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Leaders Insight - with Steve Hammell, Experienced CFO, Industrials & Technology markets

The latest instalment of our “Leaders Insight” series is with Steve Hammell, experienced CFO in Industrials & Technology markets. In an insightful interview conducted by Michael Ball, Partner at The CFO Partnership, Steve shares his journey, the strategic initiatives he’s spearheading, and his vision for the future of finance.Steve Hammell brings a wealth of experience and a unique perspective to his role at Pressure Technologies. With a career spanning over two decades in various financial leadership positions, Steve has navigated through numerous economic cycles and industry shifts. His expertise in mergers and acquisitions, financial strategy, risk management, and operational efficiency has been instrumental in driving the company’s growth and resilience. Join us as we delve into Steve’s experiences, explore the evolving responsibilities of a CFO, and uncover what defines successful financial leadership in today’s environment.What are both the best and the most challenging aspects of being the CFO of a fast paced, listed business?Best aspects; Supportive shareholders with capital to inject into the business, including the ability to provide innovative financing instruments (e.g. convertibles, quasi debt-equity instruments) High quality Boards with NEDs who bring in-depth experience and a steady hand. The public profile helps to attract and recruit high quality candidates and offer incentive structures not available in private companies. Challenging aspects; Everything plays out in the public domain, so the interplay of strategic projects and business performance need to be carefully handled. Short-term share price movements can become a barometer of success rather than progress against strategic objectives and long-term improvements to the business. Regulatory burdens are heavy and the costs of being listed can be prohibitive for any plc with revenue < £30m. What are your opinions about the relationship between a CFO and CEO? What is critically important in building a successful partnership and providing the right support to the CEO?CEO and CFO must have each other’s back and provide a united front with all stakeholders, especially the Board, shareholders and employees. They should complement one another in terms of skills/expertise, leadership style and teamwork. Each needs to have strong leadership characteristics and deliver on their own responsibilities aligned to common strategic objectives. CFO needs to be the financial authority in the company and have command of the numbers, with the ability to simplify complex areas and deliver concise analysis for the CEO to use commercially. CFO should recognise that being CEO can be a lonely place with responsibility for almost every facet of the organisation. The CFO should be a strategic sounding- board and challenge the CEO regularly as an outspoken partner. What new key skills or attributes do you think the next generation of CFO’s are going to need to develop?Technology; Cyber security is becoming a core competence and leadership responsibility of the CFO; ability to develop the cyber defence strategy of the company and work with internal and external resources to provide a robust operating framework and a response capability if the business is attacked. Ability to lead and deliver ERP and data analytics projects as Board sponsor. Ability to harness Artificial Intelligence and automation to deliver value to the business; in manufacturing, this translates to delivering full integration of manufacturing and financial data to drive operational improvement. Procurement; Supply chain integrity, performance and reliability has become a significant issue post-pandemic. CFOs need to be able to develop and lead high performance procurement functions to serve the business and manage operational and financial risk. People; The world of work has changed in the last 5 years with many competing pressures emerging. CFOs need to develop a core set of values to guide their recruitment decisions. CFOs need to develop high performance cultures by harnessing a broad range of skills across the increasingly integrated functions of finance, IT and procurement to deliver first class support to the business. CFOs should focus on big-picture priorities and determine what gets done, not how it gets done; CFOs should therefore prefer to empower their teams and encourage collaborative decision-making. You have worked in some challenging turnaround environments in your career. What specifically are the most essential skills and personality traits that a finance leader needs to be able to steer a business through a turnaround project?Resourcefulness – CFOs must be able to draw on a broad array of skills and a network of dedicated advisors and funders to find their way through complex situations. Resilience and being strong-willed – CFOs must be acutely risk aware but be able to carry on regardless in a dark, uncertain and ambiguous situation where the route to success is not clear and the odds may be stacked against you; CFO’s need a plan B if things go wrong. Change management – turnarounds involve significant change for organisations and create new priorities, pressures and working relationships; CFO is normally in the eye of this storm. Working patterns and individual priorities have never been as much at the forefront of working life as they are for people now. Is it possible to maintain a reasonable work life balance at C-suite or do you have to accept that there will be personal sacrifices in order to succeed at that level?C-suite responsibilities are time consuming, and you are usually dependent on the performance of others, which requires flexibility and ability to handle time pressure. However, by organising the activities of your internal and external teams, space can be created for your personal life, albeit at certain times the job has to come first. You come from an advisory background yourself. How important is it to put time and effort into building and maintaining a network of trusted advisors that you can go to time and again?Developing long-term relationships of trust with CF advisors, lawyers, diligence providers, tax advisors and a range of debt and equity funders is critically important and enables a CFO to deploy the full suite of skills and expertise required. As a CFO, the businesses I have worked for have been employing not only myself but my entire network (whether they realised it or not!) What is the one single best piece of advice you were given early in your career that still holds true today?Frame your career and skills in terms of the market you operate in and develop the flexibility to deploy those skills in new ways. For myself, I have served the Yorkshire M&A market for over 25 years in diverse roles including CF advisor, corporate banker and most recently CFO and have been able to re-invent myself a number of times using a core set of skills and relationships. Looking forward, I have ambitions to move into non-executive roles and expect the flexibility I have developed over the years to serve me well again. Looking for your next career move in finance or accountancy? At Sharp Consultancy, our expertise lies in matching your potential with the perfect temporary, interim, or permanent position. With a well-established presence in Leeds and Sheffield, our seasoned team of consultants extends their services across Yorkshire and beyond. Don't wait for opportunity to knock, reach out to us TODAY and let's chart your career path together.

