🏠︎ | Past Sessions | Building a High-Impact Finance Team
- Event: Finance Forum 25
- Date: 7 October 2025
- Speakers
- Joseph Fernandes, Head of Finance UKI, Flora Food Group
- Nina Sronipah, Head of Finance & Accounting, Munich Private Equity
- Becky Glover FCCA, Director of Finance & Technology, Not stated
- Valerie Elliott FCCA, UK Finance Director, Lavazza Professional UK Ltd
- Estimated read time: 8-9 minutes
Quick summary
The panel’s view was that performance is not just accuracy and speed, it is the ability to combine strong control with commercial judgement, then translate numbers into decisions the business can act on.
They also stressed that impact depends on how finance works with the rest of the organisation. Teams become more effective when budgeting and planning are built through stakeholder conversations, not finance only effort. Finally, high performance is sustained through leadership behaviours, including respecting boundaries, creating psychological safety, and allowing controlled failure so people and processes improve.
From reaction to anticipation
Historically, finance teams were measured by how well they reacted, accurate numbers, timely reports, and cost control. Nina Sronipah described how that model struggles in volatile environments where leadership expects forward looking insight rather than hindsight.
High-impact finance teams anticipate. They build a deep understanding of how the business operates, then translate financial information differently depending on the audience, whether that is sales, operations, or the executive team. The goal is not to overwhelm with data, but to enable better decisions earlier.
Finance also plays a critical role as a sparring partner. That means constructively challenging assumptions, stress testing plans, and helping other functions see risks and opportunities they may otherwise miss. In this model, finance is not a back office function, it is embedded in how the organisation thinks and moves.
Integration beats isolation
One of the strongest signals of a high-impact finance team is how closely it works with the rest of the organisation. Nina shared a practical example from private equity environments, shifting budgeting from a finance only exercise into a collaborative process.
Instead of finance spending months working in isolation, the team now spends a significant portion of the budgeting cycle speaking with stakeholders across the business. This creates transparency, surfaces operational insight earlier, and improves the quality of the final numbers.
The impact is cultural as well as technical. Finance stops being perceived as a gatekeeper and becomes a partner. Over time, that changes how people engage with finance, when they involve it, and how much trust they place in its guidance.
Fit people to strengths, not titles
A recurring theme was the danger of assuming high performance comes from uniform expectations. Joseph Fernandes highlighted the importance of understanding individual strengths and placing people where they add the most value.
Some team members thrive in analysis and structure. Others are energised by presenting, influencing, and working closely with senior stakeholders. High-impact teams need both. Treating everyone as a future presenter or everyone as a technical specialist limits performance.
Joseph made a clear distinction between visible “superstars” and less visible “rock stars”. Superstars often front conversations with senior leadership. Rock stars keep systems, controls, and processes running smoothly. Without them, the organisation slows down or breaks. High-impact finance teams recognise and value both.
Psychological safety enables real performance
Creating a high-impact finance team requires a safe environment, one where people can be honest about constraints, priorities, and mistakes. Several speakers stressed the importance of listening before acting, especially when stepping into a new role.
Joseph described deliberately avoiding major changes in the first few months, instead observing how people work, where processes drain energy, and where value is created. This listening phase allows leaders to identify what should change and what should be protected.
Valerie Elliott added that safety also includes permission to fail in controlled ways. Finance cannot fail everywhere, balance sheets still have to balance. But leaders can choose low risk areas where experimentation and learning are encouraged.
“I want my team to fail at a few things, because that’s where the learning happens.” Valerie Elliott FCCA, UK Finance Director, Lavazza Professional UK Ltd
Leadership means protecting energy, not just output
Another defining feature of high-impact teams is sustainability. Joseph raised a practical but often overlooked issue, constant connectivity. With modern technology, teams can feel permanently on call, which erodes focus, wellbeing, and ultimately performance.
High-impact finance leaders actively protect boundaries. That means being thoughtful about when messages are sent, setting clear expectations about availability, and modelling those behaviours themselves. Once burnout sets in, team performance drops quickly and spreads.
This responsibility increases in global teams. Joseph shared how, when managing teams across multiple time zones, he adapted his own working hours rather than forcing everyone into a single meeting window. Calls were rotated, recordings shared, and follow ups handled asynchronously.
The result was not just goodwill. Teams responded with stronger commitment and engagement, because their time and personal lives were respected.
From expert to coach
Nina drew a powerful parallel between professional sport and finance leadership. Early in a career, performance is about personal execution. As responsibility grows, the role shifts from player to coach.
Finance leaders cannot and should not do everything themselves. High-impact teams depend on trust, delegation, and clear direction. Leaders set goals, provide context, and support development, but allow individuals to find their own methods.
Failure plays a role here too. Teams learn resilience by making mistakes, recovering quickly, and improving. Leaders who intervene too early or avoid discomfort deprive their teams of growth.
What good looks like, practical actions for finance leaders
This discussion translated into clear, practical guidance for anyone building or reshaping a high-impact finance team.
Questions to ask your team and yourself- Where does finance add insight today, and where does it only report
- Which processes drain energy without adding value
- Do roles reflect individual strengths or historical job titles
- Where is it safe to test and learn without risking core controls
- Do people feel able to say when they are overloaded or struggling
- Finance is invited into discussions earlier, not just at sign off
- Stakeholders ask for interpretation and options, not just numbers
- Team members challenge assumptions constructively
- Workload spikes are managed deliberately, not absorbed silently
- Recognition includes both visible and behind the scenes contributions
- Assuming agility means speed rather than better judgement
- Rewarding only the most visible contributors
- Introducing technology without changing behaviours
- Ignoring time zone and boundary fatigue in global teams
- Treating psychological safety as a soft issue rather than a performance driver
What high impact looks like in practice
A high-impact finance team is trusted, engaged, and commercially aware. It delivers strong control while actively shaping decisions. Technology reduces low value effort, freeing time for insight. Leaders coach rather than control, and people understand how their strengths contribute to collective performance.
Conclusion, impact is a leadership choice
Building a high-impact finance team is not about finding perfect people or structures. It is about leadership choices, how roles are designed, how safety is created, how time is respected, and how learning is encouraged.
When finance moves from reaction to anticipation, and from isolation to integration, its influence grows naturally. The result is not just better finance outcomes, but better business decisions across the organisation.
Speakers
Head of Finance UKI, Flora Food Group, Chartered accountant with over 15 years of global finance experience across FMCG and financial services, focused on building commercially effective, adaptable finance teams.
Head of Finance & Accounting, Munich Private Equity, Finance leader integrating financial insight into operational and executive decision making, with a background spanning professional sport, audit, and private equity.
Director of Finance & Technology, Strategic finance and technology leader known for translating macroeconomic trends into practical, growth focused business action.
UK Finance Director, Lavazza Professional UK Ltd, Experienced change leader across finance and operations, passionate about creating environments where people and teams can achieve their potential.