The word passion comes up frequently in the context of business strategy for accounting and advisory firms. I still remember when Jim Schiro was first elected chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers in the 1990s. During his first address to partners, he told us that “passion” was one of his three strategic initiatives for the firm. He recalled…
We all know the classic management principle: “what gets measured gets done.” This maxim has been around so long that no one is sure who said it first. Is it correct? Not always. It is clear that measuring results is not enough. You must also reward them. Let’s modify the management principle to: “what gets…
Building talent from the bottom up is a persistent challenge for accounting and advisory firms. We get the question all the time: “How can we accelerate staff from hours-based compliance work, to being able to deliver real value to clients?” Paradoxically, many Millennials ask the same question in reverse: “How can I quickly develop the…
Several years ago, we ran a series of staff focus groups for a professional services firm that was struggling to engage its staff. It wasn’t a sweatshop by any means. The culture was best described as: (1) high on accountability — aka measurement, (2) driven by utilization — aka hours, and (3) heavily crediting tenure…
In many organizations, expectations have moved from “get it done soon” to “get it done now”. This type of environment can cause people to stop asking questions and move right to decision or action. Many times these decisions or actions lead to poor results. And, if questions are asked, many times they are the wrong…
Some of the more interesting conversations I’d had with clients in recent years have concerned how much weight quantifiable results and demonstrated competencies should respectively be given in measuring leaders’ performance. The prevalent practices in this area for companies of all sizes and industries range from results/competencies weightings of 100%/0% to 50%/50%. Not surprisingly, the…
I was recently talking to a senior executive of a not-for-profit organization who was expressing frustration over the lack of good performance measures for members of his staff who engage in helping clients fulfill their grant obligations. Some staff members have as few as 15 clients while others have as many as 60 clients. And…
So often, companies set ambitious goals and leaders work hard to meet them with little success. Why does this happen? The answer is pretty simple, and we all get it: Setting goals disconnected from reality is a prescription for failure. Yet, prominent leaders and companies continue to make this mistake. And it’s pretty understandable. It’s…
Since the 2008 recession, budgets for people-related initiatives have been very limited. At the same time, companies have been slow to hire. This means that as economic growth has returned the existing workforce is constantly being asked to do more. We’ve all heard the phrase “forget work/life balance, think work/life integration.” The point is that…
The centerpiece of today’s HR service delivery model is the HR business partner role. These are the individuals who are charged with delivering strategic HR advice to business unit leaders. Great HR business partners can drive great talent decisions and enhanced business results. Yet, in so many companies, HR business partners are not performing their…