Aligning Finance Teams For Real Impact

Episode #148: Comfort feels safe, but it quietly taxes our careers and our teams. We take on complacency head-on and show how alignment, clear standards, and better conversations can turn routine finance work into strategic results. From setting the pace as a leader to running meetings that actually remove blockers, we break down the simple habits that keep momentum high without slipping into micromanagement.

Walks through a practical framework: define success beyond compliance, link daily tasks to strategy, and give context that turns reports into decisions. We explore how leaders model urgency and integrity, why teams mirror the behaviors they see, and how recognition and coaching build trust that fuels ownership. 

Celebrate the win, take real rest, then redirect energy to the next priority. Excellence is not a sprint; it is consistent, aligned action. If you’re aiming for bigger roles or simply a stronger function, use these tactics to build a culture of accountability, sharpen decisions, and protect focus.

Episode outline:

1. Leaders set the pace of the organization,
2. Complacency is the opposite of alignment,
3. What can we do to ensure that we create a culture of excellence.

Please connect with me on:

1. Instagram: stephen.mclain
2. Twitter: smclainiii
3. Facebook: stephenmclainconsultant
4. LinkedIn: stephenjmclainiii

For more resources, please visit Finance Leader Academy:  financeleaderacademy.com.

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

Stephen McLain: 0:05

Our greatest obstacles to greatness and to excellence include job satisfaction, procrastination, a lack of confidence and others, but most of all, a mindset of complacency. We all face a myriad of barriers to becoming our best. Some are internal, like self doubt or fear of failure or even perfectionism. But we also face external barriers, often out of our control, like no clear plan, insufficient resources or poor leadership. Complacency sets us back. It tells us that we are good enough and that we don't push ourselves a little more. When we become complacent, our own career ceiling becomes limited, and we don't help our organization become more competitive, which then threatens our current role and those of our teammates and peers, let's figure out how to help ourselves and our team to overcome any sense of complacency. Please enjoy the episode. Welcome to the finance leader podcast where leadership is bigger than the numbers. I am your host. Stephen McLain, this is the podcast for developing leaders in finance and accounting. Please consider following me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. My usernames and the links are in this episode's show notes. You can also follow finance leader Academy on LinkedIn. Thank you. This is episode number 148, and I'll be talking about helping your team and yourself overcome complacency, and I will highlight the following topics. Number one, leaders set the pace of the organization. Number two, complacency is the opposite of alignment. And three, what can we do to ensure that we create a culture of excellence? During this podcast season, I have been emphasizing alignment over everything else. When we are aligned properly, we focus on the work that helps to achieve our strategic goals. Every team and every person, all of our resources, are committed to one aim, so we are all not working on the wrong priorities, working on the same set of priorities, ensuring we are moving in the same direction. A common example that we all use is all of us rowing together in harmony, so the boat moves forward swiftly, without misdirection. It's a great illustration of teamwork. Now, last time I shared episode number 147, from reporting to relevance, building capacity through alignment, automation and development. Too many finance teams are stuck formatting data while the decisions fly by. We tackle a smarter way to work. Build capacity by aligning effort to strategy, automating the grind and developing the skills that turn reports into results. Please go back to listen to that episode in case you missed it. Overcoming complacency requires great leadership. Our teams need direction, accountability, motivation and purpose to stay on track. And it's not just about the work that each person performs each day. A leader has a long list of duties to keep a team going strong, which means not only do you have to assign tasks and ensure they are done, but you also have to be a coach, a mentor and to encourage at times, you must also celebrate the tough wins and then get back on track before you lose Momentum. Proper alignment requires effort, requires coordination, and it requires extraordinary communication. When your team works well together and works well with other teams, you will see better results in understanding the problem and how to solve that problem. When we stay active in coordinating, collaborating and problem solving, it helps to keep us focused and fresh, so complacency does not set in. I am an advocate for practicing effective collaboration, because it does lead to improved communication and better alignment on solutions. It leads to no surprises regarding how a problem is solved and how resources are to be deployed. Never overlook how your weekly team meeting can be a great tool to avoid complacency and to encourage better teamwork. As leaders, we must effectively execute our team meetings and one on one sessions, a team meeting should be streamlined to identify obstacles or bottlenecks to progress, to express the team's priorities and to share relevant information quickly and openly. I like to address problems sooner than later as a leader, that should be our goal every time, help your team to share where they are stuck. It may be that another team member may have. Answer they are looking for the one on one meetings can be used to hold each person accountable with their individual tasks. I want you to rethink how to effectively employ your team meeting and one on one sessions so we don't waste everyone's time and motivation trying to prevent the atmosphere of complacency could turn you into a micro manager, and that's not what we are trying to accomplish here. We want to create the environment where we don't slow down after we finish a key task or a project. We have to keep moving on to the next important item. We are constantly managing and evaluating our priorities to ensure that the most important tasks get our attention first, and we are protecting our team from distractions. Please subscribe to the podcast on the platform you are currently listening to and also please subscribe to my weekly