Young Professionals Corner: 'The Perfect Manager'

Editor's note: This is the latest in a series of guest posts from young VSCPA members dealing with topics of interest to young professionals. If you'd like to write or have a topic you'd like a future blogger to cover, please email VSCPA Academic & Career Development Coordinator Tracey Zink.

By Marian Millikan, CPA
Manager, Cherry Bekaert LLP

2013 was an exciting year for me. It was the year I was promoted to manager at my firm. I look back to my journey almost six years ago realizing that I’ve learned and grown so much. What I also remember is what I told myself six years ago, what I promised myself I would never forget: how it felt to be a staff accountant.

I remember sitting at my desk with my first tax return project, terrified that I was going to mess everything up (and from what I remember, I did). My eight hours of work somehow didn’t save, my return blew up in front of my face as the software crashed and I was in tears. Over the next few years I figured things out, I learned the valuable lesson of periodically saving work and I became more confident in myself.

It was my second year of being a staff when I realized while learning how to prepare returns, maneuvering the software and communicating with clients, that I also had to learn to work with management. To be able to take direction, understand what was needed of me, and perform the job. There were many times in the beginning I missed the mark. I thought I understood the project, but it turns out I didn’t. To me, that was failure, and it was stressful.

I eventually figured out how to work with different styles of management. In ANY industry or field you will have different types of management, whether you are in public accounting, private industry or government. You will have your micromanagers who check in with you every hour on a project, and you will have your managers who give you a down-and-dirty rundown of what needs to be done, and your job is to provide them with the finished product in perfect form. You have those that have the urgent, last-minute projects all the time . You have those that spend the time to walk you through a project and spend the time to teach you the tricks of the trade. The types are endless. It was my second year as a staff I envisioned what the perfect manager was. It was actually pieces of each of these individuals. Fortunately I was around highly competent management, but they were all different in the styles they used to manage. What IS the perfect manager? From a staff's view, what would that look like?

It was then I made it my goal. I wanted to remember what those who I would be managing wanted from me. I wanted to remember myself six years ago. So when I was promoted, I asked. I asked staff what they wanted in a manager, and here are some things I heard.

Qualities of the “perfect” manager (a staff's perspective)

·    Be direct: Let us (staff) know how long a project will take, so if I’m going down the wrong path, I know to stop and ask for advice before spending hours doing the wrong work. You will not receive the work you wanted, and I will be frustrated I blew the budget. Break down the project in steps if possible and be direct in what your expectations are for each part. This will keep us on track and on budget.

·    Be approachable: Foster an environment where staff can feel comfortable asking questions. This doesn’t mean to let us take the easy way out, but be inviting, challenge us at times to research the issue and then sit down with us to go over the solution. We want to learn, and we won’t if we don’t feel comfortable reaching out to you.

·    Teach Uu: Investing time in your staff will breed confidence and better performance.  Use corrections as a learning experience, not as a way to point out failures. Instead of making a correction, show us the correction, and tell us why you are doing something a different way.

·    Give feedback: Spend as much effort giving positive feedback as constructive feedback. Find time to take your staff for a coffee or a quick lunch.  Let them know one-on-one what they can do better and what they are doing right.  We can’t fix what we don’t know is broken, and we all need a little cheering section sometimes.  We need strategies for doing the job better. 

·    Be respectful: Most staff come in knowing that a manager has a lot more knowledge than they do. Respect is mutual and we learn by example, therefore a good manager can breed other good future managers if they create an environment where egos are checked at the door. Teach each of us to be the best we can be and let us grow in our careers by leading by example and creating a nurturing environment. 

So there you have it. New managers and old managers, put yourself into your staff’s shoes, and even your old shoes (if they still fit). I will always look back to where I came from, and how I got here. What things I stumbled on, and how I can help my team learn and grow in their careers.  I will always make it a priority to think more about others through my role as a manager, and less about myself. I may not ever be a “perfect” manager, but if I can help my staff be the best then can be, strive to continuously improve, and motivate them to exceed the goals they set for themselves, then I’ll consider myself a successful manager. 

Guest Blogger: Great by Choice

By John L. Daly, CPA, MBA, CMA, CPIM
President, Executive Education, Inc.

“Must Read” Research

In the “twenty-O’s” decade, many people called Good to Great by Jim Collins the new century’s best business book.  Backed by five years spent pouring over more than 30 years data, Collins provided page after page of insights into how a mediocre company can become great. 

Now, Collins, in collaboration with Harvard professor Morten T. Hansen, may provide this decade’s best business book, Great by Choice.  Backed by eight years of research, Great by Choice examines seven companies in turbulent industries that outperformed the U.S. stock market by at least ten fold (10x) for a 30 year period.  This book is a “must read” for anyone who wants to keep up on the latest management thinking.

10x Performance

As we would expect, the list includes some biotechnology and computer companies. However, a bigger surprise is that Southwest Airlines’ performance blows them all away, beating market performance by 63 times and more than tripling Intel’s stock performance. 

How could an airline thrive in such turbulent times?  Collins and Hansen conclude it was not innovation.  Southwest directly and deliberately copied Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA).  Yet PSA eventually merged into U.S. Airways while Southwest thrived[1].  How did they do it? 

The research concludes the difference was discipline. 

Management Myths

Great by Choice dispels several entrenched management myths:

Myth:  Successful leaders in a turbulent world are bold risk-takers.
Reality:  Even the best leaders could not predict the future and avoided bold risks.  They were more disciplined, more empirical and more worried about how future events could hurt them. 

Myth:  Innovations distinguish 10x companies.
Reality:  10x companies were often less innovative than their lesser performing peers.

Myth:  A threat-filled world favors the speedy.
Reality:  Fast decisions and fast action can kill you faster.  10x leaders knew when to go fast and when not to. 

Myth:  Radical change in your environment requires radical change inside the company.
Reality:  10x companies believed most changes in their environment were just noise.  These companies studied issues carefully before making changes.

Myth:  Great companies have a lot more good luck.
Reality:  The 10x companies did not have unusual amounts of good luck.  However, they were much better prepared for bad luck than their peers. 

SMaC Recipe

The 10x companies developed what the authors call a SMaC recipe.  SMaC stands for Specific, Methodical and Consistent.  Like the core values which Collins and Jerry Porras found visionary companies had in their Built to Last research, SMaC recipes are standard operating procedures.  Unlike core values, the 10x companies sometimes changed their SMaC recipes.  However, they changed them far less than their mediocre-performing peers. 

Important Research

As you have seen in these few paragraphs, Collins and Hansen gained many new insights into business behavior, building on Collins previous research.  The sum of all business knowledge is rapidly growing.  Will you choose to keep up by reading Great by Choice?

John L. Daly, CPA, MBA, CMA, CPIM, is President of ExecutiveEducation, Inc. in Chelsea, Michigan.

[1] Some of the companies Collins profiled in Built to Last, Good to Great and Great by Choice later changed their management teams or management practices and no longer had great performance.  Collins discusses the reasons why in his 2009 book How the Mighty Fall.