Engage and retain your people alliott 010412 Alliott Group 2012

Strategies To Engage And
Retain Your People

Facilitated by
Jennifer Wilson
January 12, 2012
www.convergencecoaching.com
©Copyright 2000-2012
ConvergenceCoaching, LLC
All rights reserved.

What Are Your Biggest
HR Issues?
• As you plan for 2012, what are your most
important HR challenges or initiatives?

All rights reserved. 2

Our Objective
• Discuss ways to elevate the HR function to have a
bigger impact on your firm’s overall success
• Understand the top professional motivators and
specific actions you can take to inspire and fully
engage your team
• Share methods for identifying and investing in your
rising stars
• Discuss a performance and accountability model to
drive motivation and engagement

The Strategic Role of HR


Today’s Role of HR
• HR is more important than ever today and is a critical success
factor in your firm’s success
• With nearly 76 million U.S. Baby Boomers and over half of the
CPA profession set to retire in the next 12 years – your firm
will be in need of people!
• Traditionally, HR has been viewed as a “compliance” necessity
and often considered administrative
– Further, HR professionals have a reputation for being “soft” or “pro-
employee”
• It is important to work to incorporate your HR function as a
strategic initiative in your firm and include HR in your
planning

Shifting Paradigms
• What’s Out • What’s In
– Job Analysis – Competency Assessment
– Personnel Management – Human Capital Mgmt.
– Rulemaking – Consultant/Trusted
– Functional Orientation Advisor
– One Size Fits All – Business Orientation
– Centralized Decisions – Tailored Programs
– Mutual Distrust – Framework for Others to
– Focus on Activities Decide
– Partnering
– Focus on Impact
ConvergenceCoaching, LLC These aspects were identified in The Changing Role of Human
All rights reserved. Resources/Assessment Professionals: Adding Value in the “New” 6
Organization

The Role Of HR In
Your Firm
• What new competencies would you like to see
in your HR function to make it more strategic?
• How can you better support and elevate the
role of HR in your firm?


Motivating And Engaging
Your Team


Are Your People Sold
On Working For You?
• According to preliminary data from the soon-to-be
published 2011 PCPS Top Talent Survey, nearly half
of the profession’s star performers are open to other
options beyond their current position
– There appears to be a wave of “pent up” voluntary
turnover that may be headed your way soon (if you
haven’t already seen it)
– So what are you doing to re-engage your team so that they
are motivated and inspired by their choice to work for
your firm?


A Word About
Individual Motivators
• In their work, all people value:
– Acknowledgement and respect
– Increased responsibility and challenge
– Flexibility and time off
– Compensation
– Camaraderie and fun
– Personal development
• How do you rank these? Take a moment to rank these
yourself
• Each person in your firm values these motivators differently
– It’s your job – and that of HR to identify the individual motivators and
appeal to them

Recognize, Know And
Talk To Them
• No matter how many people are in your firm, work to know
as many of them as possible by name and on sight
– Consider having someone develop a digital book that includes
everyone’s picture, name and brief biography
– Reach out regularly by e-mails, phone calls and face-to-face meetings
– Take these opportunities to learn what motivates them and what they
most want to achieve in their career and in their personal life
– Find out what more the firm can do to support them in achieving their
life’s goals
• Knowing your people is one of the best forms of
acknowledgement and respect that they could receive!


Invest In Your People
• One of the highest compliments you can pay your
employees is to spend time with them by:
– Taking them along on sales calls, to conferences or
meeting with key clients or referral sources
– Allowing them the privilege of shadowing work at higher
levels
– Investing in more training per person than your
competitors and including soft-skills education at every
level, including administrative staff


Be Willing To Change
• The needs of today’s up-and-comers are different
from when you came up
• Give up your “old school” notions of how it should
be and manage your organization based on the way
that it is
– Embrace diversity and provide opportunities for your staff
to collaborate with your leaders on strategic planning,
owning key initiatives and participating in committees
– Develop work-from-anywhere programs that move
towards measuring on results and less on face time

Have Fun With Your
People
• Younger generations are most engaged when
they feel a part of a team at work
• Create opportunities to bond through team-
building activities and corporate fun
• It is critical that your firm’s leaders participate
in firm-sponsored social and
community activities


Thank Them!

