When Adam Lancaster stepped into the finance manager role at the Risk Advisory Group – a financial controller/finance business partner hybrid – he immediately got to work revamping management and divisional reporting, aiming to make it more usable in everyday decision making. He made a point of moving around the business and building relationships with key stakeholders across the business, including the CEO.

Within less than two years, he was suddenly promoted to finance director. Another two years later, he was CFO, taking on the role in January. This occurred after a whirlwind period for the business, where several leaders left the company at once. “Someone had to step up, and it wasn’t clear who it was going to be,” he remembers. “So I thought: why not me?”

It was a steep learning curve, and Lancaster learned a number of hard lessons about how to succeed in each of the three roles.

Finance manager: have constructive conversations

Lancaster notes that quality business information isn't just about the data you have; it’s about getting information out of people, “whether that’s for yourself or to the wider company.”

At the Risk Advisory Group, Lancaster built strong relationships with the CEO and department heads, developing mutual understanding and ensuring people around the organisation saw the value of the finance function. It is an approach that gives people reasons to make solid connections and have meaningful conversations about where the business is going.

“The first step is building out forecasts before you can even have the conversations, because you need to know what questions you’re going to ask,” he says. “So, I need to know what information am I missing? What do I need to work out what the next step is? Then I can go on the information-gathering exercise, which helps you build those relationships because it gives you an excuse to speak to people.”

Developing strong connections within an organisation forms a solid foundation for a culture of continuous improvement. 

“Numbers matter – being able to do things technically is important – but you're never going to really impress people with that,” Lancaster explains. “What matters more is demonstrating that you can continuously improve things, whether that's your team, the wider business or any general business performance.

“When I came to the Risk Advisory Group, business improvement was what I was really trying to do – I've come here, I've got fresh eyes, I've seen how things have been done elsewhere, I really want to make a mark, I want to make things better.”

Finance director: prepare to be tested by the board

Lancaster had a bit more of a gentle transition into the finance director (FD) role when it came to working with the Board. He had supported the previous CFO at Board meetings. Still, the transition was jarring.

“When I was suddenly catapulted into that number one position as the FD, it was quite a shock. Suddenly, I had people testing me, lobbing grenades at me, which I hadn't really been used to.”

He still wonders if he could do anything better to prepare himself for that experience. “I was dropped in the deep end and it was sink or learn to swim pretty fast.”

It was during his time as an FD that Lancaster joined ICAEW’s Financial Talent Executive Network (F-TEN). The six-month global leadership programme helps aspiring CFOs reach executive level, including peer learning, coaching and mentoring, and 360 assessments.

“F-TEN was great to be a part of,” Lancaster says. “I met some fantastic finance leaders and learnt a lot from my mentor but more than anything it taught me how to put my leadership skills into practice and inspire others to lead.”

CFO: step into strategic leadership

While it may seem there is little difference between an FD and a CFO – particularly at SME level – Lancaster says that there was a clear point of transition for him, which started while he was still an FD. “People were looking to me for leadership and not just to sign off purchase orders or similar jobs.”

Other directors of the business started looking to Lancaster for strategic guidance. This, ultimately, was the work he’d done to build relationships in the Finance Manager role paying off. “Forming relationships is so important because that’s when you work out what they actually want from you.”

A “stop asking for permission” approach gave Lancaster the confidence to stand behind his own recommendations and become a true driver of continuous improvement: “My job is to have a relationship with everyone around the table, not to funnel through the CEO, so I need to be able to stand up on my own two feet.”

While technical proficiency is important for CFOs, Lancaster emphasises the importance of developing relationships with management, as well as people who work outside the finance function.

“To get to a CFO position, you actually need to be pretty good at pretty much everything,” he says. “If you’ve got strong technical discipline and you’re good with people, building your relationships and getting people to do things, that’s always important.

Everyone benefits from honest feedback

Lancaster credits a “brutally honest” 360° feedback session through F-TEN for helping him progress to CFO, noting that “if you never ask for the feedback, you never get it, you never know what you could be doing better.”

One of the most helpful pieces of feedback Lancaster received was that he performs better when he is relaxed, which helped him break the habit of “immediately having my back up at every meeting before I went in.”

While 360° feedback sessions can seem intimidating, they are an excellent tool for personal improvement, benefiting the individual and the organisation as a whole. Instead of passively waiting for annual reviews, a culture where feedback from colleagues at all levels is normalised reduces the uncertainty that can stall mid-level managers and delay career progression: “It comes back to imposter syndrome, where you think, they don’t believe I can do this, I don’t believe, I can do this, what the hell am I doing. But you're in that seat because you can, so make the most of it.”