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Two years after company buyout, CFO not adjusting

CHANGE IN CULTURE DEMANDS STRATEGY TO RESOLVE DIFFERENCES

Q. We are a 10-year-old, 100-person product development company located in Northern California. Two years ago, we were acquired and have been slowly implementing new policies and procedures to meet our parent company’s objectives.

Several original employees have voluntarily resigned from the company due to our new culture not meeting their expectations, and we’ve been successful back filling those positions with higher-level talent.

The problem is our CFO, who is one of the original employees and has an equity position in the company. She has not been open and flexible with adapting to our new programs and, quite frankly, is making all of our lives miserable on a daily basis.

Our parent company is requesting that we replace her with a CFO that is better suited for our new organization. What are our recruiting options?

A. Most companies who are acquired go through a painful process for two to five years, depending upon the amount of expertise that is brought in-house to assist during the transition.

It is imperative that you sit down with the CFO and discuss the most pressing issues that are having a negative impact on the company overall. Find out if she is willing to work with an expert one-on-one who can help her make the transition from old to new.

Remember everyone reacts to change differently. If she is willing to work with someone, hire an executive coach who specializes in working with people who are reluctant to making changes due to a merger or acquisition.

It is well worth the investment. If she is not open to working with someone, then you have no choice but to make a change. Then hire a retained search firm that specializes in recruiting at the executive level.

Why retained? Internal and external confidentiality is crucial at this time. It is important to maintain productivity before, during and after the search process, which could take several months to find the right candidate.

Retained search firms partner with you and take the time to get to know your company, its history, milestones, culture, future plans and are not emotionally attached to the situation.

Since your company has gone through a reorganization in the last few years, it is very important to re-assess and understand who is the best fit for the company now. How would you describe your new culture and environment? If you were an informal casual work place and have now become a fast-paced formal environment, you want to attract people to your organization who excel under these conditions.

Why is this important? Because more than 50 percent of making a great hire is matching work styles. Don’t make the mistake of hiring based on hard skills alone.

Another option is to bring an interim CFO who can handle the day-to-day duties and responsibilities while you are searching for the best candidate. Now is the time to take action.

Q. I am a finance professional with a broad range of industry experience and have been contracting for the past few years while writing my CPA exams. I am currently contracting for a CPA office while searching for a full-time position with public companies. I’ve been on several interviews but am not getting any offers. What am I doing wrong?

A. Good for you for writing your CPA exams. It sounds like you are successful getting interviews.

A few questions. Are you interviewing for positions that are a good match for your skills, experience and level? Are you taking the time to prepare for the interview: researching the company, vital statistics, history and milestones, products and services, industry trends? Are you making a personal connection with all of the interviewers? Have you prepared a list of questions about the company, products and services, future growth and most importantly about the position you are interviewing for?

Why is this important? Studies show that candidates who take the time to prepare for the interview and make bridge-building personal connections with the interviewers have a higher success rate of going from interview to offer.

Re-evaluate your interviewing techniques with a friend or, better yet, hire a career development coach and nail it.

•••

Jennifer Laxton is a senior partner with Executive Search Associates in Santa Rosa, www.esa.com. ESA is an executive search and consulting company. You can reach her at 707-525-1010 ext. 101 or jklaxton

@esa.com. If you have questions with regards to your situation, send a confidential e-mail to askjen@esa.com.

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