CPA Practice Advisor

APR 2013

Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.

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BRIDGING THE GAP By Jim Boomer, CPA.CITP Great Leaders Make Themselves Replaceable! W hat would happen if you suddenly and unexpectedly could not work? What would happen to your frm? Would things run smoothly, or would it be uter chaos? We ofen discuss the need to start planning for the next wave of leaders at the top of the frm, but what about all the other critical functional areas of the firm beyond the partner group? Technology, human resources, training & learning, marketing and the list goes on. Is proper atention being paid to developing the next wave of leadership in these areas as well? Jim Boomer is a shareholder and the CIO for Boomer Consulting, Inc. He is the director of the Boomer Technology Circles��� and an expert on managing technology within an accounting frm. He also serves as a strategic planning and technology consultant and frm adviser in the areas of performance and risk management. In addition, Jim is leading a new program, Te Producer Circle, in collaboration with CPA2BIZ and the AICPA. 20 The 6-Month Sabbatical Tis topic of discussion came up at both of our CIO Advantage group meetings earlier this year. The question was posed to the groups, ���You have 30 days to prepare to leave for a six-month sabbatical, what would you need to do to hand off your job duties?��� This obviously requires a little more thought than your standard week-long vacation where you get all your ducks in a row to make sure things are covered until you get back. In this scenario, you really have to assess your current skillset and job duties. Evaluate your vulnerabilities and look at the documentation of the frm���s systems and recovery processes should one of those vulnerabilities become exploited. Further, you have to think through all your relationships ��� both internally and externally with vendors and partners. Could those be handed of seamlessly? Ten there are those projects you���re currently leading and the budget you���re in the middle of fnalizing. Who is capable of managing those in your absence? No One Else Knows/ Does That At f irst glance, this seems too daunting to take on and many people simply say they don���t have anyone on their team who could do what they do. We all like to think we April 2013 ��� www.CPAPracticeA www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com are irreplaceable, but the truth is we arrived where we are in life through opportunities to learn and advance that were aforded to us by others in our past. A re you of fer i ng you r tea m members those same opportunities? If we are true leaders, it is our obligation to our team and our frm. One of the CIOs in the group shared his philosophy to constantly develop his team members for promotion, even if there wasn���t an open spot for them. This sometimes meant they would leave the frm for other opportunities and he would act ua l ly help t hem f i nd t hose opportunities to continue on their development path. W hy wou ld he do t h i s? He believes these people will remember this in the future, and the loyalty he created will pay him back when he has an atractive position open. He also aspires to move up to other endeavors in his own career and is looking for his successor in the future. He is constantly developing a list of capable and willing candidates along the way by investing in all his people. The Multiplier Effect In Liz Wiseman���s book, Multipliers: How Te Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter, she distinguishes between multipliers and diminishers. Multipliers are leaders who look beyond their own genius and focus energy on extracting and extending the genius of others, thus geting more from their entire team. Diminishers, on the other hand, appear to believe really intelligent people are a rare breed and they are one of the few smart people. They then conclude other people will never figure things out without them. I think this concept plays in perfectly with what we all need to be doing w ithin our roles and organizations to prepare for the future. We need to stop acting l i ke diminishers and start becoming multipliers ��� treat people like the intelligent people they are and give them challenging tasks that develop the skills that will prepare them to eventually replace us. This will u lt i m ate l y c re ate t he hu m a n redundancy necessary to allow us to take that six -month sabbatical, without causing chaos. Where to Start There is no time like now to get started. Take yourself through this mental exercise. What if you had 30 days to prepare for an extended absence? What would you need to do to prepare? Start by developing your list of items that no one else in the frm can do. Then look for opportunities to cha l lenge ot hers to ta ke on responsibilities in those areas so that you can train and coach them up. By adopting the multiplier mindset in your role as a leader within the frm, everyone will beneft. Te frm. Your team. And, most importantly you.

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