CPA Firm Mentoring: How NOT to Develop Today’s Staff Into Tomorrow’s Partners

Many firms have outdated, macho views about staff becoming partners, as evidenced by comments like these we hear every now and then at partner retreats:

“Staff either have it or they don’t.”

“No one’s going to become a partner here until they march into my office and DEMAND it.”

“Mentoring is a bunch of B.S. No one ever helped me become partner. I pulled myself up by my own bootstraps and made my own opportunities.”

Attitudes like these are not only outmoded, they can be downright harmful.  This sort of mindset will prevent you from developing your firm’s future leaders – the ones who are going to sign your retirement checks.

Partners who are highly proficient technically could be a total flop at mentoring. There’s no shame in this, it’s not a skill that comes naturally. We could ramble at length on what good mentoring is, but here’s a quick roundup of pitfalls to AVOID:

• Taking  new hires to lunch on their first day and never interacting with them again.
• Being a “buddy” who shows staff how to fill out their timesheets and considers the job orientation complete.
• Reviewing staff workpapers and correcting the errors yourself instead of asking staff to do it.
• Forcing partners to mentor who don’t have their heart in it.
• Permanent mentor match-ups.  Expose your staff to different personality types and fresh perspectives.

You’ll get the best results by including goal-setting as part of the process.  And who knows- the mentee might even teach the mentor a thing or two.