CPA Firm Talent Management: Top Tips from Jeremy Wortman

If you’re not exactly sure what “talent management” is, Jeremy Wortman of The Growth Partnership and HRD Initiatives explains it as an umbrella term for how firms acquire talent, engage people in the firm, develop their skills and retain them. Wortman, a consultant, executive coach and trainer has become a regular presenter to my Chicago roundtable groups.

Jeremy’s passion for talent management is founded on this principle: Culture, personality fit and morale are MORE important than technical skills in determining the success of personnel and ultimately, to a firm’s long-term success. Firms that truly understand how to maximize their employees’ talents create a competitive advantage in the marketplace.  Here are highlights from Jeremy’s most recent visit.

#1 factor in staff retention.  We used to think it was job satisfaction. But more important is employee engagement, where staff think:  “I get to go to work today.”

What attracts people to your firm doesn’t always keep them.  There is certainly overlap between the two.  Things that attract staff are money, the role the new employee will play, the firm’s growth record, cool offices and training opportunities. Things that retain staff are promotional opportunities, cool bosses, mentoring, feedback, their co-workers and the extent they learn and grow.

Survey your staff.  Jeremy is a strong proponent of giving employee engagement surveys annually because things DO change from year to year.  Best time of the year is December or January because that gives time for the firm to tabulate and analyze results.  Then, right after tax season, the firm is ready to roll out the results and implement.

Top staff issues at CPA firms.  As cited by the partners in attendance:

• Make sure we hire the best and brightest.
• Retaining staff.
• Consistent communication.
• When the “honeymoon phase wears off, engagement often plummets.
• We have a tendency to give the most work and the best jobs to the stars.
• We have a lot of talent; our challenge is how to manage the talent outside of tax season and give them meaningful work.
• Extremely difficult to address negative performance review issues. People are so sensitive and difficult to get improvement from.

Talent management strategy components. Staff value proposition.  Employer brand.  Business and operational plan.

What is an employee value proposition?  Why do your staff want to work with you and what will keep them?  Examples of differences in EVP:  Commuting, flexible work schedules and working from home.  Old school EVP:  They should be happy they have a job.  New school:  We should be ecstatic that our staff want to work for us.

Individual development plan.  Every staff person in the firm should have one, prepared by the staff person, updated quarterly.  It should be shared with mentors and immediate supervisors.

How firms should hire.  Old school:  Place an ad, interview candidates, maybe check references and higher the top ranked person.  New school:  Before you recruit, determine what the firm’s personality is.  Determine what traits make people successful at your firm and which factors often cause staff not to work out.  Then, hire to those traits.  Skeptics point out that the terrible shortage of staff prevents firms from being choosy about who they hire.  Rebuttal:  You are correct, and you may have to lower your standards.  But the process is still valuable because knowing what makes a person tick can be helpful in managing them.

Jeremy recommends using the OMS System for hiring.

• Measures the individual’s talents and personality.
• Helps the firm understand how someone will think, feel and behave.
• Allows the firm to fit the personality type with the job, personality and culture of the firm.
• Takes only 10 minutes.

The primary traits in the OMS are:  Assertiveness.  Sociability (how well one gets along with people), Patience (at what tempo does one do their best work; a measure of multi-tasking) and  Discipline (one’s need for accuracy, detail).

Wortman’s next workshop in the Chicago area is scheduled for July 26. Registration closes on 7/20. Click here for more information or to enroll.