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LESSONS FROM A UKRAINIAN NON-PROFIT #7

Featuredby Laryssa Reifel: FP&A Expertise
LESSONS FROM A UKRAINIAN NON-PROFIT #7

WE ARE ALL MORE THAN OUR RESUMES

At a recent conference a speaker suggested that resumes typically describe work experience but fall far short of capturing a complete picture of our skills.  Executives are often engaged in much more than their paid jobs.

This has been the case for me too.  For the last several years, in addition to launching a consulting business and holding a full-time corporate position, I have been the President of the Ukrainian Culture Center of Los Angeles (UCCLA).  I am the first female President of this 80 year old organization and have seen the organization through 2 crises now – COVID-19 and the russian invasion of Ukraine.

Along the way I have learned a great deal.  Today’s post is the FINAL post of a multi-part series of posts in which I will share the key lessons I have learned, the mistakes I made and where my financial planning and analysis skillset served me in responding to russia’s invasion of a sovereign country.  In the spirit of “making my mess my message” I hope these you find these insights useful.

LESSON 7: Crisis management has an expiration date for everyone

Each crisis has a phase much like the different company stages 1-5 (See The Five Stages of Small-Business Growth (hbr.org)).  From the initial onset through the arc to a war of attrition to nearing the end, the Ukrainian Culture Center of Los Angeles will transit many phases of a unique situation.  After four years of crisis management at the Ukrainian Culture Center of Los Angeles, I am seeing that the initial phase of the war is passing.  The onset and windstorm of the russian invasion is transitioning into the management the Center in an ongoing war.  Much is out of the hands of the Center yet there is still a role to play.

As an FP&A leader I have had the privilege to be part of almost all phases of a company’s growth.  That experience gave me the confidence to launch my own FP&A Consulting Firm – FP&A Expertise – Financial Planning and Analysis (fpa-expertise.com).  From a strictly FP&A perspective (in contrast to accounting and general financial leadership), most companies are not ready for FP&A at Stage 1.  It tends to matter how the organization is capitalized.  If there are high investor demands, then the case can be made for an FP&A team as the reporting requirements can be demanding.  But typically, an early-stage company is not ready for FP&A as the organization is usually still trying to figure out how to close the books.  Once there is a cadence of accounting close processes with a high degree of integrity in the data, then and only then is an organization truly ready for FP&A.  Fast moving start ups sometimes do this in parallel – implementing systems and FP&A processes while the close process is still being ironed out.  I have found that the volume of change that is still likely in the chart of accounts and posting processes, makes for a bumpy road in setting up reporting systems and internal FP&A processes.  The re-work that often ensues may not be worth it depending on the situation.  Stage 2 and stage 3 companies are usually the prime entrance point for an FP&A team and this is where I have built many greenfield FP&A teams.  From talent selection to system implementation and cross organizational process development, I have had the joy of going from nothing to an effective team for offering the leadership team key insights into the progress of the business and where efficiencies can be tapped.  Building the bridge between strategic planning, executive decision making and organizational execution is the true sweet spot of FP&A.

Of the five stages, I had the least amount of experience at Stage 1.  Not anymore.  Leading the Ukrainian Culture Center of Los Angeles through crisis has taught me a tremendous amount about what it is like to be at Stage 1.  The volume of blocking and tackling demanded by both the COVID situation and the russian invasion made each day different, stressful and functioned as a muse for creative thinking and problem solving.  As I reflect on this experience, one of my initial regrets was that we did not first have a strategy – a lens through which all decisions would be made.

What I learned is that Stage 1 situations are not the place for strategic plans.  There is no bandwidth.  There are too many moving pieces and any formal strategic plan would be in the trash within minutes of having designed something. 

As we approach 1000 days of russian aggression in Ukraine, I can say that the Ukrainian Culture Center of Los Angeles is well past Stage 1.  Though not yet a well-oiled machine in the context of the war, we have garnered internal expertise in terms of political advocacy, media management, and operational execution for humanitarian relief and financial processes.  Much like building out an FP&A organization, you see pockets of expertise aligned with natural abilities bubble up to the top.  Then the organization naturally aligns around those experts as problems arise.

