Key takeaways:Is there more value in finances? You can only find out if you look for it。Open the boundary, what else can the CFO do? We don't look at it from the standpoint of our own department, but think about and solve problems from the perspective of maximizing the value of the companyWith every step into the unknown, there is more confidence and courage. When finance returns to rationality,Managers do not sit in their own positions and discuss the business by the KPIs during their tenure, but from the perspective of the company's overall operation, they comprehensively look at the brand, products, partners and employeesin order to draw conclusions that are more in line with the long-term steady development of the business. Choice is more important than effort? Choose the industry, choose the company, and choose the values. Trust is the cornerstone of making efforts more meaningful。G-CFO Share |6047 words study time |10 minutes.
Many people still believe that "there is only one thing in a lifetime", but there are also people who are trying to push the boundaries of what they can do.
If the length of life is not the same as that of you and me, wouldn't it be better to feel "alive" if you earn a richer experience in a limited time and grasp the width and thickness of it yourself?
This interview takes you closer to the world's top mattress companies that have created record-breaking sales under the epidemicCFO of Sealy China——aaron.
From finance to IT, human resources, orders and customer service, dealer empowerment ......Opening the boundaries is a game for the brave, as well as a journey of exploration and discovery in the deconstruction of the business world by financial thinking.
How did he do it? How to seize the opportunity to open the boundaries of financial people? Why should colleagues across departments trust him? How dare the boss let him do it?
We are as curious about every question as you are, and we can't wait to see how this "financial man with wings" finds his own stage.
It turns out that in addition to becoming a beam of light, there is another way to bloom, that is, to become a "light chaser", bravely take a step forward, and fully embrace growth and change.
Aaron's experience proves once again that in modern business operations,Finance is no longer a single function, but is infiltrating into the various business activities of the enterprise and serving the achievement of the overall strategic goals。For every financial person, it is getting easier and easier to make a living by holding a profession, butBreaking through the limitations of the profession and looking for greater value is a road that few people takeReading from other people's stories is the certainty of growth in uncertain times that only belongs to a fewis the answer I hope you will find in this interview. 
Is there more value in finances? 3 professional experiences, on the stage of blooming
1.Young people grow up rapidly in the first four stationsVery standard"Modern financial man"Career growth path: graduated from Shanghai Finance with a bachelor's degree, joined PricewaterhouseCoopers as an auditor, and was promoted to manager in 5 years, this period of life of the four "auditors" lasted for 6 and a half years, and won the top performer (best performance) every yearWhen talking about this experience, the biggest gain is not that the knowledge and skills learned at that time are directly related to the future work, but,"It can indeed make a very young person quickly improve his comprehensive ability in all aspects”。Daily work requires contact with a large number of customers, and there is a very good environment and opportunities for people's professional skills such as communication skills and the ability to obtain information to be comprehensively and rapidly improved. Because we have to constantly adapt to different customers and projects at work, our adaptability and stress resistance will be fully exercised. I remember working on an American project at that time, communicating with the American side at night and local colleagues in China during the day, and basically sleeping only three or four hours a day for a week, which was really tiring. To a certain extent, it is also a process of "pulling out seedlings to help grow", but the comprehensive ability has indeed improved rapidly, so that a young person is more equippedWorkplace competitiveness under the premise of professionalism2.I want to go to the company to see how the various functions work together"The world is so big, I want to see it" - with this curiosity, Aaron joined a luxury car dealer group that mainly sells Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes and Porsche in China. Because the technology is more cohesive, the big four often do financial reports first, and Aaron is also, starting from the accounting team, with a solid professional foundation and comprehensive ability, he got an internal promotion and began to be responsible for budget financial analysis and accounting team. At that stage, he worked very hard and was very serious in it, but his career development was limited by the company, after all, the company's performance was not good. Many times the choice will be greater than the effort, and it is difficult to turn the situation of a company around by one personThere will be, but rarely, especially financially, is harder. In the context of the economic downturn, we can fully understand how he felt at that time. 3.The choice is greater than the effort to enter the upward trackWhen choosing a third job, start paying more attention to the industry, mainly looking at health and education. When the people's material life is basically satisfied, the pursuit of a better life will become the trend of the future, and health and education happen to be on the track of such an upward period.
