Speaker 1 0:00
Today, I'm joined by Sarah Wallace, the CFO of Team GB. Now, Team GB is a non profit organisation that takes our nation's athletes to the Olympic Games. And Sarah, as a finance leader, is focused on finance being the strategic partner to that organisation. She does that through focus on culture people and, above all else, the right technology to support them. And I hope you enjoy the conversation. Hi, Sarah. Thank you so much for joining me. So you're the CFO at Team GB. Before we dig into the world of finance, can we just chat a little bit about Team GB itself and and what the organisation is, what it does and, and how it sort of operates. And so Team GB is our external brand, so the legal entities, we're the British Olympic Association. So we're the National Olympic Committee for Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which our main responsibilities are to select and take a team to the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. With that they're the athletes are only kind of under the Team GB banner at the Olympics, otherwise, they're part of their national governing body. So say, UK, athletics, GB, swimming, etc, right? And so then I've asked, been asked, many questions, you know, because it is sort of an intricate area. So say, like, the athletes don't, actually, they're not on our payroll. They're all kind of part of their national governing bodies, and then, yeah, they become under our banner, and our responsibility only at the Olympic Games. Yeah. And then we're a nonprofit organisation, so we're fully funded by commercial sponsorship, and so we don't have any government, government grants or anything like that. So we're completely independent from government, which I think is quite a key kind of point for us. And so every penny we raise basically goes to help the athletes do their best performance they possibly can at the Olympic Games. So we as well as kind of getting them there and sort of housing them, etc. We put on a lot of performance enhancing kind of things, such as, we pay for a preparation camp. So in Paris, we had a couple of different preparation camps where they can come to the games, sort of up to 334, weeks in advance and train in the kind of well for Paris, the time zone, etc, wasn't that big a deal. But when we look to La kind of getting in the time zone and acclimatising to the temperature, all that sort of thing is really key. So if you kind of just turn up there with jet lag, you're not going to be at your best. So that's something that Team GB, the boa, we kind of pay for and provide, provide things like that. Also provide performance lodge as well, which so during the games is somewhere it's a Team GB, only environment where you kind of get a fully kitted out gym, so then the athletes can train, etc, during the games, but without kind of being next to the person that they'll be competing with the following day, you know? So they can just be in a team to be environment places to chill relax. We kind of do sort of relaxation zones and all that sort of thing. Yeah. So it's all those sort of small extra bits that we kind of put on. So that's what we use our income for. And so we kind of any marginal gains we can do. So we work hand in hand with the sports as well with the performance directors to see what else we can do to help them perform their best. Yeah, cool. And so how many people are a part of the organisation then? So we're around 55 or so, sort of day to day before. So the Summer Games, we really ramp up. So we take on a lot of second ds, and we have a lot of volunteers and contractor staff, yeah. And so we really kind of balloon out to sort of a few 100, but then yeah, day to day, we're about 55 and then we've got a team of five in the finance team as well, including myself, cool. So you're the CFO. You've been there since 2023 Yeah. And your approach to finance is very much about being a strategic partner to the rest of the organisation. Yeah. Can you just explain a bit about what you mean by a strategic partner, maybe over a more traditional finance function? Yeah. I mean, I think for me, the sort of benefit. Of finance is that you you have the sort of the insights, and you potentially think about things in a in a different way, and so you're really primed to then add value to the people in the business of different departments. So it's for me, I, whenever I work somewhere, I spend a lot of time creating kind of really good, authentic relationships with people as well. So it's not transactional. Where you're kind of, you get on your friends, you know about each other's lives, that kind of thing, and to sort of gain the trust. Because I think some people are quite afraid of finance. They think they're going to get told off. And that's definitely not how I like to work. Obviously, you're kind of, there are times where you do need to chase people or say that actually, this isn't how you should do this. And you know, this is late or etc, but I think if you've got that good relationship, it sits in a completely different way, and they know it's coming from a good place, and you're just doing your job. And so I think you get a lot more buy in. And then I think in terms of the sort of to have the space to do the strategic work is very much supported by the you need to have the right systems in place to automate all the day to day, the kind of the less value add stuff. So, like, it's all important. It all needs to get done. But really, these days, systems can do a lot of that hard work for you, yeah, and then it just frees up the time for the team to then get into the business, have conversations, and sort of really kind of add value. So it may be like getting involved in a project, supporting them, or even just sort of, this is how we use Excel, like it is some, some kind of small things where they've been struggling quietly for years and never known how to do something like, oh, actually, no, there's a formula