• This may go without saying, but we see so
many leaders forget to do this –
– Thank your people!
– Stop by their cubicle, send them an email or even
better, write them a hand-written thank you note!
– Catch them doing a good job
– Reward them with “spot bonuses” in addition to
an incentive plan that they can control based on
their contribution to the firm

How Are You Doing?

• What else can you do to demonstrate your
willingness to change and invest in your
people?
– What are you doing that is engaging your people?
– What more can you do?


Identify Your Rising Stars


Engaging Your Stars
• Identify and engage your rising stars
– Or someone else will
– It will help you prioritize your time and investment in
people – use Pareto’s 80/20 rule
• When you cull people from the pack, you can
differentiate them
– Then you can determine what special benefits you’re
going to give them to develop them
– These folks are usually on the fast track


How do you identify your rising
stars? What behaviors do they
exhibit?


Identifying Your Stars
• Evaluate your people considering:
– Competence
• Technical and soft skills
• Abilities and expertise
• Experience
• Ability to learn and grow
– Character
• Behavior and intention
– Promotability/importance
• Interest in rising further or how critical this person is to the firm
• Professional “presence” and acceptance of others at the “next level”


Potential Partners
• According to the AICPA PCPS Top Talent Survey, 69% of top
talent said their firms did not have a partner track or they did
not know if their firm had one
• First you must identify the attributes, competencies and other
qualifications to be considered for a Partner in Training (PIT) or
Leadership Development program (LDP)
– Get buy in from your other partners, if applicable, and rank your people
against them
• Next, identify the priority of the people and for the first one or
two partner potentials, you’ll want to identify what more you
need to do to prepare them


Caution
• Be careful not to get caught up in identifying your
rising stars based on history or “time in”
• You also could run into arguments that investing
differently from previous rising stars isn’t fair or will
make someone else mad
– Our current economic situation and requirement to
succession plan won’t allow us to do it how we’ve always
done it
– You have to manage communications around this program


Make Them
Feel Special
• Create a leadership development training program that
includes training on soft skills
– Leadership attributes
– Ownership and accountability
– Communication and managing conflict
– People development and business development
– Public speaking
• Incorporate your current partners into the program
– Dinners with the partners and partner candidates
– Business model training
– Participation in partner meetings and strategic planning – increase
transparency!

Developing Your
Rising Stars
• What else could you do to develop your
“rising stars” and make them feel special?
• What challenges do you need to overcome to
do so?


Driving Performance
And Accountability


The Leadership
Development Model™
Define
Performance
– Roles and
Ownership
Goals

Establish Monitor
Reward Unity Performance
Performance Around Firm – Return and
Report
Strategy

Evaluate and
Trust Discuss Accountability
Performance


The Foundation Of
Accountability
• Before you can institute or improve your
firm’s accountability process, the partners
must first establish unity
– Based on trust
– Around a firm strategy
– With the right governance model and other
constructs in place
– Engaging in straight talk where there are
disconnects

A Unified Team
• Each partner should be expected to submit to the
strategy and decisions made by those empowered to
make them
– In addition to firm policies, procedures and other
expectations
• Straight talk (and a little tough love) are required around:
– Partner support both in and out of the partner meetings –
no triangulation or “doing your own thing” allowed
– Expected contributions or performance
– Disappointment when performance is not happening

Submission
• A key attribute of an effective leader is the ability to
submit
– Trust building behaviors are required
– Ensure the support structures are in place (like role
descriptions, goals) and decision authority is defined
– The question for you is, “once these are defined, will you
submit to them?” This would allow for:
• The Managing Partner, Service Line Leaders and Committees to
be empowered
• Decisions to be made more efficiently and effectively
• Increased productivity
• Less of a feeling of struggle for all involved

Moving On
• Sometimes, a partner may not be willing to buy in to
firm strategy and may need to leave
– All partners have to be willing to be accountable for their
contribution to a unified strategy
• While these conversations are never easy (and have
other implications) the cost of a lack of partner unity
is far greater
– The long-term benefits of addressing a lack of buy-in far
outweigh any short-term discomfort


Partner Performance Elements


Unified Firm Strategy
• Do you have a firm strategy that includes the following
elements?
– Mission – the difference you want to make
– Vision – where the firm will be in 3-5 years
– Values – what you believe in, are committed to, and are willing to be
held accountable for
– Competitive Positioning – your “difference making” story
– Product Service Mix – your “front burner” initiatives
• Is it written and shared with the entire team?
• Do you review it regularly with your team (at least quarterly)?