The headhunter recommended a very unpopular mattress company. Mattresses are also "sleep health"? Humanity's "dreamer"? This is an area of cold focus for our low-frequency consumption, although it is in the top three in the world and has a very high profile within a specific area. At this point, Aaron came to Sealy ChinaStarted a "very interesting" careerEvery year here changes a lot, to solve new problemsTo grow and explore may be the most desired experience for every upward person.
Open the boundary, what else can the CFO do?
Deconstruct the business and redefine itself
[Reorganization.]Financial structure
Adapt to the development stage of the business
Sealy is an American century-old enterprise that entered China in 2008, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, with 5 regions in the country, each region has 1 factory and ** company, corresponding to 3 4 financial personnel, the work content is more traditional accounting, mainly tax declaration and accounting. Under such a governance structure, it seems that there are more than a dozen people in traditional accountants, but with the continuous expansion of the business, the overall efficiency is not good, and the support and help for the business are slightly "chicken ribs".
The first action was to restructure the financial structure, which was divided into financial accounting and business finance, and centralized at the headquarters. This adjustment is mainly based on business efficiency considerations, but in the process, we have gained an epiphany of managementPut the right people in the right places
A very important thinking in financial management is to allocate resources scientifically and rationally to maximize benefitsThis is essentially the same as the pursuit of profit in business operations. In the principle of employing people, it is especially in line with.
Financial Accounting and Business Finance require completely different characteristics of people due to different job responsibilities.
Financial accounting pays attention to the authenticity of the statement data to ensure that it can truly reflect the actual situation of the enterpriseIt must be accurate and timely.
The ideal type is a very careful person who can communicate less externally and is no problem with being introverted, but it must be careful.
The current leader of the accounting department is a very careful, conscientious and down-to-earth colleague. In order to further improve efficiency and accuracy, the accounting part has been divided into the financial statement department and the transaction (receivables and payable) department, so that the work is more focused and efficient.
Business finance focuses on the decision-making support role of financial management on the businessIt takes someone who is good at communicating.
Why?
Business finance needs to communicate across departments to obtain information, and the transmission of information also needs to consider what and how the other party is willing to accept it.
Now the head of business finance was also out of the big four before, and according to different business channels, it was divided into several different teams of dealers, direct sales, e-commerce, and hotels. For retail business, the analysis based on channel and regional characteristics will be more accurate.
[Take over the IT department.]
Solve efficiency problems with technology
The support of the business involves a lot of communication with internal employees and external partners, as well as the corresponding process setting.
For example, there is a scene where everyone has a very graphic sense, the company's internal communication is accustomed to using email or office software, but many dealers only look at WeChat, how to more efficiently transmit information directly to dealers, is a daily trivial but unavoidable problem.
The first consideration behind this is to improve efficiency, and the second is to reduce costs. Now these ideas can be implemented systematically, rather than purely manually. Directly open up the system to solve the problem of information asymmetry more efficiently.
As a result, Aaron took over the management of the IT department.
Not only do some open system docking, but also engage in intelligent development, such as OA mobile approval. Some of the trivial things that we have become accustomed to, such as using a mobile phone to handle some approval operations at any time, are actually not easy for a foreign-funded company whose servers are still in Australia.
The usual method of process standardization SOP is more suitable for cross-departmental collaboration within the company to optimize efficiency to a small extent, but if you want to achieve a wider range of efficiency improvement and bring about qualitative changes, you still need an IT system.
In addition, the system has some unexpected effects.
For example, the system can write the management demands of the company and managers into the settings, when the sales or dealers do not follow up in time, the system will automatically trigger a message reminder, and the manager no longer needs to follow up and ask, so as to avoid unnecessary friction between some superiors and subordinates.
In this regard, the domestic technology and business environment are in the forefront, and many cutting-edge digital management application practices are worth learning.
[Forming an HR team.]
The management of people is the future
At the stage of managing the IT department, you can really feel the exponential effect of technology replacing labor on efficiency. But in some cases, the problem of people must not be overlooked.
In the end, the performance results on the report expected by the enterprise are made by people。How do you get others to do what you want them to do? This is where the management and motivation of people comes in.
