Shafar Coaching

Results focussed, Executive Coach who helps clients push through fears, insecurities & challenges to help them achieve their potential and become the best version of themselves, personally & professionally. Coaches executives to improve communication, interpersonal, time and stress management skills and work-life balance. Brings genuine curiosity through active listening to each session. Establishes quick rapport with clients in order to gain trust and allow them to open up.	Asks in-depth questions to establish and gain real insight for both the client and the coach. Helps clients really understand the ‘why’ behind wanting to do things as the ‘why’ helps them emotionally particularly when things get tough. Encourages clients to think of possible solutions to their challenges, thereby resulting in more likelihood that they will follow through, but also creating independence.	Challenges clients when messages are not congruent or they are not following through on actions.	Huge passion for learning, always wanting to understand more and improve in the area of coaching

Executive & Business Coach

Various

Responsible for the financial management of a number of SMEs, including a Marcomms agency and a Tech business  (Part time on both roles). Overseeing finance function. Working with CEO to develop the business strategy. Review of monthly management accounts. P&L & Cashflow forecasting. Fundraising.	Setting up processes and controls to ensure more efficient & timely reporting and helping with working capital management.

Portfolio CFO

OnePulse

Responsible for the financial management of this Market Research App / SAAS Business. My main responsibilities include P&L & cashflow management, fundraising, investor relations. As well financial responsibilities, I am also heavily involved in the operational areas of the business including defining and implementing the strategy, development of the pricing model and helping to drive sales growth.

Ogilvy Public Relations (Ogilvy / WPP Group)

Responsible for the financial health of a growing business, helping to drive growth, improve efficiency and overall profitability. Overseeing month end financial reporting process, ensuring submission of accurate information on a timely basis. Working with senior management to drive the budgeting and forecasting process and ensuring appropriate staff cost management to ensure efficiency, but not hamper growth. Leading on any commercial negotiations. Managing complex complex client financial issues within the Ogilvy network on a global basis by ensuring that we offer a profitable, consistent & compelling proposal for work across multiple markets.  Setting tight guidelines & processes around resource planning & staff cost management and working closely with the operational teams to ensure ongoing management of resourcing based on client delivery requirements.

Achievements
• Helped manage strong & consistent growth in revenues and profit over a 4 year period. 
• Ensure finance became a trusted partner to the business by developing and nurturing a strong finance team. 
• Development of a robust process around resource planning. Key to consistently reducing the staff cost to revenue ratio, driving annual cost savings 
• Successfully negotiated contracts for a number key blue chip clients. Secured good hourly rates and strong contractual positions around transfer of intellectual property, payment terms, liability caps and indemnities
• Consistent SOX & Internal WPP Compliance      
• Introduced a number of initiatives to drive margin improvement including client profitability analysis, tighter scoping and senior staff billability. 
• Efficient management of net working capital through setting weekly targets around Accrued Revenue, WIP & Debtors.

Finance Director

Coley Porter Bell / Ogilvy Primary Contact (Ogilvy / WPP Group)

Managed the continued growth of both businesses through working with senior management to deliver continued growth and efficiency. Overall responsibility for managing finance across all areas including financial reporting, budgeting & forecasting, billing, accounts payables and receivables, payroll, Vat returns and managing the year end audit. Also responsible for managing the HR & Legal functions.

Achievements
• Consistently delivered both revenue and profit growth in both businesses.
• Successfully led complex client contract negotiations with a number of blue chip clients through negotiating favourable rates  
• Adapted to the financial downturn by implementing a cost reduction progamme  
• Instrumental in delivering a number of initiatives including monitoring of client efficiency, resource management and new employee referral programme to help drive margin improvement
• Provided strong commercial leadership and counsel to other members of both senior and junior management
• Successfully steered the company through annual statutory audits with no material audit adjustments

Virgin Media

Promotion into this role. Provision of financial control for the online division. Overall cost control and key in ensuring that EBITDA targets were achieved. Budgets and forecasts preparation. Worked closely with Managing Director to determine Portal strategy, which involved strategic research into market, identifying growth areas and competitor performance. Monthly presentation to senior management on the financial performance of the division, discussions about key monthly variances and future financial forecasts. Authorisation of expenditure, ensuring spend within budget and new contracts had undergone sufficient rigour 
Reviewed businesses cases to ensure that investments were viable and generating the required return. 

