• FREE RESOURCES
        • Accounts Payable
          Finally! The trick to securing greater T&E compliance
          Benefits
          Rooting out folks who don’t belong on your health plan: A 6-point dependent audit checklist
          IT
          3 costly misconceptions about biz email compromise
          Credit and Collections
          Collecting via email: 4 must-make moves in your subject line
          Accounts Payable
          5 Tough-to-spot signs that an invoice is fake
  • PREMIUM CONTENT
        • Staff management
          120 Proven Communications Tips for Today’s CFO
        • Payroll
          Handling Nonexempt Employee Pay: Stay Compliant and Avoid DOL Audits
          Accounts Payable
          T&E Best Practices: Complete Guide to Ensure Compliance
          Payroll
          Payroll Best Practices: 4 Ways to Save Time and Money
        • Staff management
          Email Best Practices: A 6-Question Quiz
          Staff management
          Innovative Communications Strategies: An Email Case Study
          Staff management
          A 5-part Framework for Successful Workplace Communications
        • SEE MORE
          PREMIUM RESOURCES
  • CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES
  • LOGIN
  • SIGN UP FREE

CFO Daily News

  • FREE RESOURCES
        • Accounts Payable
          Finally! The trick to securing greater T&E compliance
          Benefits
          Rooting out folks who don’t belong on your health plan: A 6-point dependent audit checklist
          IT
          3 costly misconceptions about biz email compromise
          Credit and Collections
          Collecting via email: 4 must-make moves in your subject line
          Accounts Payable
          5 Tough-to-spot signs that an invoice is fake
  • PREMIUM CONTENT
        • Staff management
          120 Proven Communications Tips for Today’s CFO
        • Payroll
          Handling Nonexempt Employee Pay: Stay Compliant and Avoid DOL Audits
          Accounts Payable
          T&E Best Practices: Complete Guide to Ensure Compliance
          Payroll
          Payroll Best Practices: 4 Ways to Save Time and Money
        • Staff management
          Email Best Practices: A 6-Question Quiz
          Staff management
          Innovative Communications Strategies: An Email Case Study
          Staff management
          A 5-part Framework for Successful Workplace Communications
        • SEE MORE
          PREMIUM RESOURCES
  • CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES
  • Accounts Payable
  • Credit and Collections
  • Payroll
  • Accounting
  • Benefits
  • Finance Technology
  • More
    • Employment Law
    • Strategy
    • Policy and Culture
    • Fraud
    • Payments and Transactions
    • Budgeting and Forecasting
    • Banking
    • Staff Management
    • Cost Control
    • Supply Chain
    • IT

Your finance staffers’ favorite part of their jobs is …

Jennifer Azara
by Jennifer Azara
April 10, 2015
  • Accounting
  • Payroll
2 minute read
  • SHARE ON

They may have a head for numbers, but that might not be what the members of your finance teams enjoy most about their jobs.

What likely gives them the most satisfaction? Problem solving.

That’s what topped more than 2,600 accounting and finance professionals’ list in a recent survey from Robert Half International.

Two in five (41%) folks said they enjoy solving problems most, while 22% picked working with numbers.

Fortunately, there’s no shortage of problems to be tackled by most finance departments.

4 steps to better problem solving

Of course, that doesn’t mean you should just toss out a problem and tell your team to have at it. There are specific ways to develop problem solving skills to make the solvers more efficient and effective.

The folks at Lifehack have a few suggestions that you might consider adopting with your own Finance department:

  1. Focus on the solution, rather than the problem. It’s science at work here – neuroscientists assert that you’ll never hit upon a solution if you’re focusing on the problem. The reason: The problem is a negative and looking at that blocks the creativity needed to hit upon solutions. Rather than focusing on what’s wrong with your current process, have staffers devote attention to what the answers could be.
  2. Keep an open mind. This is one that you as the boss have a lot of control over. Make sure your team members understand that no idea is a bad idea. Develop that mindset and staffers won’t be self-censoring and possibly discarding the germ of a great solution.
  3. Don’t judge the problem. A “problem” is a bad thing, right? Instead, try to get your people to think of it simply as something not working its best. That will help eliminate the negative mindset that blocks creativity. For example, get Payroll staffers to see those direct deposit holdouts as an opportunity to convert them rather than a problem holding up their process.
  4. Think laterally. Sometimes people get so bogged down in the way they think a problem should be solved, that they can’t make any progress. Urge your team to turn their thinking on its head now and then. Look for a solution that’s the polar opposite of what you had been considering. Sometimes that strategy brings the freshest new ideas.

And as always, every finance department – and staffer – is different. Some may not get satisfaction from problem solving. Consider using the Robert Half survey as a springboard to find out what your own team members like most about their jobs.

Info: For more on the Robert Half survey, click http://rh-us.mediaroom.com/2015-03-18-Math-Wizards-Or-Problem-Solvers-New-Survey-Shows-Accountants-Prefer-Tackling-Problems-Over-Crunching-Numbers and for more problem solving ideas from Lifehack, click www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/6-ways-to-enhance-your-problem-solving-skills.html

Jennifer Azara
Jennifer Azara
Jennifer, a member of the CFO Daily News staff, has covered business and finance for more than 22 years. She has written for CFOs, credit and collections professionals and accounts payable practitioners and has spoken at industry conferences on sales and use tax compliance.

Keep Up To Date with the Latest Finance News

With CFO Daily News arriving in your inbox, you will never miss critical stories on accounting, benefits, payroll & employment law strategies.

Sign up for a free CFO Daily News membership and get our newsletter!
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
CFO Daily News Logo
  • ABOUT CFO DAILY NEWS
  • ADVERTISE WITH US
  • WRITE FOR US
  • CONTACT
  • Accounting
  • Benefits
  • Payroll
  • Policy and Culture
  • Employment Law
  • Fraud
  • Finance Technology
  • Accounts Payable
  • Credit and Collections
  • Strategy
  • Payments and Transactions
  • Budgeting and Forecasting
  • Banking
  • Staff Management
  • Cost Control
  • Supply Chain
  • IT

CFO Daily News, part of the SuccessFuel Network, provides the latest Finance and employment law news for Finance professionals in the trenches of small-to-medium-sized businesses. Rather than simply regurgitating the day’s headlines, CFO Daily News delivers actionable insights, helping Finance execs understand what Finance trends mean to their business.

Privacy Policy Terms of Service
Copyright © 2021 SuccessFuel

WELCOME BACK!

Enter your username and password below to log in

Forget Your Username or Password?

Reset Password

Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.

Log In

preloader