When I first joined the company six years ago, there was no human resources department, and only one person was responsible for human resources and administration, and the payroll and recruitment were outsourced to a third party. 300 people can do this, and as the business expands and the size of the staff doubles, it doesn't work.
The first problem was the turnover of personnel, which needed to be replenished as soon as possible, so a recruitment department was established.
How do you keep people when they are recruited? This involves a certain training system and incentive system, which reflects the fairness issue at a deeper level, which should be aligned with the market externally and unified internally, and let employees truly feel this from the bottom of their hearts.
First of all,Build a sense of fairness among employees through a compensation system
Each level has a corresponding salary range, even if someone intentionally or unintentionally reveals it, everyone is fair, once it is unfair, there will definitely be a loss of personnel.
It is also taking this opportunity to try to make a set of standards for each department by relying on the salary broadband system. In this way, everyone can clearly know what they need to do to get promoted.
To put it simply, it's a transparent compensation and promotion system, but it's not to be underestimated.
Establish a sense of order and purpose in the hearts of employees at a deeper level, not just to address the issue of fairness.
A transparent, open and fair environment also represents the company's value proposition.
In addition to leading the team to achieve the company's business goals, managers also have a very important responsibility, which is organizational building and cultural inheritance
Make every effort to provide employees with a more stable and healthy development space, create a suitable atmosphere and soil, and excellent seedlings will have a better growth environment and have the opportunity to become towering trees.
In addition, in the form of bonuses, employees of different levels and functions are adopted according to the overall goals of the companyDifferent ways to motivate。And, keep pace with the times as the market changes, otherwise someone will vote with their feet.
For example, simply and clearly tell the grassroots employees how much they can get, how much they sell, and how much they can get if they sell more (for example); The higher the incentive, the wider the frequency, such as quarterly awards, semi-annual awards, and annual awards, I hope they will not only look at today's results, but also have a longer-term consideration.
In the process of business development, in order to solve different problems at different stages of development, the personnel department was gradually established, which is now split into salary and benefitshrbpTwo parts.
Functions are closely related to talent types and management methods, and different departments have different HRBPs. Sales is one management method, and the people in the factory are another management method, and it is difficult to mix everything together.
The company is a small society, we see that the society needs to have basic laws and regulations to ensure order and fairness, establish a sense of boundaries, clear value proposition, with these invisible hands to protect, we can work together to pursue a better life.
[Split the order from customer service.]
Only by using the right people can we do the right things
Almost at the same time as taking over HR and IT, Aaron took over the orders and customer service department, because orders need to be supported by the system, and traditional manual processing is too inefficient and error-prone.
The idea of restructuring the group's financial structure was once again used to reconstruct orders and customer service, because the two types of work require completely different leaders.
Order management is like accounting, which requires careful operation and patience; But customer service needs a person who is partial to sales, and service is marketing. Customer service has both pre-sales and after-sales, and pre-sales customer service mainly deals with inquiries from incoming customers, hoping to convert online customer resources into more transactions; After-sales customer service will deal with some old customer maintenance, at this time, if you can ask old customers to referral, you can promote new transactions again.
[Empower dealers
Let finance return to rationality, instead of forming involution
As mentioned earlier, in Sealy China's business, distributors are very important, and in order to improve the company's business performance, it is natural to invest more in dealer management.
Aaron is the secretary general of the dealer strategy committee, and has more opportunities to contact dealers, and has spent a lot of time getting to know dealers and understanding the business in recent years.
Regardless of "big business" or "small business", dealers are sales in their bones, and their understanding of finance is often limited to doing accounts and playing side balls.
This year, a dealer financial analysis team "went out" and compiled a set of dealer training programs, starting from the "big business" from shallow to deep, and obtaining the support of the "big business" boss, through the personnel system in the incentive policy to help and stimulate the role, help their financial team avoid risks, help the business.
For example, triggering a decision with a point of information can help them make more money, or make the "big business" boss more worry-free, help them run the company with more peace of mind, either they can have more time to rest, or more energy to start a new business.
In terms of modern business operations, finance can actually help the operation and management of enterprises, and it is not just a single function, you can point out the business direction through the story behind the numbers, and provide scientific decision-making guidance for effective business conduct.