email. I believe that complacency is a killer of motivation and excellence. Do you have big goals to achieve? Then you need to overcome complacency. Are you happy with your current level, or do you have desires for a higher calling? Do you have a goal to be CFO and even CEO one day? Then why are you feeling so comfortable with your current level of accomplishment and as the leader, you set the pace by your example of accomplishment and your level of excitement and how you approach your duties. Let's not slow down to admire our own work. Slowing down in a competitive environment sets us up for failure. Now let's talk about helping your team and yourself overcome complacency. Number one, leaders set the pace of the organization. I will always expect leaders to understand their role and to take actions. For if you choose to neglect or ignore this, you have to relook your leadership commitment to your team. Leaders set the pace for their teams by modeling the behaviors standards and urgency they expect from others. When leaders demonstrate consistency, discipline and commitment to excellence in their own work, they establish a benchmark that inspires their teams to rise to the same level by communicating clear expectations, setting measurable goals and following through with accountability, leaders create an environment where high performance becomes the norm rather than the exception. More importantly, leaders who balance drive with empathy, providing feedback, recognition and opportunities for growth, build trust and motivation, empowering their teams to pursue excellence, not out of obligation, but out of shared purpose and pride in their collective results. Leaders set the pace, because our team often will mimic our own actions and commitment level. If we care about doing a great job, then they usually will care about doing a great job, too. If we are consistently late or have a bad attitude that I bet your team will follow that same course of action. Action breeds action. If you set the bar high and you are willing to match that same high standard, then you are more likely to see your own team do the same. Number two, complacency is the opposite of alignment. Complacency is the comfort zone. It is when no one is upset with me and I am not being asked to do anything difficult. I get the clock in and clock out without any concern for how I am contributing to the long term success. I send reports that I have been asked to do without any context. Does this sound like anyone on your team? They will say that they're just doing their jobs. Is that, because you have never set expectations properly, anyone can format some data into a report and then email it off. But are they providing any value added context that means something to the recipient of that report when you work to get aligned, you are making an effort to focus the resources of the company to reach better outcomes. It is our duty to best use the resources we have, and that requires coordination and alignment. Often we can only execute one course of action to accomplish the strategy. So this is why we must be committed to find the best solution set for the resources that we do have. Once we seem like we can perform without regard to improvement, you may overlook critical issues that could hinder success, the very definition of complacency. Number three, what can we do to ensure that we create a culture of excellence? Excellence starts with clarity. Finance leaders must define what success looks like for the team beyond routine reporting and compliance, a clear vision connects daily tasks to the organization's broadest. Strategy, helping team members to see the value of their work in driving business performance and strategic decision making. High performing finance teams embrace accountability. Leaders can build this by setting measurable goals, encouraging ownership of outcomes and recognizing both achievements and lessons learned, promoting ongoing learning through training and analytics, automation and financial storytelling ensures the team stays agile and future ready. Recognition reinforces desired behaviors, celebrating team members who demonstrate innovation precision or leadership strengthens morale and motivation. Above all finance, leaders must model ethical conduct and transparency, cornerstones of trust and credibility within any high performing finance function. As a leader, what can you do every day to move your team in the direction of the priorities that matter. We have a unique role in finance and accounting to help the organization achieve its goals by communicating financial results in a way that everyone understands, especially non finance people now for action today, ask yourself, how is my team performing? Are they open to accountability? Are they open to solving the toughest problems? Do you have team members who seem to only put in the minimum effort, take appropriate action, to coach and mentor your team to achieve the goals you set up work with those who want to do better and help those without the same level of commitment to find other opportunities that fit their demeanor. Today, I talked about helping your team and yourself to overcome complacency, and I highlighted the following points. Number one, leaders set the pace of the organization. Number two, complacency is the opposite of alignment. And number three, what can we do to ensure that we create a culture of excellence? Have you ever slowed down your performance after completing a tough project? Now that's complacency. I believe in celebrating the wins, and I believe that you need to get the proper rest after putting in endless hours on a critical project. But we don't need to end our own pursuit of excellence based on one project or on one compliment or on one great job recognition from the CEO. We keep going, we keep improving, and we stay committed to excellence. And you can do this without burning yourself out and your team as you ensure everyone take the proper amount of rest and enjoy life, because I am specifically referring to is quitting your motivation at the moment you do one job right, or that you seem to be meeting expectations, I believe you can do better now that might be the Army veteran In me to keep going on a success driven mindset. I hope you enjoyed the finance leader podcast. You can find this episode wherever you listen to podcasts. If this episode helps you today, please share with a colleague until next time, you can check out more resources at finance leader academy.com and sign up for my weekly updates so you don't miss an episode of the podcast, and now go lead your team and I see you next time. Thank you.