for that. And then you've saved them sort of half an hour a day or something. Yeah, and, but you kind of, you if, if you're just sat kind of almost in the kind of back office, behind the scenes, then people, you're not very approachable. And so I think it's sort of just being kind of out there and speaking to people, and then you can really start to add the value and understand the business as well. Because there's a lot of in terms of budgeting and forecasting. For me, it's all around the story. And so I'm very keen on, sort of the numbers need to tell a story. And you, you can't build that out if you're not speaking to people, otherwise, it's just numbers, and you need to paint the colour, sort of, so if I'm going to my CEO, I need to be able to really explain what's going on and why, and if you, if you don't spend time with the rest of the business, the why, you never know. So I think then that just is adds more insight to for their decision making. Yeah, definitely. And so what's led you to work in this way as a finance leader. Where's your background come from? So I think for me, I think a lot of it's driven by my personality. I think I'm sort of someone that I like talking to people I also really like process. So I don't think there's possibly a common mixture. But I think for me, I always like to leave when I work somewhere, I like to leave it better than when I got there. So I'm very into making an impact. And for me, that sort of really getting involved strategically is where I see the best kind of return. And I think as well, sort of the making my team's live jobs better and easier, as well, you can really kind of see the impact of that so and I think kind of in terms of the how I'd kind of set it up, I suppose is when I, like, one of my early jobs in industry, they just had a really, really good commercial finance team, and sort of, from top down, finance always had a seat at the table. You were always involved in all the decisions and and really kind of respected, I think, and,

Speaker 1 9:46
and I've basically just tried to recreate that in every job I've had since, just because it for me, it's really rewarding, and I've just really enjoy it. So I think that's sort of and. Also, when I'm sort of implementing it my team, they're actually really like it as well. And I think sometimes they don't realise that that's possible. They think, actually, no, I should be I should just be stuck to a spreadsheet all the time. And they don't realise, actually, what else they could be doing, until you kind of show them actually, there's a nicer way to finance that's really interesting. It's such a cultural shift that you create in as well. Yeah, and technology sounds like it's very much at the heart of this approach. And you this year of put new systems in place, what was life like before you had those systems in place for the team? Yeah, I mean, there was a lot of complaining. So there was multiple tickets, kind of raised every day about things not working, or, for example. So we, as well as the the kind of winter and summer games we do, we take a team to the youth, these youth festivals within Europe, and so we'll, we kind of have lot of different currencies coming through, but only for a small amount of time, and it took three months, and they still couldn't add, like, the new currency onto the system, and which feels like something quite simple, but the way it had been built was so bespoke, there was one person from the company that knew how to actually make any changes, and you had to sort of book that person six months in advance to be able to do anything. So it was, it was quite painful, a lot as like high risk as well, if you've got, yeah, personal dependency, exactly, system, yeah. So there was, yeah, a lot of manual work arounds, a lot of kind of quite painful spreadsheet work save, sort of to update the forecast. It would take three days, which kind of, with the normal system, you should just the actual should just come through, like with one press of a button or no, yeah. So yeah, there was, it was, it was just quite painful. And as you say, it was quite a big risk for us as well. Yeah. So what made it hit the top of the list? Was it sort of high on your priority list when you arrived? Or was, was there something that made you decide that was sort of the first step for you? It was within weeks? Yeah, I was like, well, this, this is not going to do my head of finance at the time. Actually, kind of had a really, he kind of work, had all these workarounds, and was sort of fine with it. But he, he kind of knew that there was a better way of doing it, although we, I guess, sort of when you're when you're new, into a role, a big change like that, not it's hard to get sign off when you're brand new, so you almost have to wait till you're in there a bit. Yeah. And then we kind of almost got too close to Paris, so we have, like, a change freeze, because it is the biggest thing that we do for every four years, yeah. And although I thought it would be okay, I didn't want to be responsible for kind of stuff going wrong. And then, yeah, the pre Paris, exactly, yeah. So I was uncharacteristically patient and waited till post Paris. And so it was in October, and so I didn't wait very long after Paris, and then got buy in from the board to make the change. And, yeah, make the investment into interchanging, yeah. And so how did you then, sort of set out what you were going to fix with this whole sort of tech change? Was it about listening to the team or the business? Yeah, I think kind of, for me, a lot of the problems we had were driven by how bespoke the system was and unnecessarily so. So for me, something out of the box was really key. So where which I'd had previously with other systems. So then there's just a lot of people that know how it works and can help you, yeah, which sage Intacct definitely is, although, obviously you can add on modules, but they're very kind of static