Some time ago, Gordon's teachers were invited to do training for dealers, hoping to be more in line with the business model of modern enterprises in terms of organizational structure and corporate governance structure, and improve the overall operation level of dealers.
Don't underestimate this kind of structural change, more importantly, the structural change will drive the change of business thinking, which will trigger the adjustment of the personnel structure and bring about the expected business performance results.
This is tooDealer Enablement Program.
We talk about 'enabled', not 'financially driven', why? Different enterprises have different business driving cores at different stages
What dealers need is no longer simple sales skills, they are professional in doing marketing activities and understanding consumer psychology, and they can provide support from other dimensions, empower dealers, and establish basic trust first.
In the process of operation, if the dealer's financial situation encounters any thorny problems, Sealy's team can solve these pain points with a set of targeted solutions, which is the empowerment.
Blindly put Sealy's financial system on the dealer's head and talk about "financial driven", it will go out of business.
Finance can't get involved in the business too much, which will form an involution and affect the company's development speed, at least in the current Sealy China. ”
Aaron's argument is a bit of an outlier than the "financially driven" calls we usually hear.
It is difficult to say that financial analysis can really change the business, even if the financial personnel go to contact the market, there is always not as much as the front-line business personnel; Although we look at the numbers, many times we still have to use the changes in the market and consumers to affect the business, and the numbers play an auxiliary role as a reminder and reference.
When finance returns to rationality, managers do not sit in their own positions and talk about business by KPIs during their tenure, but from the perspective of the company's overall operation, they can comprehensively look at the brand, products, partners and employees, so as to draw conclusions that are more in line with the long-term and steady development of the business.
The invisible hand also made his choice?
Trust is the cornerstone of making efforts more meaningful
IT, human resources, orders and customer service, dealer empowerment ......Many finance people can't imagine these cross-functional management experiences, how did Aaron do it? How to seize the opportunity to open the boundaries of financial people? Why should colleagues across departments trust him? How dare the boss let him do it? We're as curious about every question as you are.
Didn't bother to do the so-called'Manage upwards', everything is related to the company's business objectives", he blurted out without hesitation. When the company wants to accomplish something, it starts recruiting people and does personnel planning for the next year, otherwise there will not be so many people to support the financial results that the company expects.
It's an enviable job.
Simple, open and fair.
Being able to get in touch with different fields and constantly open up your own boundaries and open the boundaries of financial management is a desirable and somewhat unbelievable growth opportunity.
The 7 colleagues who report directly to him (financial accounting, business finance, IT, HR, training, orders, customer service) cooperate very well and everyone does a good job. Aaron says nothing,Just because the right people are in the right places
They encourage young people and have specialized"The "Post-95" project listens to the voices of young people, because the future is for young people.
There is no bureaucratic culture, there is no reason to "push the blame" and "throw the blame" and support the business with a problem-solving attitude.
The supportive attitude of the middle and back office depends on the company culture. He mentioned the words of the company during the interviewYou signed a contract with Sealy China, and you just need to do the right thing for Sealy China, don't worry about the so-called'Workplace politics', as if offended someone is going to be killed or something".
If it is true that "choice is greater than effort", then he chooses a "sleep health" industry that is committed to helping everyone make a good night's sleep the cornerstone of building their dreams;
A top-down company that inspires people's potential and motivation with a culture of trust;
It is a rare opportunity to use the rationality, meticulousness and professionalism of financial people to restore and outline the essence of real business, and explore the ambiguous and uncertain boundaries of the future.
He said that because he dared to make changes and tried bravely; It can quickly identify the characteristics of leaders needed by different departments through phenomena, and use the right people in the right positions; We don't look at it from the standpoint of our own department, but think about and solve problems from the perspective of maximizing the value of the company
We would like to quote Ray Dalio in his book "Principles":
Embracing extreme truth-seeking and extreme transparency will lead to more meaningful work and more meaningful relationships.
Open the boundary
It's a game of the brave
It is also a journey of exploration and discovery of financial thinking to deconstruct the business world.
I don't know what Aaron will open next time.
Will you be the next "financial man with wings"?
Special thanks to Sealy China CFO Aaron for an exclusive interview with GCFO.
Interview and writing: Yang Jing