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I’ve been lucky enough to have been offered two jobs – what should I be looking at to make my decision about which one to accept?

First of all, congratulations! What a great result. For many this would be an enviable position to be in, but it is understandable that this can be a difficult decision to make – and it’s not one that you should feel rushed into making.

Let’s start off with what you shouldn’t do in this situation – don’t try to play each company off against each other. Whilst they have both selected you as their preferred candidate, if they sense that you are not genuine about wanting to come on board they could rethink their offer; and if both companies get that sense you could find yourself in a very tricky situation!

That is not to say that there shouldn’t be room for negotiation, however the sensible approach is to only negotiate with one company and in order to work out which is your preferred offer, there are a number of things that you need to take into consideration.

Don’t immediately assume that the offer that comes with the highest salary is automatically the ‘best’. There are many other factors which contribute to a strong job offer and you should weigh each of these up and apply the ‘benefit’ to where you are in your career and what you want to get out of the move.

Ask yourself:

What are the opportunities for progression?

A company might be offering a high salary now, but what opportunities can they offer for further growth and progression? Consider what you wanted to achieve career-wise from this move – does one company come closer to enabling you achieve your goals? Weigh up any differences in the role that you will be doing – are there aspects which interest you more than others? Do either offer further training opportunities? It can be easy to overlook some of these factors when presented with a more attractive salary but do not underestimate the value of job satisfaction and future opportunities.

Can you achieve a better work life balance?

Your reasons for looking for a new role might not be purely motivated by a desire to gain a promotion or undertake additional opportunities. If you are looking to achieve a better work life balance, then it is important to take into account each company’s approach to flexible working.

The last 12 months have made almost every company reconsider its homeworking policy so it’s important that you ask for clarity as to how they foresee these arrangements continuing in the short, medium and long term. You should also try to look ahead to a time when you may be more office based – does one company have a longer commute? Are there costs associated with parking or taking public transport that you need to account for?

Do they have a good reputation as an employer?

Whilst there are lots of areas that can be open to negotiation, the one element that you will not be able to change is the culture and values held by the organisation itself. What reputation do they have in the industry? Try to find out what you can from current or previous employees or see what their customers and clients are saying about what it is like to work with them. Also consider what your gut instinct told you in the interviews – did you get a good feeling from the interviewer? How did they sell the role and what is the company like to work for?

Making your choice

Take time to weigh up the pros and cons of each opportunity – and be honest with each company. A good company will understand that you need a little time to make your decision and shouldn’t try to rush you. However, bear in mind that they will have other candidates that they need to get back to so agree a timeframe and stick to it. Good luck!

Sharp Consultancy specialises in the recruitment of temporary, interim and permanent finance and accountancy professionals. With offices in Leeds and Sheffield our highly experienced team of consultants recruit for positions throughout Yorkshire and beyond. CONTACT US today for expert advice on your next career move.