Achievements
• Preparation of business case leading to successful acquisition of online premium sports content from the Football Premier League
• Development of internals cost control process to ensure that ROI was being measured on any investments
• Led key project which involved the Outsourcing of Sports editorial function, delivering significant annual staff costs savings

Financial Controller, Online

Budgeting and forecasting preparation for Virgin Media television channels. Reviewing business cases for new channels and new platforms to provide our content. Preparation of 5 year Financial Forecasting Plan. Preparation of bonus scheme for sales team.

Achievements
• Developed the Advertising revenue model to understand the revenue opportunity on the On Demand platform
• Led the financial review of the project transforming the VMTV playout and post production facilities – review of supplier tenders, preparation of business case
• Developed business case to help launch new TV channels

Finance Manager, Television Division

Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc (Formerly Safeway Stores)

Financial Analyst roles across retail and supply chain providing commercial and analytical support in a number of areas including store performance, levels of stock holding and wastage.	Weekly performance review of sales to assess impact of price changes on volume and value.
Responsible for monitoring KPIs for all areas within Supply Chain – stock, availability and wastage. Provided wide ranged analysis of performance of smaller Safeway stores enabling 			Morrisons’ (post takeover) decision making on potential store divestment

Achievements
• Performed a key role in helping to achieve a significant year on year stock reduction; driven by increased focus on slow and non-moving electrical stock
• Set up model for Morrisons’ Retail Director to assess the Safeway stores with the highest ROI to prioritise a signifcant capital expenditure programme on which stores should be converted to the Morrisons’ format

Supply Chain Manager / Retail Analyst

Grant Thornton LLP

Corporate Finance – Carried out due diligence on businesses being acquired by private equity investors, seeking admission to the AIM market and fundraising across a number of sectors including Media & Leisure, Telecoms & Technology

Achievements
• Enabled investors to make informed investment decisions by providing sound due diligence on business across a variety of industries. Providing insightful analysis on historical trends and a viewpoint on strengths & weaknesses of management, greatly relied upon by investors

Audit – Audit senior / trainee accountant responsible for variety of assignments ranging from small owner managed businesses to larger public limited companies.

Achievements
• Advising clients on any weaknesses in accounting systems and steps to improve overall profitability

Audit / Corporate Finance

Are you a CFO, Finance Director or Financial Controller?

Do you feel under constant pressure to deliver? 
Do you feel lonely in your job and have no one to turn to who will be able to understand your pressures or offer some advice?
Are you trapped by Golden Handcuffs, feeling successful but not fulfilled? 

Would you like to feel you are moving your career forward, achieving your goals, & gaining satisfaction in the process? 

If so, I can help. 

Through a process of deep coaching, you will have a non-judgmental, safe space to think and talk about what is really important to you! 
It is non-directive and not about giving you advice. It is about helping you, through listening and incisive questioning, come up with the answers yourself. 
My coaching will help you to see yourself and others more clearly, becoming more self-aware. It will also help you appreciate and leverage the strengths that you already have, but may be underestimating. 

Where advice is sought, I will use my experience, particularly as a Finance Director at Ogilvy for 10 years, and also from advising smaller businesses, for you to bounce ideas off & offer different perspectives.
My coaching is about working with you in partnership, helping you understand and challenge your inner voice to gain a deeper insight as to what may be holding you back, and help with actions to move you forward.
Where appropriate, I will challenge and hold you accountable helping you achieve your goals in an effective and efficient manner.

I am an Executive, Business & Finance coach with c20 years experience in leadership roles having been a Finance Director for many years for both large and small businesses and I am well placed to understand many of the challenges and frustrations that you face.

