How to Create A Firm Culture

Source: CPA Practice Management Forum

Sandra Wiley, director of marketing for Boomer Consulting in Manhattan, Kansas, says culture is difficult to define: “It’s intangible—a state of mind, a feeling, a collective consciousness embedded within a firm and its employees.”

Firm culture doesn’t get created by articulating it. It evolves. Here are some lessons on how to develop the process:

• It takes work and continuity to develop a culture.
• A prerequisite is to make some hard decisions about employees. The following chart depicts four types of employees:

Those in the boxes on the right need to be nurtured. Those in the boxes on the left need to be eliminated.

• Selecting the right leader is critical. The leader of the firm should:
  • Regularly eat lunch with employees to learn their insights.
  • Wander about the office twice a week to informally talk with employees.
  • Be supportive of training by attending sessions with employees.
  • Set a reasonable work schedule, one that avoids excessive working hours.
  • Care about and value employees.
• Attitudes are crucial—and contagious. To develop a team that is motivated and shares the firm’s vision:
  • Emphasize training.
  • Provide bonuses and opportunities for ownership.
  • Allow flexible working hours and provide for remote access.
  • Provide for comp time (or overtime pay).
  • Provide recreational events during working hours.
• Ask people in the firm to articulate the firm’s mission and to identify their roles in it. In addition:
  • Employees should have quantifiable goals, which should be tied in to the firm’s overall goals. Employees should be evaluated according to these goals, not according to their hours.
  • They should know what their career growth paths are.
  • Every partner and manager should have open, trusting relationships with employees.

From CPA Practice Management Forum, CCH Incorporated, 800-449-8114, April 2007. For the complete article, click here.