Minimum Performance
Expectations
• “Minimum” partner performance expectations should be
defined in competence areas such as:
– Firm core values and leadership
– Client service
– Technical excellence
– People development
– Business development
– Financial contribution
• Each partner should set goals that go “above and beyond”
minimum expectations based on each partner’s strengths –
and goals must s-t-r-e-t-c-h you to make a difference

When Establishing
Your Goals
• Make them:
– Specific – your goals should be specific rather than general
and answer the “W” questions (who, what, why, when, and
where)
– Measurable – establish specific criteria for measuring
progress whether financial, based on activities, etc.
– Realistic and Relevant – a goal must be something the
organization is committed to and that you are willing and
able to work toward
– Written and Shared – commitment to performance
increases when goals are written and you tell others

Sample Partner
Goal Form
YOUR FIRM
Partner Goals
Evaluation Period ________________________
Name: SL:
Mentor Partner:
Goals – Be Specific Measurement - Specify how Timing – Specify the “by when” date
• What is your goal? we will measure progress and for completion
• What steps will you take to
accomplish this goal? completion
• Who owns these steps?
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.


Goal Examples –
People Development
• Develop procedures and best practices associated with estate
and gift tax service line that are approved by the Tax Department
Head and rolled out in a web-based training to all Tax staff by
XX/XX/XX
• Mentor PERSON’S NAME to prepare her to move to the role of
Manager including taking her to 2 referral source meetings, 2
sales meetings and including her in 2 performance conversations
with staff by XX/XX/XX
• Recruit a senior audit manager into our group by XX/XX/XX
• Transition the CLIENT NAME audit relationship and engagement
management to PERSON’S NAME by XX/XX/XX


Goal Examples –
Client Management
• Hold strategic client account planning meetings for my top 15 clients,
completing three specific actions or outcomes determined for each
client by XX/XX/XX
• Introduce two other manager or partner contacts to my top five client
contacts by XX/XX/XX
• Make two additional C-level, board member or key service provider
contacts for each of my top five clients by XX/XX/XX
• Transition thirty smaller corporate or personal tax clients to PERSON’S
NAME or OUT OF OUR PRACTICE by XX/XX/XX
• Develop the client portion of my succession plan by identifying who I
will transition each client to and by when and reviewing that plan with
my department head by XX/XX/XX


Return And Report
• You’ll drive performance by being accountable and regularly
checking in to return and report your status
– When partners are asked to report on their status regularly, they are
more likely to show up with progress having been made
– Partners should share their status against their goals with their direct
reporting partner and in departmental, office, or firm-wide partner
meetings
• These check-ins should occur no less than quarterly
– Share roadblocks and breakthroughs, and communicate both
appreciation and disappointment
• Engage in “straight talk” about unmet commitments
• Don’t “ball drop” or give fuzzy language when making commitments (i.e.
“I’ll try”)


Must Do: Meeting
Recaps
• Write a brief recap for “return and report” meetings you
participate in if one isn’t assigned
– You’ll ensure clarity on decisions made and actions assigned and
the next “return and report” date
• Recaps should include:
– Who owns which actions and when they’ll be complete
• The owner’s name can be in blue for easy identification
– Key decisions that were made
• If a decision wasn’t reached, who owns driving to a decision after the
meeting?
– Items that were off-topic but captured in a “parking lot” for
future follow up


Let’s Interact

• Why don’t we consistently provide
performance feedback to our partners?
• Why do we resist receiving it?