If any of the above resonates and you would love to understand how to work with me please message me! I would love to hear from you!

Testimonials
Coaching with Tony has been game changing for me. Every session brought new valuable insights & I was constantly impressed by how Tony managed to ask the right questions that enabled me to reflect on things in a new light and with different perspectives.
Carolina Einarsson, CFO

The best thing I found about working with Tony is he is quite exceptional at helping you find the clarity in your own thinking to solve whatever problem it is you are looking for an answer on, and where necessary asking you the right question to steer you in the right direction, no easy skill. 
Tim Elliot, CFO

Email me at tony@shafarcoaching.com to book a FREE Discovery call
www.shafarcoaching.com

Do you try to prove yourself in meetings?
 
If so, do you think this is always the most helpful approach?
 
When I first became a Finance Director, I often looked to prove myself in meetings.
 
I wanted to be able to offer up solutions
 
I wanted to be someone who could add value
 
At times, I wanted to be seen as the smartest person in the room.
 
This approach wasn’t always the most helpful.
 
It was tiring.
 
It had me seeking validation.
 
It had me often being too focused on myself.
 
So I started to try and see it differently
 
Instead of focusing on simply having solutions, I began to ask more questions.
 
Instead of telling people the right answer, I shared knowledge, helping the group come up with better solutions.
 
Instead of trying to be the smartest person in the room, I became more focused in helping make others in the room smarter.
 
This change in perspective was helpful.
 
It created better relationships.
 
It created more trust.
 
It led to better results.
 
And it made work more enjoyable.
 
If you are often focused on being the smartest person in the room, by changing your approach and focusing more on how you can help others become smarter, you will create better relationships, this will lead to better results, the outcome of which will be that people start to see how smart you really are anyway!  

#mindset #coaching #leadership #leadershipdevelopment

Tony Shafar

Is your mindset one of scarcity or is it one of abundance?

As a #financeleader it is challenging at times not to have a scarcity mindset.

It is drilled into early in your career.

You are told 

“Don’t be too optimistic on the revenues”

“Don’t commit to costs to support aggressive revenues”

“The CEO's job is to be visionary, your job as the finance lead is to be realistic”…which often means prudent.

This cautious realistic mindset, which is no bad thing for a #CFO, can lead to a scarcity mindset, which is a very different to mindset, to one which is full of abundance.

But do you as a finance leader always have to have a scarcity #mindset?

Take Clare, she has scarcity mindset

She works in a project-based business.

She is often worried about when the next project will come in. Whilst the CEO is often focused on making strategic investments, Clare is often focused on cost cutting.

She often operates from a place of fear, often considering the worst-case scenario.

She is usually looking to avoid risk.

Compare Clare to Sarah.

Sarah also works in a business where the income can be unpredictable.

Sarah, however, has a different mindset.

She is more focused on abundance.

She is more focused on the potential opportunities, and makes many decisions based on them.

She has seen the business perform well in the past, and has confidence that it will continue to do so in the future.

She is more comfortable making investments, despite the uncertainty over income.

Which mindset do you tend to favour?

The mindset you have, whether it be scarcity or abundance, will have a big impact on the decisions you make.

There may be instances where more scarcity is required. There may be situations where abundance is welcomed.

Having a balanced approach and being more Clare-like in certain situations, and more like Sarah in others, may help you, not only, best mitigate big risks, but also, be in a position to capitalise on opportunities, as and when they arise.

#leadership #leadershipdevelopment #coaching #leadershipcoaching #financecoaching

Which #leadership style do you most frequently adopt?

There are many different leadership styles.

Some are more appropriate for certain situations, some are more suited to certain types of roles.

The most effective leadership style may be differ depending on whether you a Finance leader, a CEO, a Sales leader, a People leader or something else.

As a finance leader, it may also depend on the particular circumstances.

Is it urgent? If so, a more autocratic leadership style may be required.

Is more thinking is required? If so, democratic leadership may serve best.