Not matter what stage you are in, if you think you need FP&A in your organization or just want to talk about it, this is where I can help.

#financialplanningandanalysis #fpa #finance #companystages #budeting #planning #strategy #process #systems #leadership #management #annualplanning #financialconsulting #executive

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Lessons From A Ukrainian Non-Profit #2

Featuredby Laryssa Reifel: FP&A Expertise1 Comment on Lessons From A Ukrainian Non-Profit #2

WE ARE ALL MORE THAN OUR RESUMES

At a recent conference a speaker suggested that resumes typically describe work experience but fall far short of capturing a complete picture of our skills.  Executives are often engaged in much more than their paid jobs.

This has been the case for me too.  For the last several years, in addition to launching a consulting business and holding a full-time corporate position, I have been the President of the Ukrainian Culture Center of Los Angeles (UCCLA).  I am the first female President of this 80 year old organization and have seen the organization through 2 crises now – COVID-19 and the russian invasion of Ukraine.

Along the way I have learned a great deal.  Today’s post is the second of a multi-part series of posts in which I will share the key lessons I have learned, the mistakes I made and where my financial planning and analysis skillset served me in responding to russia’s invasion of a sovereign country.  In the spirit of “making my mess my message” I hope these you find these insights useful.

LESSON 2: HOW TO LISTEN

Most executives who have had leadership coaching are attuned to the idea that listening is often more important than speaking.  When russia invaded Ukraine, I had to take my listening skills to a new level.  This means that I had to not only listen but start listening for INTENT.

Once a crisis breaks people (mostly strangers) start coming at you from all directions.  In this particular crisis I was talking to hundreds of new people in a matter of about 10 days.  These individuals spanned the spectrum from government leadership to the press to distraught families desperately trying to reach loved ones.  There was also a group of people who fall into the general category of “wanting to help Ukraine”.  Pushing the strangers I met through the filter of intent (which invariably means building a lot of skepticism into your thought process) allowed me to make better choices about who to engage with and more importantly, who not to. 

Here are some examples:

  1. Offers to Deliver Arms to Ukraine: I personally received several phone calls from people I did not know who passionately expressed their desire to support Ukraine.  One person in particular was offering to deliver ammunition to Ukrainian soldiers.  The concept was that the ammunition would be accessed through key Israeli military contacts who were positioned to get these desperately needed munitions to the front.  The Intent: Clearly this was an offer to engage in illegal arms sales.  Though the opportunity to help Ukraine in this way had some merit, clearly the intention here was not in a sphere that the Ukrainian Culture Center or I should be operating in.
  2. Marketing of Generator Sales: As the bombing of Ukraine increased, russia began targeting key elements of Ukraine’s infrastructure including power generation.  UCCLA received many phone calls offering generator sales and shipment to Ukraine.  Again, this was under the guise of “wanting to help”.  The Intent: After thorough questioning and analysis I was able to determine that this was an inventory problem that the company was trying to correct.  Helping Ukraine was not the primary driver.
  3. Donations of Personal Goods:  There were a lot of well-meaning people who wanted to do something, anything to help Ukraine.  UCCLA often had offers from individuals to donate clothing.  The challenge we had was to distinguish between people who were cleaning out their closets versus those who were genuinely targeting the needs of the front-line military personnel.  Ukraine is a developed country and for the most part the people there are not in need of used clothing.  Moreover, the shipping costs from the United States made it unreasonable to send the items.  When you add to that, that there is nothing we have here which cannot be accessed in Europe, we had to turn a lot of these gifts away.  The Intent: Thoroughly listening for the intention of the donation (cleaning house versus buying/bringing need appropriate items) allowed us to make sure the front was truly getting items they needed – insoles for their boots, water resistant socks, and warm outer and inner clothing for the winter defense.
  4. “Fundraisers”: The invasion of Ukraine let to an explosion of non-profits around the world.  Almost none of them had any infrastructure like that of the Ukrainian Culture Center of Los Angeles.  Because of that, we had an extraordinarily high volume of requests for use of the center for fundraising.  This led to the development of a very strict vetting process of who these organizations were and most importantly whether they were truly aligned with the war effort or whether it was a means to an end for the non-profit’s existence.  The Intent: By designing a careful questioning process and leveraging the Ukrainian network (which was LinkedIn before there was a LinkedIn), we were able to identify people who were actually russian as well as people who were trying to make a career out of the war.