modules. They're not sort of bespoke. And I was very keen with the team to if they did start having requests, of all, could we make it do this? I was very clear, and sort of we needed to really say why, if there was any kind of changes they wanted to make, which actually we didn't end up doing any in the end, and we got comfortable kind of using the processes as as they were. Yeah, but yeah, just something. So out of the box, so in that when we raise a ticket, when we want to find out how to do something, it's not sort of like, oh, how does it work for Team GB? It's like, well, this is how it works for everyone. So then anyone can solve to it. And so I think that was the, one of the main kind of reasons that I sort of was looking for, and equally, just sort of, it's things that are quite obvious, but just yeah, things that would be really manual, just happen automatically, like posting depreciation was or it was all calculated in a spreadsheet and they had to make a journal to post. It just happens automatically when you press a button. Now, so things like that, which actually I never knew anyone would do manually. They were doing things like that. And so it was. It was those kind of wins as well that I was looking for. And equally as well, sort of the budgeting forecasting is obviously being someone is very keen on the commercial side, how the budgeting forecasting tool talks to the actuals and the system. So we also took on SIP as well surge in tech planning and so that bolt on as well was quite key for me, just to make sure that we had some good processes around it. Yeah. Okay, so you mention easy wins, and they sound like quite small games that actually add up to giving them back that time they need to be a partner to the business. What have you seen as the game changes in those small wins? I think yeah, they should say they sound silly and small, but actually So one example is so we also implemented use as our purchase order, and which came with an app. So one of our issues was people would never approve purchase orders, like the senior people in the business were too busy and you had to log on to their laptop and kind of go through this process before, whereas with the app, they can just do it on the tube on the way into work. And so actually, for the first time in years, we actually have had no unapproved purchase orders, which for my AP manager was like, he was so happy, like his face, he was beaming. Just, yeah, I can't believe it. So much of his time was wasted, chasing people to approve POS, also managing suppliers as well, chasing him kind of, why has this not been paid? So, yeah, it was just a real, kind of small win, but like a real game changer for his day to day

Speaker 1 17:43
life. Yeah, and I suppose that's helped both sides, because now the person on the tube trying to approve it isn't having to log into their laptop. So they've gained time. But yeah, and your AP managers gain time back. Yeah, on their side. So how do you get to the bottom of what these small gains are? It sounds like listening to the team. Is a part of that? What else helps you to sort of build up that list of all these smaller things that are going to help? Yeah, I think kind of definitely listening to the finance team's complaints, also listening to the business as well. So previously, with expenses, we had to manually upload all the expenses for the month at the end of the month from the credit card. So then people could only do their expenses at the end of the month. They couldn't do them when they were going, which meant that expense is really late, because people then had to do all of them at one go. And so that was a real bug bear for the whole business as just, not just finance. So then when we chose our expense system that worked with sage Intacct, that was a big thing of like having an app being able to have real time information so they could do their expenses as as they went. So it's yeah, kind of just ear to the ground, which, again, you need some time to be able to do that. Yeah, of course, as well. So it all kind of feeds each other. Yeah, definitely. And so we talked about internal people and your team. What about relationships with suppliers and sponsors? Has that changed through improving the tech that you've got? Yeah, yeah, for sure, I think sort of when you've got POS faster, you know, then and automatically going out to the suppliers as well, then everything kind of happens a lot easier, equally, kind of approving sales invoices, so then that that goes out earlier, which then just all it all helps cash flow as well. So we talked quite a bit about back office and the improvements there, but it sounds like one of the biggest wins has been getting your team from behind the spreadsheets and the systems and our. Into the business. What does that look like in a strategic partnership? And for me, the things I've kind of been pushing them to do is it kind of even from just the real basic things of chatting to people in the kitchen, you know, kind of just, it's those times where you kind of really actually start to create a relationship with people. So it's, you know, not sort of rushing to the low, rushing back, because you've got to carry on with your spreadsheets. It's actually taking a bit of time having the conversation with people, creating that base relationship, and then that's how you then build from that, yeah, and because I think there's, there can be the kind of thought of, oh God, fine arts are talking to me. They're trying to catch me out. They're trying to, I've done something wrong. Why are they talking to me? And actually it's sort of creating just that human connection with them and taking an interest in what they're doing. So I find really powerful. Just sort of like, how's everything going? What happened with with that licensee you were talking to? Did you manage to sort out that problem? Like, let me know if I can help. It's, it's those things where, actually they start