Lets look at some leadership styles that a finance leader may adopt and when they may best serve you.

Autocratic leadership 
This approach is very much "Do as I say." Clear expectations and instructions are set for what, when, and how tasks should be done. 

This approach may be helpful when you are managing month end? Or maybe you are looking to introduce a new process.

You have a clear idea as to what the end result needs to look like and want to ensure that it materialises in that way. 

Pacesetting leadership
You are energetic. You get stuck in, take action, leading by example and setting high expectations. 

Maybe you have an upcoming tight deadline? Maybe the budget needs to be finalised by a certain date? You can divide up the tasks, with you owning certain ones, to help ensure that the budget is delivered in a timely manner.
 
Coaching leadership
You will be seeking to develop your team. You are looking to offer direction, but also support where you can, helping them reach their full potential.

Maybe you are looking to give some more responsibility to one of your team. They are not quite sure what is required, but you help them succeed by guiding and supporting them, which not only helps them, but also ensures that as a team, you continue to deliver.
 
Democratic Leadership
You want to know what others think. You seek out employee input before making decisions. You present a problem and invite ideas from the team before determining a course of action.

As a finance leader, you may want the wider business to be more accountable for the numbers, but are struggling to get buy in. Your approach may be to ask for suggestions from your team as to how best resolve this, after which you can decide on the best course of action.

There are various approaches to leadership. 

There is no one size fits all. 

A good leader will adapt their approach, depending on the circumstances and the personalities involved. 

But for me, the most important thing is to find what best works for you, so that whatever approach you take, above all, you can be an authentic leader.

Steve has recently taken up a new role as the CFO in a large marketing agency.

He is under pressure to deliver. 

Expectations come from his boss and key stakeholders, but most of the pressure that he feels, comes from himself.

As a leader, he tells himself he has to know all the answers.

He always has to have solutions to any problems.

He needs to be confident in any situation, always displaying gravitas.

He tells himself that not having that confidence will show his weakness, it will have others doubt his credibility. It will have others question whether he is up to the job.

Steve finds all this tough. 

He finds it very tiring. 

He is desperate to do a good job, however is often driven by the fear about what others think.

His perspective is making the job much harder. He would rather have a different more helpful mindset.
 
Compare Steve to Richard

Richard has also recently taken up a new CFO role, but in the retail industry.

It is a step up for him, and he acknowledges that he is still “work in progress”

He is open about his limitations.

He is always wanting to learn from others, and not feeling that the answer always needs to come from him.

He is confident. His confidence, is not so much about always knowing what to do, but more about that it is ok not to know. And if he doesn’t know this time, he will learn and therefore know next time.

Richard is usually focused on just doing his best and is less worried about what others think.
 
Are you more like Steve or Richard?

Which perspective do you think will help you become a better leader?

Which mindset would allow you to enjoy the #leadership journey more?

#leadershipdevelopment #mindset #coaching #executivecoaching #leadershipcoaching

Something goes wrong at work. 
 
Maybe the forecast has been missed or the numbers have been reported incorrectly. 
 
The CEO is not happy.
 
As a #financeleader, what is your response?
 
Do you take responsibility for the situation, or do you look to blame others?
 
When we look for someone to blame. 
 
Others around us get defensive. 
 
They start to point fingers at each other. 
 
They blame each other. 
 
And what invariably happens is that no one takes ownership of the problem, any learnings are not taken on board, and the problem may happen again. 
 
Compare this to if you do step up and take ownership. 
 
You take responsibility for what has gone wrong. 
 
This approach is contagious. 
 
Others around you are more likely to open up about where they had shortcomings. 
 
They look for what they could have done better or different. 
 
As a result, everyone is looking to see what they could do to prevent that problem happening again. 
 
Which approach do you tend to adopt when things don’t go as planned?
 
Is it the same approach that you most appreciate in those that lead you?

#leadership #coaching #leadershipdevelopment #mindset

James, one of your team members is not delivering.

They normally have high standards and produce good quality work.

They usually have good attention to detail.

