TORM: A burning ambition as a launch pad for the roadmap intended to map the road for TORM's future CFO area

Summer has just come around when we visit TORM in Tuborg Havn. An appropriate location for one of Denmark's oldest shipping companies. Through the office building's large windows, we can see the sea unfold for as far as the eye can see, while historic marine pictures, model ships, and photos of modern shipping industry complement each other in the office. There is no doubt that TORM is a place characterised by personality, traditions, and structure. Things are under control - also in the CFO area.

Therefore, Kim Balle's reason for having a CFO roadmap drawn up was not to radically change the CFO area, but to find way in which to collaborate more closely across the sections in the CFO area as well as in the rest of the organisation, to define a common vision for the future, and to pave the road there together with the management.

When the roadmap exercise was to be launched in TORM, Basico's recommendation was to start by formulating a common strong and inspiring vision. Subsequently, it was decided to ensure following developments through a dynamic plan consisting of sprints with a duration each of three-four months.

But just as many companies' strategic goals may seem very much alike, a vision for the CFO area can easily become generic. Though words like 'efficient', 'business partner', etc. recur, it is decisive what they mean to the individual company and how they will act out the plan.

So, in addition to finding the right phrase for TORM, Kim Balle and the management group in the CFO area had to identify what it should mean, more specifically, in TORM's context.

That's why it became the first step on the road that they were to map together.

“It was important to us in the management group to encircle what we ourselves meant by the value words that were to form the substance of our vision. Therefore, we prepared a manifesto that we have, subsequently, used actively when communicating about or trying to make the vision visible. It was also important to us to transform the words into action to make us well aware how our stakeholders were to feel the change. How were they, for example, to experience 'proactivity' in specific actions?", Kim Balle asks.

For quite a few weeks, the management group in the CFO area were working on their vision. They asked themselves the important questions: Which impression did they want to make on the business, which impact did they want to make, and for what did they want to be remembered? And not least: On what did they have to focus to succeed with their vision?

"One thing is defining your overall values. But the words as such don't say what it means to us more specifically when bringing the vision from ambition to action. That required us as a management group to stand together in a new way to be able to formulate a vision and some values that became present to everybody."

"To be honest - a CFO strategy easily becomes self-centred, and that was the last thing we wanted. So another important question was how to involve the rest of the CFO area and TORM. You need to consider the entire change management aspect thoroughly since transforming the value words into each individual employee's own words and specific action that makes sense in their everyday work doesn't come overnight. Much subsequent dialogue and repeated involvement are required - a process that is ongoing at the moment through workshops in the individual teams," Kim Balle reflects, turning his coffee cup and continuing.

“Looking back, the management group's workshop phase was a both hard and rewarding process. Hard because we as a management group had chosen ourselves to assume the responsibility instead of just leaving the facilitation with external consultants. Rewarding because - following each workshop - we were filled with energy and a common ambition in our work to define us as a team. It has been the best way in which to collaborate as a joint management group. But it was also challenging to complete all these workshops virtually," Kim smiles giving me a knowing look.

Kim tells us how the roadmap exercise has, so far, helped TORM transform the management group in the CFO area to a greater extent than the processes and the tasks as such. This is so because they were brave enough to look inwards during the process at the human resources who were to drive and develop the CFO area both now and in the future.

“It was my 'burning ambition' that together we should find the way to a CFO area that stood together across divisions and borders, recognised for more than its core deliverables and considered a value-creating business partner to the business." 

“And, to be quite frank, we started the first workshops as a group of leaders and ended the process by leaving the last workshop as a joint management group. Together we had twisted, refined, and made the vision sharper. And we are still doing this since we are continuously revisiting things with the mindset that value-creation is a gradual achievement. We actually have four management meetings each month, one of which is dedicated to strategy work," Kim continues smilingly.

“If I were to ask my management group about their experience of the Finance function today and before we started working on our CFO roadmap, they would say: Things used to work quite well, but we weren't focused on benefitting from each other's core competences. Our deliveries were always of a high quality and kept the deadlines, and our stakeholders were satisfied. Today, we wouldn't be able to function without the new sense of cohesion in our everyday work, where we are constantly working together."