Partners Are Not
Above Feedback
• The phenomena that once you make partner, you’re “above”
performance feedback or having to “answer” to someone still
exists in many firms
• Partners should receive feedback on a regular basis when
they return and report the status of their goals
• And, partners should receive a formal annual (if not semi-
annual) review, too, just as you do for your other team
members


It IS Your Place …
• …to talk partner performance!
• To drive firm growth and permanence, which requires a
“constant refinement” mindset
• As leaders, to strive to learn and improve every single day up
until our last
– But a lot of what partners portray is something like, “Don’t call me on
mine and I won’t call you on yours”
• If you’re the managing partner, CEO, a service line leader or a
partner responsible for an operational element of the firm,
you will have corrections and requests you need to make
• …to provide feedback and talk straight to partners!

Importance Of
Performance Feedback
• Performance feedback is a gift we give others
• It enables us to:
– Communicate expectations and get feedback on ways we
can improve our people and processes
– Provide an opportunity for performance improvement
– Motivate those on the right track to continue on their path
and inspire those who are not to shift directions
– Manage those who are not performing to improve
• Doing so provides us confidence that we’ve done all we could
when admitting a team member is not working


Reward Performance
• By implementing a good comp system that…
– Is understood by all (in writing)
– Is simple (or as simple as possible)
– Is fair – those who contribute the most get the most and
those who contribute the least earn least
– Is trusted
– Encourages the right behaviors
– Is motivating


Pay For Performance
• We’re believers in getting as close to a pay-for-
performance method as possible
• Making changes in your comp system has to be
transitional
• Foundational tenants
– Compensation is separate from return on owner’s equity
and/or shares owned
– Some separate NOI and pay whatever is left over after
comp based on shares
– Comp should be roles-based – those who perform the
most valuable roles make the most
– It includes a combination of base salary (draws) and
incentive based compensation

Summary Of
Accountability Musts
• Start with unity around a firm strategy
• Assign ownership and define partner roles clearly
• Establish partner goals that are specific,
measurable, realistic and relevant
• Monitor progress along the way
• Provide effective feedback on performance Define
Performa

• Reward partners based on performance nce–
Roles and
Goals

• Learn, repeat, get better… Reward
Establish
Unity
Monitor
Performa
nce –
Performa
nce Around Firm Return
Strategy and
Report

Evaluate
and
www.convergencecoaching.com Discuss
Performa
©Copyright 2000-2012 nce

Next Steps


Commit to One Thing

• Choose one behavior, change, or action that
you will commit to go back to your office and
apply
• Document what you’re willing to commit to on
the One Commitment Form
– Be prepared to share
– Tell someone on your team the one idea you
committed to who can help hold you accountable


Thank You!
• Provide me your business card to be added to
our distribution list for e-newsletters and web
seminar invitations
• Contact us at any time!
Jennifer Wilson
(402) 933-2900
Jen@convergencecoaching.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferwilsonprofile
http://twitter.com/JenLeeWilson

Tools and Resources


ConvergenceCoaching
Resources
• ConvergenceCoaching’s web site includes information at:
– www.convergencecoaching.com
• Read our Coaching Concepts newsletter:
– http://www.convergencecoaching.com/Current_eletter/wilsons_writings.htm
• Visit our blog for posts on these topics:
– www.convergencecoaching.com/blog
• Visit our learning center for access to additional courses:
– http://www.convergencelearning.com
• Visit us on Facebook:
– http://www.facebook.com/convergencecoaching


HR Resources
• www.aicpa.org/pcps. The AICPA’s Private Companies Practice
Section web site with tools and resources on HR in their
Human Capital Center.
• www.cpaadmin.org. Association of Accounting Administration
site that allows members to access resources and exchange
information about learning and other topics
• www.hr.com. HR.com is an online resource that covers the
entire scope of HR issues.
• www.hrpowerhouse.com. HR Powerhouse offers online tools,
free appraisal forms, practices, process maps and more.


HR Resources
• www.shrm.org. Society for Human Resources
Management.
• www.workforce.com. Resources for recruiting,
training, HR management, compensation and legal
issues.