to drop their guard, and then they, they bring you in, and then once you've cut, they actually then seek you out, and then you so it takes a while to kind of turn it round, but then that's how you get, like, really good, real time information. So when you're forecasting budgeting, actually, it's a real two way conversation, because you're aware of their day to day and what's going on, so you're not just there blank being like, send me your numbers and I'll put them in. You're actually having like, this partnership conversation with them. We like, oh, actually, this happened, didn't it? So actually, we need to make sure that we account for that. And they're like, Oh yeah, yeah, you know. And we're kind of having that, that two way. So with the the with my team, it's, you have to, kind of Yes, start from the beginning, almost. So it is pushing them out there, and just being that, just like, you know, make friends, kind of, kind of get, get in that. And then it and then it builds like you. It's really tricky. You can't just go from here, from nothing to everything. You expect it to be kind of natural. Yeah, those small steps. And I suppose, yeah, team's been so used to be in that more numbers function, sort of that approval point and checking up on people. It's then small steps towards exactly cultural change needed to get them thinking different. Yeah, both both sides have to get used to that new way of working and the new relationship. So it's sort of like I'll normally only hear from X when he's chasing me for my expenses. It's always a negative interaction, yeah? And it's sort of forcing the positive interactions with everyone and that. So I always think that starts best from like a natural relationship that's not actually work related at all, yeah. And I think, you know, as a marketing person myself, obviously I've had many interactions with finance around spend and different things and and I agree, working in partnership and the finance leader understanding what we're doing and why you're doing it, rather than just seeing another invoice that comes through, or exactly a challenge, you know, like a challenge around approval or slow To get things done. Yeah, it's then, I suppose, empathy on both sides that finance has their job to do. And yeah, in my case, marketing has our job to do, and we can work together. And I think that's it where, where you are in it together. And yeah, you can't fake that like you have to actually, really be that for both for it to work on both sides, you can't, kind of say the words and then not really mean them on both sides otherwise, yeah, it kind of doesn't. You don't really get anywhere. Yeah. And what I love about when we talked about it, is, you're a real champion of that approach. Can you share a bit about what you were doing through the Paris Olympics, because it was very non finance in a traditional sense. Yes, really cool. I mean, yeah, I possibly may be taken a bit too far about getting involved, but I think this, this sort of basis, was it of it was, for me, as a CFO, you're focused on risks. So risks all across the business, and for us, we decided, for Team GB house, which is our Hospitality House, to open it up to fans for the first time, which involves selling tickets. And we hadn't done anything like that before. Within the business, we weren't. And we were a brand marketing agency, not like, kind of selling tickets, that kind of thing. And so that skill set wasn't there. I'd come from mass participation running, where it was all about selling, selling entries. And so I'd, I just got stuck in. I was like, I need to reduce this risk, and I kind of took it upon myself to do that. So I was kind of writing copy for the new website we'd created. I was in like, interviewing and ticketing agencies. I was getting athletes to appear at Team GB house, organising the contracts. There was all sorts of things which was way outside of my remit and but it for me, this, the success of that house, was so important that I then just kind of threw everything into it. And I was lucky that actually my finance team were working really well, so I could kind of pull away a bit from from that, and I had the time and capacity to do that, yeah, but yeah, I think it's and it definitely buys you a lot of credit as well when you're happy to roll your sleeves up and get stuck into something within the business as well. So yeah, definitely, yeah, there's a lot of gains on relationships through that as well. Yeah, and I think it's a great example of where the relationships you've built enabled you to help and get involved. How have you found the team, GB team, take on this different approach to finance and being more of a partner and and a strategic thinker. Yeah, I think

Speaker 1 26:46
where, where we've been able to fix problems for them, then they're kind of really on board. I think we're still kind of working through there's still an element in some areas where we haven't quite been able to break through, I think. So there's still some work to be done. But yeah, they're really on board with the kind of the positivity and the kind of we're here to help, not yet to kind of kind of tell you off almost. So, yeah, it's and also, like the CEO actually brought me in specifically, that's how he wanted it to work as well. So we were very much on the same page. Like the support from kind of senior as well to kind of push, push it through, which I think is is key, and getting kind of support from the top as well, yeah, definitely. Especially when there's any cultural or Yeah, attitudes and behaviours shifts, it's Yeah, important to have that vision from the top, yeah, and that support from the top down, really. So we've talked a little, we talked about the tech, we talked a little bit about insight. But what role does data play in all of this and in helping you to to partner with the rest of the business? So I think for us, data is, I guess, the tool, and that creates the