Are You Teaching Your People to Be Leaders?

Source: Journal of Accountancy

Excerpts from this article by Alexandra Defelice are reproduced with permission.

According to AICPA president Barry Melancon, “Firms have ignored the need to develop their people. We put emphasis on our technical skills, but not necessarily nurturing or mentoring.” Based on discussions at the AICPA's first Leadership Academy in July, Defelice offers the following advice to partners and CFOs who want to develop their employees' leadership skills:

• Be available. Young CPAs don't want to wait around for annual reviews. Provide constant feedback and open your door to questions.
• Offer mentors. Reach out to midlevel managers. Young employees often prefer to seek guidance from colleagues closer to their age.
• Encourage volunteerism, including providing time off from work to participate in those activities.
• Explore social networking. Many firms block access to sites such as Facebook, but they could serve as a useful tool for professionals to learn from others in their field and could result in more clients.
• Give everyone the opportunity to gain leadership skills. Selective encouragement is perceived as a negative.
• Take staff along on client meetings so they can develop business acumen they may not typically glean until later on in their careers.
• Let them take risks and allow them to engage in tough conversations with some clients.

For the complete article, click here and read “Teach Young CPAs Well — Partners, CFOs Must Instill Leadership Skills to Find Their Successors.”

From Journal of Accountancy, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/Issues/2009/Oct.