Invest in Your Firm's Future Leaders

Source: Accounting Today

In this article, Danielle Lee addresses the importance of developing leaders within your firm – before it's too late. Firms that don't take the future of their leadership team seriously today may discover in a few years that their potential leaders have moved on to other firms and other opportunities.

To hold on to talented younger staff members, firms need mentoring programs in place and senior staff committed to the development of upcoming leaders. To be successful, they must make sure that mentors and mentees are well-suited to one another. Mentors should understand that to be truly effective they must be willing to commit to the younger staff member's development both professionally and personally. That means inviting a mentee into social situations and opportunities outside of the office as well as inside.

Firms must identify potential leaders and invest in them – even though that means not investing equally in every younger employee. Upcoming leaders eventually must be able to serve clients successfully, oversee staff growth, bring in new clients, minimize risk for the firm and ensure profitability. To be successful in these areas it's critical that future leaders communicate well.

One Akron-based firm has a leadership development program that requires outside speaking engagements to help growing leaders become better communicators. Participants also meet monthly to talk about management and to go over books on the subject. They are also connected to organizations outside the firm – sometimes serving on boards or committees – providing useful experiences and creating networking opportunities for themselves and the firm.

For the complete article, read “Keeping Them on the Long and Winding Road.”

From Accounting Today, July 1, 2012, SourceMedia Inc., One State Street Plaza, 27th Floor, New York, NY 10004, 800-221-1809.