Being a Technician is Not Enough: Develop Leadership and Communication Skills

Winter 2006

Now is a good time for technical accountants. The pendulum has swung far in their favor. There is an escalated demand for accounting professionals with skills and experience in SEC reporting, technical accounting research, and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. Yes, the technical focus is rising to an all-time high; yet, a fundamental truth remains the same: technical proficiency has never been enough for professionals to grow beyond the staff level. Regardless of the current trends, remember that long-term professional growth does not come solely from technical proficiency, but rather from proficiency in leadership and communication.

In 2005, the New York State Society of CPAs conducted a survey of more than 400 Big 4 public accounting partners. The partners were asked to rank skill sets in order of importance. For seniors and managers, the partners collectively thought that technical skills were only marginally more important than communication and interpersonal skills. For partners, they ranked leadership and communication skills as definitively more important than technical skills.1

Many institutions of higher learning, as well as real-world companies, focus little time, energy, and money on leadership and communication skills. With the recognition that these skills are just as important as technical skills, accountants need to consistently invest in their development. We should not allow ourselves in our profession to remain comfortable with sporadic, unfocused, and patchwork professional development. We as accounting and finance professionals need to take charge and develop a roadmap for investing in ourselves as leaders and communicators. Here are some basic guidelines to help with this process:

-- Map your career goals - Put your leadership development in the context of your career goals. A career analyst in a private company may have different leadership and communication demands than a public company CFO. Do you want to be able to lead a small accounting staff, rally a thousand-person organization, or give major presentations to a board of directors? Knowing your goal will help you know where you need to go and what you’ll need to get there.

-- Acknowledge growth - Whatever your goal, acknowledge that there is a need for growth in leadership and communication. The good news is that you’re likely to have some base, so you are closer to your goal than you think. More importantly, acknowledge that you and you alone are responsible for your professional development. There are tools, departments, and educators that specialize in leadership and communication, but they are only tools. Your responsibility is to use them.

-- Seek candid feedback - Talk to your mentors and others you trust. Tell them about your career goals and get their honest feedback about your leadership prowess. Don’t take it personally and be honest with yourself. Additionally, identify a role model - someone you admire for their leadership and communication skills. Use them as a general measuring stick to evaluate yourself and your progress toward your goal.

-- Identify resources - Your mentors, senior managers, and business development contacts all have had some exposure to leadership and communication training. Ask for recommendations on classics such as How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, and also look into contemporary opinions. Look toward trusted organizations such as PICPA and AICPA, among others. They will have groups, classes, and materials that speak to your need. Narrow it down to a handful of credible, relevant tools, and get started.

-- Learn, experiment, and grow - Follow through with courses and books. Talk to your role models about how they might handle specific situations. Make the time to learn how leaders manage people and cope with problems. Compare what you learn to some of your past experiences. Then start putting theory into practice. Put yourself out there: go to more lunches, meetings, and networking events. Involve yourself in more discussions and projects that require leadership and communication skills. Experiment with recommended tactics, and remember to be patient and persistent.

-- Keep it going - Once you gain momentum and start growing, don’t stop and let your new muscles atrophy. As you continue to hone your leadership and communication skills, it will take less effort to relate to new concepts and incorporate them into your tool belt. It will, however, still take similar recognition and resolve. Every year, commit to some reasonable training: read one book, attend one seminar, or read articles from your trusted groups. And remember, keep putting yourself out there. The best way to keep learning is to keep doing.

-- Pay it forward - Some very nice people helped you become a better leader and communicator. Do the same for others. Structured leadership training is scarce in our profession, so accept requests for calls and meetings to share what you’ve learned. Teach or participate in the workshops you’ve attended in the past. You may find that you are learning even more through teaching and talking to others than you did through your own training.

To assume your development as a leader will happen serendipitously just doesn’t make sense, yet many of us do that. Take the first step in becoming a leader: know that you are one, recognize the value of leadership training and development, and make the investment.

1 "Are Technical Skills Still Important?" by Cindy Blanthorne, Sak Bhamornsiri, and Robert E. Guinn, The CPA Journal Online, New York State Society of CPAs. March 2005.

David Maturo is a partner with Attolon Partners LLC. He can be reached at dmaturo@attolon.com.

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