However, recently their work has been sloppy.

It has not been up to their usual standards.

How do you respond?

You could come from a place of judgement

Telling yourself:

- They are capable of more.
- They must not care any more.
- They have become lazy, expecting me to fix their errors.

This perspective is not helpful.

You become frustrated.

You may avoid giving feedback. You are worried about upsetting them. You want to avoid #conflict.

They may feel misunderstood, not valued and resultantly become demotivated.
 
Judgement is one #perspective, but how would things differ if you were letting go of any judgements and coming from more of a place of discernment?

You may be more #curious.

You may be thinking. They usually have high standards, but not recently. I wondered what is causing this?

You may have #empathy. Maybe there is something going on in their personal life, which is impacting their work?

This non-judgemental perspective makes things feel different.

Instead of avoiding a conversation, you are more likely to want to have one.

You are more interested in understanding what else may be going on.

By opening up and instigating a conversation, they are also more likely to open up, they are more likely to feel understood, they are more likely be motivated.

Next time one of your team members is not quite performing as expected, by letting go of  judgements and focusing more on understanding, you will feel less frustrated, they will feel more valued, the result of which may be that not before long they will return to delivering more the high quality work that you had come to expect.

#leadership #leadershipdevelopment #coaching #executivecoaching

Does your #mindset help or hinder you?

Your abilities or talent can help determine whether or not you are successful, however, what has a far bigger impact is what you believe about yourself and how you approach different situations. 

The mindset you adopt will inform your beliefs, which will influence your thoughts, impact your actions and create your results. 

It is your mindset that plays a key role in determining the difference between success and failure. 

According to Carol Dweck in her book 'mindset', there are 2 different types of mindset, Fixed & Growth. 

Your mindset, will determine your approach when faced with things such as challenges, obstacles, criticism. 

What is your mindset? 

How do you react when things aren’t as easy as you may have hoped?

Challenges - Do you avoid them or do you embrace them?

When confronted with obstacles, do you give up easily or do you do whatever you can to push through?

Do you see effort as part of the path to success or do you often feel that it’s not worth it?

How do you react to rejection – do you learn from it or do you ignore it and blame it on someone else?

Challenges, obstacles and rejection are all an inevitable part of life, they are an inevitable part of business. 

Having a #growthmindset, will make it more likely you are going to have helpful thoughts, which will lead to positive actions, in turn, creating successful results.

If you would like to better understand your mindset and how to approach challenges and obstacles in a better, more helpful way, feel free to get in touch for a chat, it would be great to hear from you.

#leadership #leadershipdevelopment #coaching #executivecoaching #leadershipcoaching

Do you have a daily routine?
 
People often talk about daily routines, making suggestions as to what may work. 
 
We take on board those suggestions, often thinking “if it is works for them, and they are successful, it will equally work for me”
 
Clearly this is not true. 
 
It may be a good idea, but just because it worked for them, it doesn’t mean it will work for you. 
 
Things that give you energy may be the things that drain others of energy. And equally so, things that give others energy, may be the things that drain you of energy.
 
By all means take on board other people’s ideas and suggestions, but not from the perspective of this has to work for me and trying to force it to do so. 
 
Instead, use it as an opportunity to experiment, see what works for you and what doesn’t. 
 
It may be a good idea, but need some refinement. 
 
As you can see from the infographic created by Podio, there is no one size fits all. 

#dailyroutine #leadership #leadershipdevelopment #coaching

Which is more important, confidence or courage?
 
People often want to be more confident. 
 
They look at others, and wish that they had the confidence that they do. 
 
But how often do you wish you had more courage?
 
John is a leader
 
He is confident, but lacks courage. 
 
He is comfortable presenting to senior stakeholders. 
 
He is ok with not knowing the answers. 
 
He has real belief in his ability.
 
However, he struggles to take action when he is really outside his comfort due to fear of failure. 
 
This impacts his confidence.  
 
Compare John to Peter. 
 
Peter is courageous, but lacks confidence. 
 
