In recent years, the Chief Financial Officer has taken on an increasingly prominent role in the boardroom. At the same time, the CFO must lead an increasingly complex financial department, keep up with the latest developments and drive change within the organization. What leadership skills do you need to drive the finance department of tomorrow? How do you gain the right knowledge and experience? And what are pitfalls? We asked Hilde Vangilbergen, who heads the financial department of construction partner Cordeel Group.
Leadership and personal growth are the common thread throughout the career of CFO Hilde Vangilbergen. After a classical TEW education, she started her career at an accountancy firm from 'the big four'. She then moved deeper into the construction industry. First at a family business, later in a holding position and at a listed organization. Since 2020, she has led the financial department of the innovative construction partner Cordeel Group, which has an annual turnover of 800 million euros. “In a managerial position you have to dare to look in the mirror every now and then.”
The construction industry has a reputation for being a tough world. How smoothly did your integration go?
"After five years as an auditor at PWC, I started my first challenge in the construction sector by chance. It was a culture shock, because I suddenly went from an international environment to a local, family business. Moreover, in a male bastion, I was the only woman with a managerial position. A woman in a contractor company in the role of financial director: that was still very remarkable at the time. So it was not self-evident. Fortunately, times have changed and no one on the work floor is there anymore. In silence.”
The CEO always remains in charge. What does the ideal interaction between you look like?
"An interaction based on transparency. My job is to provide the CEO with all the data he needs to run the company properly. He must also be well informed about what I am doing and what I will do next. This transparency also applies in reverse
direction. When the CEO has a problem, for example. Or about the reason behind a certain question, otherwise you might not come up with the right solution. Transparency is a breaking point for me. Is there not enough? Then you have to make that clear. Although you must also be able to adapt yourself to the company culture.”
Every leader has his own approach. What basic elements do you think good leadership consists of?
"I am mainly thinking of communication, willingness to listen and constructive feedback. The latter is not easy in every company. Constructive feedback is all too often regarded as criticism. This is often related to the maturity of an organization. As a CFO you often want to change many things, but then you also have to take the culture into account. I have encountered this before in my career. The construction sector has both an innovative and traditional dimension. At Cordeel I see it as my role to reconcile the two and set a good example.”
How did you learn the tricks of leadership yourself?
"By observing carefully and regularly looking in the mirror. Am I doing this correctly? What went wrong? Why did something not work out? And how can I take this with me into the future? This self-reflection is a continuous learning process. You can also learn a lot from the challenges of others. Why, for example, does a colleague experience resistance? As additional training, I benefited greatly from a metacommunication course: what is communication in essence? There are also theories that place more emphasis on the personality profile, but they sometimes provide insufficient answers because you threaten to unknowingly put people in boxes.”
How do you deal with a conflict in the workplace?
"Suppose I notice a problem between an employee and a manager. In that case, I try to first report the problem to the manager. I am very honest and open about what I have noticed, but I am not going to criticize the person in question, so that they do not
need to adopt a defensive posture. I also make it clear that I will not intervene personally. By listening carefully to the employees in question, I look for the core of the problem. For example, that could be a misunderstanding. They have to find a solution for this themselves. Or it is something process-related. In that case, the process must of course be adjusted.”
What was your biggest leadership lesson along the way?
"If I have learned one thing in my career, it is that co-creation pays off. This has two reasons. First and foremost, as a manager you cannot know everything yourself. The people on the work floor know much more. Secondly, change is better supported if the ideas behind it also come from the people themselves. I think it is very important to be open to the ideas of the people you manage and to listen carefully to them. I often even start a team meeting with the question: what do you think? That I could have done differently this week? Then as a manager you often get answers that are useful to you.”
What aspect of the job would you find difficult to do without?
"The feeling afterwards when you have successfully implemented a certain change within an organization. To have an impact. That is perhaps the nicest aspect of the job. A change process is not always roses and moonshine. Too many details that bother you, a signature that just doesn't come, a colleague who wants to go in a different direction, other difficult moments... In short: it sometimes keeps you awake at night. But then you learn years later that that approach has made the difference, or you hearing from ex-colleagues that they learned a lot from you: that is really satisfying.”
Three tips from Hilde Vangilbergen for finance professionals
- Look for your authenticity : Don't do things you don't support. But always take the context of the organization into account. Is something not working? Consider that part of a learning process.
- Keep your view as broad as possible : Don't limit yourself to one course, but try to continuously improve yourself. Because of you
to continuously update technical knowledge, or to follow communication training. - Co-creation is the way to go : When employees think about changes within the company and account
their input is taken into account, decisions will also be much more widely supported.
Read the full whitepaper here
The CFO of the future will be the Da Vinci of his time, it seems. From watchdog to catalyst, leader or innovator: no role is unfamiliar to the Chief Financial Officer. What expertise and skills are indispensable for the coveted job of CFO? And how do you do that, combining all those different hats? In addition to Hilde Vangilbergen, we interviewed 4 other CFOs about their roles and experiences.