HR Articles
• “Are Mandatory Saturdays A Thing Of The Past?” by Jennifer
Wilson
– http://www.convergencecoaching.com/blog/2011/11/are-mandatory-
saturdays-a-thing-of-the-past/
• “Are You Ignoring Spinach In Someone’s Teeth?” by Jennifer
Wilson
– http://www.convergencecoaching.com/blog/2010/07/are-you-ignoring-
spinach-in-someones-teeth
• “Build A Team Of Successful Players,” by Tamera Loerzel
– http://www.mncpa.org/publications/footnote/2011-10/build-a-
successful-team.aspx


HR Articles
• “Get Your People Engaged,” by Jennifer Wilson
– http://www.cpa2biz.com/Content/media/PRODUCER_CONTENT/New
sletters/Articles_2011/CPA/Aug/EngageStaff.jsp
• “HR's New Mandate: Be a Strategic Player,” by Dave Ulrich
and Wayne Brockbank
– http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/4861.html
• “How Employers Can Win the Talent Quest – Book Summary
On Keeping the People Who Keep You in Business,” by Leigh
Branham
– http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jan2001/sb2001014
_851.htm


HR Articles
• “How Flexible Is Your Firm?” by Jennifer Wilson
sletters/Articles_2010/CPA/Oct/FlexibleFirm.jsp
• “Is Your Firm Old School or Cool,” by Jennifer Wilson
sletters/Articles_2011/CPA/Nov/FirmOldSchoolOrCool.jsp
• “Midwest A Victim Of Rural Brain Drain” by Matt
Vasilogambros
– http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matt-vasilogambros/rural-brain-
drain-iowa_b_830352.html


HR Articles
• “People Development: More Important Than Business
Development” by Jack Lee
– http://www.convergencecoaching.com/blog/2011/09/people-development-
more-important-than-business-development/
• “The Changing Role of Human Resources/Assessment
Professionals: Adding Value in the “New” Organization,” by
David A. Dye, Ph.D.
– http://www.ipacweb.org/conf/99/dye.pdf
• “The Lowdown on High Potentials” by Yasmine El-ramly
– http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/Issues/2011/Dec/20114579.ht
m


HR Articles
• “The Role of HR in a Recovering Economy” by Peggy
Castellano
– http://wwww.examiner.com/x-13667-LA-Workplace-Issues-
Examiner~y2010m2d21-The-role-of-HR-in-a-recovering-economy
• “Top 10 Reasons Why Large Companies Fail To Keep Their
Best Talent,” by Eric Jackson
– http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml


Leadership Resources

• Built to Last - Successful Habits of Visionary
Companies by James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras
• Crucial Conversations by Patterson, Grenny,
McMillan, Switzler, and Covey
• Developing the Qualities of Success by Zig Ziglar
• The Discipline of Market Leaders by Michael Treacy
and Fred Wiersema
• Good to Great by Jim Collins (Collins, 2001)



• The Heart of a Leader by Ken Blanchard (1999)
• The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch (2008)
• Leadership by Rudolph Giuliani (Little, Brown, 2002)
• Management by Kathryn M. Bartol and David C.
Martin (Irwin McGraw-Hill, 1998)
• Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
(2008)


• Practice What You Preach by David H. Maister
• Primal Leadership by Daniel Goleman (Harvard
Business School Press, 2002)
• Russell Rules by Bill Russell
• Time Tactics of Very Successful People by B. Eugene
Griessman Small Business Administration
http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/planning/basi
c.html
• True Professionalism by David Maister (Free Press,
1997)

Accountability And
Team Building Reading
• Accountability by Rob LeBow and Randy Spitzer
• Breakthrough Teams for Breakneck Times by Lisa Gundry
and Laurie LaMantia
• Extraordinary Relationships - A New Way of Thinking
About Human Interactions by Roberta M. Gilbert, M.D.
• Nuts!: Southwest Airlines' Crazy Recipe For Business and
Personal Success by Kevin Freiberg
• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Pat Lencioni
• The Accountability Factor: The Buck Stops Here by Alan
M. Dobzinski

Engage and retain your people alliott 010412 Alliott Group 2012

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