Peter Bozadjiev and Viktor Spiriev participate in the Forum of the financial directors and discuss continuity in the financial institution

 Peter Bozadjiev, Executive Director of Monbat, and Viktor Spiriev, Chief Financial Officer of the economic group, take part in the Forum of the financial directors, organized by both EY and Capital. In the discussion they shared their personal experiences regarding continuity in the financial institution. They revealed what it takes to educate a successor in the spirit of leadership and how to help to build a successful team, one transformed and adapted to the modern dynamic requirements of the digital era.

Peter Bozadjiev comments: The first phase, when searching for a replacement, is for you to be ready to step aside. Then follows the process of identifying a suitable successor. After that comes a period of observation, and then – the choice. You can involve the successor, or even directly address this topic, in order to manage expectations from the outset. Even when involving the person in everyday tasks, it is absolutely vital to clarify what obligations lie ahead. During the next stage mentoring plays a significant role. For the successor to be accepted in their position, you must simultaneously build their reputation. The final phase comes when mentoring transforms into coaching.

Viktor Spiriev presents the story of his professional career path up to Chief Financial Officer in Monbat, emphasizing: There are two main aspects when it comes to building your career path. The first is choosing your first job with the utmost care – it must be in a dynamic and challenging environment. During this stage it will become clear that career development demands a lot of compromises with your personal time, such as missed shared moments. The second aspect is identifying the right moment to make the leap, and the exact company for which you are ready to make this change. You will need to step out of your comfort zone, which provides clarity in development. And that requires no small degree of courage.

There are a few aspects involving academic education as well, continues Mr. Spiriev. This provides the opportunity for a sui generis benchmark, which we compare against other people and colleagues. It also gives knowledge and skills, but these can also be acquired later. The other thing is communication with people in that field, because this particular skill remains significant afterwards, too. The most important attribute of all is the will to work, work, work.

Mr. Bozadjiev also comments on the evolution of the role of Chief Financial Officer from its traditional scope through to the need to communicate more than just technical number information. The more difficult part of a successor’s work is communicating with other business’ functions and board members as well. The challenge before a professional with a highly expressed expert profile is that he tends to oversee details and to analyze. And in reality he has to filter the information volume and its presentation, so that he persuades different stakeholders and company functions – those, that make key decisions or are able to influence operational results. That being said, the details must support the choice of a communication solution, explains the Executive Director of Monbat.