hold staff accountable if you want them to listen to you

concrete steps for effective staff management.

by ed mendlowitz
202 questions and answers: managing an accounting practice

question: my staff doesn’t listen to me. to be able to manage and control my business, i need them to prepare a monthly schedule of what they plan on doing that month. i further need to know each morning if they did what they were supposed to do the previous day, and whether there was anything not done, or anything extra that wasn’t planned on.

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my problem is that they don’t give me the schedule and then don’t call or email me to tell me what they did. i really need to know this stuff and can’t figure out how to get them to do it. what can you suggest?

response: i had two phone calls, each lasting almost an hour, with the practitioner who called me. but i could spend a couple of days on this.

“my staff doesn’t listen to me.” this is the starting point. you need to recognize who is the boss. a tip is to ask yourself this question and see how you feel about the reality of it.

in general, the staff people are the “bosses.” this is so in the sense that they do what they want, and not what they ought. in some cases it is amazing that much gets done in these firms. unchecked staff left to their own decisions will do what is easiest, less complicated, most comfortable or as non-confrontable as possible. on the other hand, the boss needs the most important project done first, followed by the second, and then third and so forth.

in professional practices, staff need to be managed. not micromanaged in the areas of their professional expertise and ability, but in many cases, micromanaged in how they choose to spend their time. their professionalism will dictate how they will handle a situation, how much time to commit to it, when to seek assistance, when to call it quits and when to decide if enough has been done or if they’ve reached the point of rapidly diminishing returns. professional judgment, creativity and expertise need freedom. however, which clients are worked on, and when, and for how long, needs strong control. that is the firm’s inventory and needs careful management.

in most cases what is to be done should be predetermined, planned and should work off a budget decided on by the client and partner. because of the high level of certain staff, much freedom is extended for self-management or direction, but it still needs accountability. thus, the monthly schedules and daily status updates.

it is not usually an isolated instance when staff don’t respond and comply with the scheduling and accountability procedures. there are most likely other things they won’t be doing: things such as the proper completing of audit and other work process checklists, circumventing supervision procedures, not keeping up to date such as the timely going through journals they subscribe to, shortcutting work that needs to be done for clients and inattention to cpe programs.

noncomplying staff are either the fault of their managers or a lack of something in themselves, or both. if there are isolated instances within a firm, then i would blame the staff people. however, if it is widespread, then i would have to blame the managers or partners.

i recommend getting rid of staff who thwart the management controls the firm needs. no control means no growth and lower profits, and the inevitable leaving of those people at some point and usually at a time of their choosing, which can be at a bad time for you. this is hard, but your focus needs to be what is best for you in the long run. retaining such people is a bad decision.

i suggest that one reason staff don’t follow through on administrative things they need to do is their awareness that the partner does not look at it, or question anything or follow through on what they need to do with the information provided. repeated ignoring of the submissions results in noncompliance. think about your role, or lack of role, in this process. if it is important, then you should be on top of it regularly, if not daily.

i know, you say you are too busy to look at it daily. what about weekly? or do you give it a cursory glance monthly or when a problem arises? if it is important, then make it important! make it your job to control your “inventory.”

oh, you don’t want to spend the hour or so a day? then hire someone to do it. maybe add it to the duties of your secretary or an administrative person.  work out what needs to be done. following is a proposed listing of how this could be done:

• each staff person prepares a suggested monthly schedule three days before the beginning of the month.
• a partner or senior manager reviews the entire schedule with each staff person discussing what will be done, why, budget requirements, deadlines, carryovers of work not done and what wasn’t scheduled and why.
• at the end of each day the staff person will send a brief email affirming scheduled work that was done, listing anything that wasn’t done, anything extra they did, any carryover work and when it will be done, impending deadlines and anything they want to call to their supervisor’s or partner’s attention.
• each morning by 10 a.m., the admin person will review the daily reports and compare it against the work that was scheduled, will make sure unperformed services are scheduled, and find out why additional work was done and whether it should be billed. a brief summary should be prepared and discussed with a partner – that morning.
• the partner should review the results with the admin person each morning, either in person or by phone, to determine the adherence to the schedules and to make necessary decisions. if a staff person needs to be spoken with, they should be contacted at that time. it is important and necessary for the staff to see the followthrough and resolve of the partners.
• people who don’t comply need to be spoken to and continued noncompliance should lead to dismissal.

posted on april 15, 2024