CFO Gameboard: You know who your key player is. But are you managing the role effectively?

The key player in a finance function is not simply the skilled employee everyone appreciates. It is often the person the organisation cannot afford to lose, the profile who should be freed up for more important tasks, or a capability you do not have yet—one that could take finance to the next level. But the more an organisation bases its progress on a few individuals, the greater the risk becomes. This article explores the key player as a concept and as a component in our CFO Gameboard analysis tool.

Most CFOs and finance leaders know who their key players are.

They are the people work gravitates towards. The people who get things done. The people you call when something is stuck, critical or complex.

But although the key player is often clearly visible in everyday operations, the role is rarely treated as a strategic management issue. It should be, because the key player says something essential about where the finance function is strong, where it is vulnerable and where it risks coming to a standstill.

The key player is not simply a skilled employee. It is a person or capability that is critical to the organisation’s ability to deliver, develop or transform.

That is why we have dedicated a piece to the key player in our CFO Gameboard analysis tool. And this piece—and the dialogues it generates—is what this article will explore.

In practice, the key player typically emerges in three situations: 1) as the employee you cannot afford to lose, 2) as the profile you should free up for more important tasks, or 3) as the capability you do not have yet.

The key player you cannot afford to lose

Some key players are so central to daily operations that the organisation quickly becomes vulnerable if they leave. This typically applies to people with critical business knowledge, a strong understanding of processes or specialist capabilities that few or no one else can take over without creating risk. They often understand the connections across tasks, systems and workflows and act as the person others turn to when something is complex, urgent or cannot be allowed to go wrong. Their value therefore lies not only in being skilled, but also in carrying a disproportionately large share of the function’s stability.

Here, decisions concerning the key player are primarily about understanding where dependency on one person has become too great and where the organisation should work more systematically with knowledge sharing, documentation and training. The aim is not simply to retain the person, but also to reduce the vulnerability surrounding the role and the capabilities they represent.

The key player who should be freed up

Other key players create the greatest value not by remaining in day-to-day operations, but by being freed up to work on the most important projects, changes or strategic initiatives. This is often the type of profile that understands the business, the processes and the practical consequences of new decisions and is therefore critical when something new needs to be designed, implemented or embedded. The challenge is that they are often so important in everyday operations that the organisation hesitates to let them go. The result is often that they become split between operations and development and therefore do not have the right conditions to succeed in either area.

In this situation, the task concerning the key player becomes a question of management prioritisation: Do you dare to free up your most important profile to focus on what creates the greatest future value, while simultaneously finding other ways to stabilise operations? This is often precisely where the greatest benefit lies: not in protecting the key player from change, but in using their time much more consciously.

The key player you are missing

Sometimes the key player is not a person you have already hired, but a capability the organisation lacks. This typically becomes clear when the finance function encounters new demands from the business, needs to support a new direction or must take on a task that no one in the team has handled before. For example, this could be a need for stronger business partnering, greater transformation capabilities or a profile that can build bridges between operations, technology and the business. In this type of situation, the challenge is not simply a lack of hands, but a lack of a particular type of experience, seniority or behaviour that the current organisation does not possess.

Here, the key player piece is used as a recognition that there is something important the organisation cannot do today but needs to be able to do tomorrow. This requires management to assess whether the need is best addressed through recruitment, interim support or targeted development of new capabilities internally.

Paradoxically, a key player can also be a barrier that stands in the way of progress and growth in the organisation.

This happens when too much work, too much knowledge or too many decisions are concentrated in one person. Bottlenecks arise, making the organisation slower. Not because people are unwilling, but because the pace is, in practice, determined by how much one person can handle.

It also happens when the key player’s value is closely tied to the way things have traditionally been done. Extensive experience and historical knowledge are strengths until the organisation needs to do something new. At that point, what previously created stability may begin to work against progress.

Finally, the key player may lose relevance when the organisation’s needs change. A profile that was critical in one phase is not necessarily the right one in the next. That is not a defeat. It is a management reality. Key players are not static. They depend on direction, needs and context.

When organisations talk about key players, the conversation often ends up focusing on retention. And of course, that is important. But it is not enough. It is just as much about adjusting and adapting so that the key player becomes a valuable piece for all the individuals in your overall team line-up.

If a key player is critical to the organisation’s performance, the task is not simply to retain the person. The task is to ensure that their time is used correctly.

It starts with management, right up close. When a small number of people carry a significant responsibility, their well-being, energy and motivation are not only personnel matters but also operational risks.

Next comes prioritisation. Many key players spend too much time on tasks that others could, in principle, learn to handle. Not necessarily perfectly from day one, but well enough for the key player to be freed up to focus on where their value is greatest.

Finally, there is documentation and training. An organisation becomes vulnerable when knowledge exists only in one person’s head. Key players should therefore be supported in sharing their knowledge, documenting workflows and enabling others to take on more responsibility.

For the individual, this may feel like a waste of time. For the organisation, however, it is an investment in resilience.

The key player also has a responsibility.

The strongest key player is not the person who makes themselves indispensable at any cost. It is the person who continuously considers where they create the most value, what needs to be passed on, and how knowledge and capabilities can be passed on within the organisation.

Being a key player should therefore not be a goal in itself. The goal should be to contribute where you make the greatest difference, without simultaneously making the organisation dependent on you personally.

That is where the role truly matures: when the key player not only creates results personally, but also makes the surrounding team stronger.

Most finance functions have key players. The question is whether you have a firm management grip on them and whether you are sufficiently aware of making the most of them.

By placing your key player in the optimal position, you also take control of your organisation’s strengths, vulnerabilities and next necessary steps. You will see where knowledge is too concentrated, where capacity is being used incorrectly, where critical capabilities are missing and where change risks encountering resistance.