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