He regularly faces difficult situations where he is fearful and uncertain, but he still takes action. 
 
He is prepared to have that difficult conversation, despite being scared and very much outside his #comfortzone. 
 
He is willing to take on new responsibilities despite lacking the confidence that he can do it. 
 
The more courageous Peter is, the more he takes on those unfamiliar tasks, the larger his comfort zone becomes and the more his confidence grows. 
 
Many of us want to be more confident, just like John. 
But having more #courage, just like Peter, you are more likely to take action in the face of fear, the result of which, will be more #confidence. 

#leadership #coaching #executivecoaching #leadershipcoaching

Do you speak up at meetings?
 
Or do you tend to spend most of them quiet, particularly when they involve more senior stakeholders?
 
Being a good #leader often requires active contribution in meetings. 
 
This doesn’t mean that you have to do most of the talking. 
 
It doesn’t mean that you speak for the sake of it. 
 
But the more you actively contribute, the bigger impact you will have on the business, and your career within it. 
 
You may tell yourself you want to speak more, you want to contribute more, but you hold back due to fear of looking stupid. 
 
Or fear of saying the wrong thing. 
 
What can you do to overcome this?
 
1) Prepare in advance - You may just turn up and see where the conversation goes, with the hope you will be able to speak as and when the opportunity arises.  

By preparing in advance, you will be more confident that what you are saying is relevant and is also adding value, meaning that you are more likely to contribute to the meeting. 
 
2) Realising that questions can be as valuable as answers - Contributing doesn’t always mean you have to have the right answer or a good solution to a problem.  

It can just as easily mean asking a good question. Or asking the question that everybody else wants to ask, but daren’t to.  

In fact, in my experience asking a good question, is usually more powerful than giving a good answer. 
 
3) Be #curious - We often go into meetings wanting to prove ourselves and wanting to look good. 
 
By letting go of the need to prove yourself and being genuinely curious, not only will you feel more liberated, but you will get others thinking more in the process. 
 
If you want to contribute more in meetings by preparing in advance, asking more questions and being genuinely curious, you will display more #leadership qualities, which will in turn create more impact on the business, and your career within it. 

#leadershipdevelopment #coaching #mindset

How much do you fear other people’s opinions?

Focusing on what other people of think of you is very common in the workplace.

However, depending on the mindset you have around this will have a big impact as to whether it is helping you or hindering you.

For instance, are you worrying about what other people think of you, or are you caring what they think?

Imagine you are giving some challenging feedback to a colleague. 

The thoughts you have, the approach you take, will be very different depending on whether you are worrying or caring.

When  you worry:

- You overthink
- You may hold back due to fear of conflict, due to fear of not being liked, due to fear of criticism
- You probably wont be honest with them, resulting in continued frustration for you, and a scenario where it is less likely that the problem will be resolved. 

Compare this to if you are more focused on caring:

- You are more likely to be honest
- You are more likely to strike a healthy balance between telling them what you think to need to hear, but also being mindful of their feelings
- You are more likely to create an environment of trust, where the problem does get resolved in some way.

It is pretty common and understandable to be mindful of other people’s opinions of you, however the more can come from a place of caring what they think, as opposed to worrying about it, the better it will be for you, the better it will be for them, and the better it will be for your relationship.

#mindset #leadership #coaching #executivecoaching #financecoaching

Taplio

Tony Shafar's Linkedin Analytics

Tony Shafar

Tony Shafar's Best Posts (last 30 days)

Want to drive more opportunities from LinkedIn?

Taplio

.css-1jgreyo{background-image:linear-gradient(284deg, rgba(39,43,72,1) 0%, rgba(33,47,183,1) 100%);color:transparent;-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text;}Tony Shafar's Linkedin Analytics

Tony Shafar

Tony Shafar's Best Posts .css-qqfgvy{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);}(last 30 days)

Want to drive more opportunities from LinkedIn?

Tony Shafar's Linkedin Analytics

Tony Shafar's Best Posts (last 30 days)