Four dos and don’ts for CFOs leading transformations

When managed effectively and with involvement from CFOs, transformation efforts can equip companies with the capabilities and performance gains they need, especially during periods of uncertainty.¹“Mastering change: The new CFO mandate,” McKinsey, October 7, 2021.

Our latest CFO pulse survey finds that amid macroeconomic shifts and a range of other challenges, CFOs are spending more time on organizational transformations to help their companies compete. These transformations include any strategic, holistic, and continuous efforts to significantly change performance, capabilities, or organizational culture.²The online survey was in the field from February 14 to March 18, 2025, and garnered responses from 150 financial leaders of companies in 26 countries, including 62 CFOs of companies and 50 CFOs of business units or regions. To adjust for differences in response rates, the data are weighted by the contribution of each respondent’s nation to global GDP. When we ask CFOs about the areas in which they have spent the most time over the past year, the largest share of respondents—52 percent—point to transformations, either within the finance organization or focused on the broader organization. The survey results suggest that how CFOs invest their time in transformations matters.

Overall, CFOs with enterprise-wide transformation experience largely say it is most valuable to focus on the organization’s people during transformations—as opposed to the process or the external environment. CFOs highlight the importance of engaging employees throughout all phases of a transformation, as they recognize the stakes are high: Seven in ten respondents point to difficulty in securing organizational buy-in as the primary challenge to sustained success from transformations.

The findings reveal four actions that CFOs who report transformation success see as most critical—and highlight the activities that may not reap as many rewards.³CFOs reporting successful transformations are those who say their companies’ transformations over the past five years have been successful or very successful at both improving organizational performance and sustaining those improvements over time. Respondents recommend that CFOs prioritize promoting cross-functional teamwork, defining the right metrics for tracking performance, managing change and resistance, and advocating for modern technology infrastructure.

1. Promote cross-functional collaboration. CFOs reporting transformation success largely see convening cross-functional colleagues as a CFO’s top priority at the early stages of a transformation (Exhibit 1). They also see building a strong transformation team with a range of skills as the most effective step a CFO can take at any stage. Most CFOs who report transformation success say CFOs should concentrate on building a cross-functional team in this stage and then continue to ensure that all parts of the organization are aligned.

Don’t focus on external factors too early. Surveyed CFOs who say their organizations haven’t seen sustained success from transformations are focused on external factors, such as market trends, rather than first ensuring that the organization has the necessary transformation capabilities in place. Also, early on, these CFOs tend to focus on the transformation’s budget; they are twice as likely as respondents reporting success to cite aligning with the CEO on the budget as a priority.

2. Set clear objectives. During the due diligence and business planning phases of a transformation, surveyed CFOs—both those reporting success with transformations and those without—primarily say that the CFO should concentrate on establishing how to track the transformation’s progress (Exhibit 2). Those reporting transformation success also often see value in securing funding for the transformation’s initiatives.

Don’t lose track of your strategy. By this phase of a transformation, organizations should already have their strategy firmly in place. CFOs should use this phase to dynamically allocate resources based on initiatives’ performance, rather than spending time running new analyses to find additional growth opportunities. We know from previous research that successful leaders rigorously prioritize and deprioritize initiatives that align with their strategy to prevent underfunding of well-performing initiatives or funding of efforts based on misguided projections. Few respondents who report transformation success say that CFOs should concentrate on analyzing potential growth or improvement areas in this phase—rather, they should nimbly move capital across their already identified, best-performing initiatives.

3. Be the voice for change. During the implementation phase of transformations, employees are the primary focus, and CFOs can meaningfully encourage change by speaking up in support of transformations’ objectives. CFOs reporting transformation success largely see change management within the organization as the area in which they can add the most value. Both CFOs with transformation success and other executives say managing change, addressing resistance, and aligning different parts of the organization are the most effective ways to focus their attention (Exhibit 3).

Don’t become distracted. CFOs risk spending too much time leading initiatives’ implementation, which can be managed by a transformation office or team instead. Respondents who say their transformations haven’t been successful are nearly three times more likely than executives reporting success to view implementing initiatives as a worthwhile area for CFOs.

4. Leverage technology. The survey also asked about the challenges that hinder sustained success from transformations. While a majority of respondents point to the need for organizational buy-in, CFOs from companies that have not seen success often say that a lack of adequate IT infrastructure holds transformations back (Exhibit 4). They are twice as likely as respondents reporting successful transformations to say this has been a challenge.

Don’t overlook skills gaps. CFOs reporting transformation success point to employees’ skills gaps second-most often as a challenge that needs to be overcome to see long-term success.

Transforming an organization is challenging—and sustaining the performance improvements from transformation even more so. A CFO’s attention can improve the odds of success, and CFOs with the most transformation success suggest they prioritize four actions: establishing a cross-functional team with the right skill sets to manage the initial phase of a transformation, setting clear metrics that show transformation initiatives’ progress, taking steps to eliminate resistance to change, and ensuring that the organization has made meaningful improvements in its technology infrastructure.