Insight where you can then help the business, the wider business. So it's kind of looking at, say, for example, margin on sponsorship contracts. So now, with the new finance system, we can tag all the income and the costs to a particular customer, so we can easily then run off what the margin is, whereas previously, that would take quite a long time, and then it would be something that you would maybe not prioritise, because, yes, there was a lot of other stuff to do. So then you can then have the conversations with the sponsorship team and say, Actually the margin on X, Y and Z is a lot lower than what we were hoping for. Kind of, why? Is that how? And then also, when we're doing the new contracts, be kind of mindful of not, kind of just giving, giving a load of extra stuff away, yeah. So it's things like that where I think, as well. It helps, it helps you kind of bring to the conversation when you've got the data. Because really, they are, they are the the specialists in their area. It's not us. So then that's, I think the data is what then finance brings to that partnership. Yeah, I suppose that's really key, isn't it? It's about what that data can do to help individuals make decisions. If you're not there to serve the data and make the decision for them. No, no, it's about again, that partnership piece of this is what you can see. They can see, from their point of view, what's happening and influencing decisions. Questions through data led insight, yeah, because I think, sort of say on the sponsorship side, they'd make individual calls on each sponsor, but then possibly hadn't realised, adding that all together, what the impact on the P and L that's had, because they wouldn't necessarily think in that way. So then that's for finance to sort of bring that data to the table, like, actually, individually, it wouldn't be that big a deal. But when now we've added it all together, this is where we are to date, and actually, then we need to be mindful kind of going forwards, just in terms of, like, what, what kind of margin we're looking at there, yeah. So it's, yeah, bringing kind of extra information, yeah, so let's stick with sponsorship, because you're so sponsor driven, cash flow must be really important for team. GB, how is that managed to and you know, What decisions do you make around cash flow? Yeah, as you say. I mean, with all businesses cash, cash is cash is king, as they say. But I think for us, what one thing actually we've been doing, again, with having a bit more space to kind of breathe and think, is we've been investing the cash in various kind of money markets and kind of just making sure that we've made the cash work for us as much as possible. So we're kind of able, with the with the space, to actually kind of move money around and just make sure it works as hard as we can, and make sure that, you know, we've got time to chase the debtors and, you know, keep your eye on it, and also sort of pay things when they're due, not earlier, and that, that kind of thing, yeah. So yeah. Again, that insights drive in that those decisions that you're making exactly, and the headspace to be able to, yeah, look into it and make those decisions, yeah, yeah. So what's next for the team, GB, finance team, then what? What's the next win that you're aiming for? Well, for me, so we, we implemented beginning of April, so we're only kind of a few months in. The day to day processes are kind of pretty much there, but it's the reporting out of it. So the kind of monthly management packs, the forecast budgeting packs, where I'm really looking forward to kind of working with customer success team and sort of building those out. So the dream of press a button and then it all kind of created, rather than sort of pulling reports and kind of putting spreadsheets together and that kind of thing. So, yeah, it's, it's the reporting and the putting, getting the insights out quickly, I think is, is where I'm really excited to move to. Okay, so finally, what's one small action that business leaders who are listening to this could take this week to get the kind of progress that you're talking about, I think for me, in terms of something small, and that's really quick and easy to do is just speak, speak to your finance team. I think it's them. They're the ones dealing with the day to day. And I think in terms of any quick wins that you can come up with, it will be their frustrations, where they're kind of having their pain points. And I think that will be the really good place to start, in terms of building a picture, in terms of where, where you can start to make changes. I think, yeah, it's the quick wins are possibly like in the detail. I think, yeah, definitely. And I suppose it's those quick wins that then lead to the time and the headspace to be able to be more strategic. Exactly, yeah, and they'll know what they are, they'll or they'll know a portion of them, because they're driving them mad every day, exactly. I mean, that's definitely where, where it was with me, where I was kind of like, hang on, why are you doing that? And and then they're sort of frustrated, Oh God, I'm raising the ticket again, and it builds the picture. And then that's how we how we chose to then change finance system, because there were so many pain points from the team. And so I think definitely speaking to them is a really good first step. Yeah, great. Well, thank you so much. How can people find you if they want to reach out or find out more about the work you're doing at Team GB so I'm on LinkedIn, so it's Sarah Wallace, and then just the team GBS, the company. I've also got my team GB kit on there. So nice picture at Paris. Yes, yes. So should be able to pick me out among the other Sarah Wallaces. Thank you so much. It's been great to chat about Strategic Finance and how you are paving the way for that at Team GB. So thank you. Right? Thank you for having me. You.

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