As a leader, you know your primary mission: to grow a sound, financially successful business that makes you proud to be its leader. The truth is, though, a lot of what succeeds on a corporate level depends on your team. To help those around you develop into the best they can be - and in turn, benefit your organization – think beyond the bottom line.

Anyone can sit in a corner office and delegate tasks, but there is more to effective leadership in finance than that. Effective leaders in finance have major impacts not only on the team members they manage but also on their business as a whole. People who work under great leaders tend to be happier, more productive as well as more connected to their company - and this has a ripple effect that gets to your business`s bottom line.

If you look around your business and find that your team members have become stagnant or disengaged in their work, it might be time for you as a leader to reassess and reform your strategies. Identifying bad leadership qualities in others is pretty easy. In fact, you probably have an encounter with the repercussions of poor leadership qualities at some point in your career. What can be more challenging is identifying signs of a good leader in finance.

The finance functions aren’t what it used to be. It has changed considerably over the last few years. The function has developed and finance leaders have to cater their skills to a new type of finance professional in order to get the best out of them. In this article, you`ll learn about the signs of effective leaders in finance that you can apply in your career.

7 Signs of Effective Leaders in Finance

Engages in Honest, Open Communication

• One of the most crucial elements of effective leaders in finance is the ability to build an open line of communications with other members of your team. As a leader, your own honesty and transparency should serve as an example to your tea members.


• Being a leader in finance means you`re responsible for a team of people and probably the core of a business, so it’s important to be straightforward. Your business and its workers is a reflection of yourself, and if you display honest and ethical behavior as a key-value, your team will follow. .


• A great leader should be able to customize their communication and interaction techniques to sit with each of their team members, based on individual preferences. They should take time to figure out which communications mode is preferred by each of their employees, for example, are they an email person, phone, text, or face-to-face? They should be great listeners and authentically interested in other people, as well. .


• When a leader in finance displays active communications skills and transparency they can build trust among their team and improve overall morale. .

Connect with Their Team Members

• Being a leader in finance needs a mutual sense of trust and understanding between the leader and the team members. To earn this, the leader needs to learn how to connect. If you want to be a leader in finance, be a `more human’ leader. It requires purpose, positivity, humility, love, compassion, and empathy. These key traits will put you on the road to legit connections with members of your team.


• Creating a real, personal connection with your team is crucial to developing the shared trust necessary to develop a robust culture of accountability and great performance. With this culture in place, the members can achieve a successful business, a happy team, as well as a fulfilled leader.


• To create a connection with each of the team members, a leader needs to focus on getting to learn about their interests, personality, hobbies, strengths, and preferences. This gives the leader insights into their goals and motivations. A successful finance leader should allow their employees or teams to develop autonomy and bring value to their own personal strengths.


• Being able to identify the strengths within a leader`s team, and allowing the members to be responsible and accountable, will not only boost employee`s confidence in themselves and their leader but also enhance their performance.

Encourages Professional and Personal Growth

• Being your team’s cheerleader is a vital part of being an effective leader in finance. The leader should be invested in their success and growth. The leader can also set aside a budget, just a small one, to dedicate to the development and growth of their employees.


• There are numerous options varying from on-demand, virtual, and in-person, which present ample opportunities to continue gaining more skills or to further develop existing new ones. An effective leader in finance should empower employees to take the time to learn and infuse that in the tasks they do.


• In addition to the leader investing in their employee`s growth financially, they should invest emotionally, as well. The leader should be able to grow other people by giving them challenging opportunities and guiding them as required. Employees like challenges and the feeling that comes along after overcoming them. When a leader believes in his or her employees and gives them the chance to learn and grow, they might be surprised how much they can achieve. An effective leader shouldn’t be afraid to delegate tasks and push for freedom and creativity.

Maintains a Positive Attitude

• As much as a leader in finance would want their team`s day0to-day activities to run smoothly at all times, they`re bound to face an occasional obstacle. Whether it’s a small miscommunication or a significant error, the way the leaders handle a negative situation speaks volumes about their leadership skills.


• A leader should focus on the positive in any set of circumstances. Try and look at three positive things about any problem before your note what makes it dissatisfying. The more you identify the positives in a problem, the more positively those around it react with one another.


• When people tend to point out things that they`re happy within a problematic situation, they don’t feel so strongly about the issue and are better able to think clearly and solve it. This is also true when a leader needs to enhance their strategy. If the leader or a team member notices that a certain course of action isn’t working, the leader should figure out other things he has done in the past that have worked.


• Focusing on solutions rather than problems can help maintain positive engagement in the workplace.

Teaches People Rather than Giving Orders

• N effective leader in finance should know how to show employees what is required of them, rather than just telling them. An effective leader should coach his team members towards a more committed, collaborative work environment – and without coaxing them. .


• If a leader is controlling people to do certain things in certain ways, they`re not going to reach the level of engagement that they`re looking for. Being a leader in finance should be about letting the people you lead recognize the choices they have ahead of them. They will then take a great deal of ownership over the direction of your vision or target. .

Has Clear Employee Goals and Expectations

• Having clear goals and employee expectations in place for a team is key to employee success. When coming up with these objectives, an effective leader should encourage employee questions and feedback. Having them in the process can boost engagement. A leader in finance should explain the company`s vision and how team member visions fit into that equation.


• If a leader wants to motivate and inspire they should keep their team in the know about their goals and vision. This helps them understand the end result they are working to achieve as a unit. When the vision is clear to employees, everyone can track their progress and identify accomplishments in a tangible manner.


• The importance of how explaining the goals can impact a business can’t be stressed enough. Regardless of the seniority level, an effective leader should be able to tell employees how the work they do impacts the success of the business. You should not let an employee’s goal go antic. Regularly visit goals a=to modify or rearrange them if necessary. This lets your team know that you are present and aware of what they are working on.

Open to New Ideas

• An effective leader has the emotional intelligence to know or understand and accept that change is inevitable. Rather than a leader trying to maintain status-quo just for the sake of consistency, they should just embrace change and innovation. They should be open to new ideas and other ways of thinking. Everyone in a team brings a unique idea to the table, and leaders should be able to take advantage of that and not discourage it.


• When a leader is open to hearing the thoughts of the talent around them is when they truly embrace every possibility and potential. An effective leader, especially in finance should encourage members to offer their insights when solving a problem. When an employee feels like he can openly offer new ideas to the table, then true engagement, success, and innovation can prevail.

Final Thoughts

Keep in mind that being an effective leader takes time. Although some people are naturally inclined to poses good leadership skills, it is something anyone can learn and improve on. With determination, hard work, and strategic planning, you can also lead your team to success.