These are but a few examples of how not only listening but listening for intent made a tremendous difference in UCCLA’s decision making.  I am not saying we didn’t make mistakes sometimes, but this orientation led to better outcomes.

When it comes to FP&A, listening and listening for intent is probably as important a skill as navigating your way around the financial statements.  It comes into play especially when listening to your leaders discuss how they want to tell the story of their business on a road show for investors on Wall Street or the board of directors.  With this type of attuned listening skill, FP&A professionals can really align with how the leadership team wants to grow.  That’s where I can help.

#FP&A #financialplanningandanalysis #executivepartner #listening #Ukraine

Contact Me, Organization

Lessons From A Ukrainian Non-Profit

Featuredby Laryssa Reifel: FP&A Expertise

WE ARE ALL MORE THAN OUR RESUMES

At a recent conference a speaker suggested that resumes typically describe work experience but fall far short of capturing a complete picture of our skills.  Executives are often engaged in much more than their paid jobs.

This has been the case for me too.  For the last several years, in addition to launching a consulting business and holding a full-time corporate position, I have been the President of the Ukrainian Culture Center of Los Angeles (UCCLA).  I am the first female President of this 80 year old organization and have seen the organization through 2 crises now – COVID-19 and the russian invasion of Ukraine.

Along the way I have learned a great deal.  Today’s post is the first of a multi-part series of posts in which I will share the key lessons I have learned, the mistakes I made and where my financial planning and analysis skillset served me in responding to russia’s invasion of a sovereign country.  In the spirit of “making my mess my message” I hope these you find these insights useful.

LESSON 1: SCENARIO ANALYSIS WITH TRIGGER POINTS MATTERS.

For three weeks I watched the russian army build up its forces and drive toward the Ukrainian border.  It was all over the news.  The Sunday morning journalists talked about it in depth.  The Ukrainian diaspora was also talking about it – amongst ourselves and with family and friends in Ukraine.  The prevailing thought was “Putin wouldn’t dare”.  Well, he did and I lost an opportunity to prepare for it. 

For UCCLA, there should have been multiple scenarios run including but not limited to:

How will the role of UCCLA change in the event of a full scale invasion?

How will the role of UCCLA change in the event of a partial invasion?

How will the role of UCCLA change in the event of a persistent border threat from russia?

And even now, how will the role of UCCLA change in the event of a stalemate?

In each scenario, there are a several of items to consider:

1. Does the scenario in any way imply a fundamental shift in core values or mission?

2. What skillsets will we need to adapt?

3. How will the needs of our customer base change?

4. What new stakeholders will be created as a result of the scenario?  Which ones will fall away?

5. How does the financial structure change in each situation? Has each scenario been modeled across your financial statements?

The trigger points were there – one only need reference the invasion of 2014, President Zelenskyy’s election, putin’s failure to contain Ukrainian democracy, tanks rolling up to the border, etc. Any of these should have led to analysis across the scenarios listed above.

As we look out into the near future there are a number of macro trigger points that will likely impact your business. Among them are the continued evolution of the use of AI, macroeconomic conditions such as interest rates, the growth of foreign conflict and the upcoming Presidential election.

Not going through scenario analysis for your organization results in a significant loss of opportunity to be prepared.  That’s where I can help.

#fp&a #financialplanningandanalysis #scenarioanalysis #fp&aexpertise #ukraine #russianinvasion #financialmodeling