When Things Go Bad!

How CFOs & CIOs Can Pull a Troubled Partnership Back on Track

In every organisation where I’ve led finance, the CIO has been one of my closest collaborators. Not because we always saw the world the same way, but because we built trust early, stayed practical, and kept the commercial outcomes front and centre. That approach saved us more than once and it’s exactly what many CFOs and CIOs tell me they wish they had when things start to unravel.

Over the past year, in conversations with CFOs who are deep in large transformation programs and CIOs under pressure to deliver more with less, I’ve noticed the same pattern emerging. When the relationship between finance and technology becomes strained, the organisation loses time, money and credibility long before anyone admits the real problem.

This article is for leaders who are in that uncomfortable territory now, or who simply want to avoid it. The aim isn’t to lecture; it’s to offer the kind of practical steps that have kept my own partnerships with CIOs working under pressure.

Where partnerships break and why it happens quietly

When CFOs and CIOs describe where things went wrong, the story often has familiar themes:

The pace disconnect.

Finance lives in rolling forecasts and capital cycles; technology deals in platforms, multi-year programs and disruption that doesn’t wait for approval cycles to catch up. When those horizons drift apart, tension builds quickly.

Value gets lost in translation.

CIOs talk in capability, architecture and risk. CFOs talk in return, timing and cash. Both are valid, but if no one is translating, it can feel like negotiating in two different languages.

The governance gap.

In strong partnerships, decisions flow cleanly. In weak ones, every decision feels like a negotiation and every negotiation feels personal.

The important thing to recognise is this: most troubled CFO–CIO relationships don’t fail because the individuals can’t work together. They fail because the structure around them encourages misunderstanding and misalignment. Change the structure, and the relationship usually follows.

When the relationship starts to slip: don’t ignore the early signs

What struck me in recent discussions with senior leaders is how long problems can simmer before anyone calls them out. CFOs tell me they start noticing late surprises in project finances. CIOs say they feel finance is “checking up” rather than partnering. Once those feelings settle in, the conversations become defensive and that’s when small issues turn into bigger ones.

If you sense the relationship shifting, don’t let it drift. Pick up the phone early. The most productive conversations I’ve had with CIOs began with a simple, direct line: “It feels like we’re a bit out of step, can we reset?” Nine times out of ten, the CIO has felt the same way and is relieved someone said it out loud.

Rebuilding trust: start with shared clarity, not emotion

When a relationship is under strain, people naturally focus on past frustrations. But the quickest way back to a productive footing is to remove emotion from the centre and put clarity there instead.

A good reset conversation usually focuses on three things:

1. What we are actually trying to deliver for the business.
 Strip it back to the commercial outcomes: faster revenue recognition, lower operating cost, improved reliability, reduced risk. Start with the outcome, not the technology or the cost.

2. What is blocking us right now.
 Every complex program eventually hits a handful of friction points, data quality, vendor performance, decision bottlenecks, unclear scope. Get those on the table plainly.

3. What each of you needs to operate effectively.
 CFOs need predictability and visibility. CIOs need the flexibility to solve problems without a wrestling match over every decision. When both sides name their operating needs, the partnership becomes more functional overnight.

This simple reset is often enough to pull the conversation out of the weeds and into something constructive.

About the Author

Ben Dodds is a senior finance leader with CFO and executive leadership experience, helping complex organisations accelerate growth, improve profitability, and deliver enterprise-wide transformation. In senior roles at Tabcorp, DXC Technology, and Hewlett Packard, Ben has shaped finance into a strategic business partner, driving commercial performance, optimising cost structures, and enabling better decision-making.

Ben is known for building leadership teams that deliver results, creating clarity in complexity, and working directly with executive teams to unlock sustainable performance. He shares his perspectives on financial leadership and transformation as a contributor to CFO Magazine A/NZ.

Follow Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedIn.com/in/benrdodds