It was possible to design a dynamic development process once the vision had taken form because TORM's CFO area was well functioning. Thus, it made no sense to prepare a grand big three-year plan. Rather it was important to find a format that could ensure focus and overview of the activities. Those involved were to experience continuous progress and the creation of momentum. It was also important that the format had been adjusted to the dynamic and changing everyday of the organisation so as to avoid bottlenecks and putting an unnecessary pressure on the organisation during peak periods.

As Kim Balle says: “The world doesn't stop turning because you're working on a strategy. So in order to be remain patient during the process, we had to start running - or rather sprinting. And at the same time, we had to accept that the road was being paved while we were driving - and this is still the case," he explains and elaborates.

“When our many dialogues with Basico brought us to the sprint method with short deliveries, we knew right away that this was the right method for us. It just made so much sense with the type of business that TORM is with dynamic workdays. The sprint method could meet our demand for great flexibility and continuous adjustment, which has proven to be decisive for the success of the project."

“We have just completed the first sprint, where our focus was on creating the best operational platform. We have, i.a., stressed 'process management' as a means of ensuring success with our processes, an upgrade of our business key systems, reaching far into the CFO area. A few adjustments and alignments remain unsolved, but it is no doubt something that we have executed on so that it doesn't take all our time next year," Kim explains.

“In addition, we've had - and will continue to have - focus on the People and Culture aspect, where we'll work with all the value words that describe our vision in a way that will transform it into specific actions and ways of working for each individual employee and specific tools that they can use in their everyday work." 

“Overall, all the initiatives - our so-called 'bricks' - related to this sprint will be carried out, except one. And we'll have to continue working with many of them - just like a wall that is being built without a possibility of leaving out a couple of bricks."

“But what exactly to focus on in our second sprint, I cannot say. Since we haven't defined it conclusively yet. However, we are well underway, and the process enjoys great support both within and outside the CFO area since the vision is met with sympathy," Kim reveals with an expression of joyful expectations.

Most of you know the scenario where the CFO asks a number of employees from a consulting firm to carry out the process from the first workshop to the final roadmap. At TORM, this process was turned around: The management group rolled up their sleeves and were involved throughout the process.

“Basico has helped us set the frame for our approach to - and made us comfortable with - the development that we were to start up. Not least by assuming a strategic, coaching role from A to Z. I merely had to make a phone call to receive advice if I had a feeling that we were diverting from the direction that we had to run in to reach the finish line. Thus, Basico has had much influence, however without being the executing part. We needed to be that ourselves, but with Basico as our safety net," Kim says and elaborates.

“The fact is that if you want your department to assume the ownership, the management group needs to take the lead. I want to contribute to an inspiring and great level of ambition in the entire team. So, rather than pin where I saw our vision and ask the team to run for that, we were together throughout the process. The valuable insights and perspectives of the team were included from the start and have given the best insight and the best foundation for succeeding together."

“In this way, our vision has also become specific and easier for the individual employees to recognise and hold each other to. Since it's something that we've agreed on and have decided to run after - together."

“It is also extremely motivating for me to be sitting together with the team during such a process. And to sense our pride and ambitious dedication, while everyone is tending to daily operations, and an annual report is knocking at the door. Everybody has been working extremely hard, there have been many areas of contact, and people have really grown together with our vision. Now I look forward to the coming sprints and to seeing us continuously getting better than we already were," Kim say with pride in his voice.

Basico Roadmap us a flexible and tested concept that helps the CFO and Finance with their planning process - for example, if you are - as a new CFO or a new employee - to make a plan for your activities in the company. The purpose of the concept is to clarify the vision and have it transformed into operational execution.

A roadmap ensures specific, measurable, ambitious, realistic, and scheduled activities.

We make a point of delivering in a dynamic and flexible setup, where you can select and deselect modules according to need. We also offer various versions of roadmaps from a 'light setup' as a 1:1 dialogue to a 'medium setup, with workshops, and a 'full setup' with deep-dive, interviews, etc. 

We focus on ensuring a balance between the ambitions and the plans so that the resources and the possibilities are available to execute as planned. We collaborate with you and your team during the process so that you have the ownership of the plans, and we adjust the process and the solution so that it fits you and your business. We contribute with experience, facilitating a structured process. We challenge you, ensure that you are inspired, and document the process. Thus, we maintain momentum until you have succeeded in implementing the changes.