Leadership: Making Others Better, Faster, and Stronger

Source: Public Practice

Effective leadership is a challenge for CPA firms, says author Dominic Cingoranelli, in large part because many firms value “people who can only make themselves better, faster, and stronger.” The key to long-term, sustainable success, however, is to value “those who can also make others better, faster, and stronger.”

Too often, CPA firm cultures are based on the attitude “I figured it out on my own, and if they're worth a darn, they will, too. If they can't, then maybe they don't belong here.” Firms that fail to develop future leaders who can delegate and develop others, Cingoranelli warns, will eventually face a leadership crisis.

To overcome leadership challenges, firms should embrace a culture that values development of others and ensures that their compensation systems reward owners for developing their people, not just for the technical abilities they possess. And firms need to do a better job of teaching their people how to develop others through a process of delegation.

Cingoranelli has found Dr. Paul Hersey's Situational Leadership® model to be effective in CPA firms. The model “leverages a leader's knowledge of his or her followers' needs to better delegate to them and, in the process, to better develop and grow their skill sets as well.”

For the complete article, read “Effective Leadership: Unlocking the Mysteries.”

From Public Practice, Texas Society of CPAs, December 2011, www.tscpa.org.