Developing Developmental Managers

Source: Public Practice 

In Part One of this series, Bill Reeb described the “upside down pyramid,” in which workflow starts with partners and trickles down to managers and staff. Often, this results in staff that are underworked and undertrained. An important part of the solution to this problem, Reeb says, is to ensure that everyone has “one boss” – that is, each employee reports to one person, a “developmental manager,” for purposes of accountability and consistency.

In Part Two, Reeb explains the creation and role of these developmental managers. The first step is to design an organizational chart – a process that can take some time and several iterations – in which everyone reports to someone for development. Developmental managers have a broad range of responsibilities, including:

• Making sure people who report to them get better,
• Determining competencies their direct reports need to do their jobs,
• Setting annual incentive goals for their direct reports,
• Regularly reviewing and assessing enough of their direct reports' work to determine whether they are gaining the right experience,
• Resolving conflicts that arise with their direct reports,
• Evaluating their direct reports based on accomplishment of their goals,
• Making bonus and salary recommendations for their direct reports,
• Mentoring their direct reports to prepare them for promotion to the next level. 

Being a developmental manager is a difficult and time-consuming task, and few people in a CPA firm are prepared to take on this role. Reeb recommends, therefore, that firms take it slowly, rolling out the developmental manager process in small groups. The article offers guidance on training developmental managers and making sure they have the resources they need to do the job.

For the complete article, read “Developing People Faster Takes a Different Approach – Part 2.” 

From Public Practice, Texas Society of CPAs, December 2014, www.tscpa.org.