Be systematic about finding trainers who understand your business. 

By Kerry A. McDonald

You know it will be a long morning when the polished and poised trainer of the business development and marketing strategies session you're attending begins by asking the audience: "Do you know what your customers want?" No, you think, because I have clients, not customers. CPA firms and other professional service providers say outside trainers who understand their culture—or even their special vernacular—are rare. The problem that arises: When firms obtain instruction not tailored to their profession, they may waste money and time— resources better used for billable work and practice development.

But don't despair. This article offers tips to help a CPA firm analyze what its employees should learn and choose trainers appropriate for its staff.

HASTE CAN MAKE WASTE

Often a workplace crisis or one chronic irritant too many will push a firm to make a quick decision to get its people training directed at solving the workplace problem of the moment. For example, a partner may ask the firm's human resources manager to find a public speaking course for a promising senior accountant who lacks confidence in his presentations. Or poor report writing may prompt a frustrated principal to insist her staff take a business writing course. Or a disillusioned manager may decide he needs to learn how to conduct successful meetings after a disorganized, contentious assembly drags on and accomplishes nothing.

In reaching for a remedy, be aware that haste can make waste. Fast solutions sometimes help the parties emerge stronger, but generally such efforts are Band-Aids. Instructors for "soft skills" programs (such as public speaking or leadership courses) who don't connect with the CPA culture aren't as effective as those who do. Don't choose a trainer for a nearby office or cheap rates, either. Without a well-thought-out staff development program designed for a firm's long-term objectives, results are likely to be disappointing.

SKILLS WANTED

Administering effective staff training requires a firm to be clear about its policies and initiatives and methodical about professional development. A firm should start by identifying its strategic goals: Perhaps you want to become the local leader in servicing banking clients within three years or have senior accountants in different segments reach a cross-selling revenue target within a certain time frame. To get there, begin by analyzing your firm's current training strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the goal-setting context. Highlight what your firm does well and where it needs to improve. Create an action plan to train employees in skills that need to be stronger.

To develop a training program that supports firm goals, partners should discuss—and answer—the following questions:

1. What are our training and staff development needs? Identify what training programs you have in place to develop the skills and attributes needed for each level. As you inventory your firm's current technical and nontechnical training programs, break them down by professional level, location industry group. List your training offerings and identify gaps between skill needs and training program offerings. Determine the number of training hours each employee gets throughout the year, both internally and externally.
   
   
2. What benchmark skills and attributes do we expect staff to display at each career level (staff, senior/in-charge, manager, senior manager)?Apply well-thought-out competency benchmarks to each level. Partners should determine skill categories essential for client service (accounting expertise, client relations, leadership ability and technical, communication and management skills, for example) and describe what proficiency at each level looks like.
   
   
3. Are there skill gaps for staff in other offices or service niches?Make sure your training program doesn't overlook the needs of staff members who work in regional offices and service niches. Do they meet the firm's competency benchmarks? Construct new training programs or alter existing ones to ensure all your professionals learn the skills to serve clients well.
   
   
4. Should we train in more than one way? If your firm relies on one teaching format (lectures from senior internal staff, outsourced external training at colleges and universities, self-study or on-the-job training) branch into other types of education. Use online training providers and other CPE opportunities in partnership with local colleges, clients and the community.
   
   
5. How successful are our training programs? Develop measurement tools to see if you get what you want from each training program. Use control group studies, impact assessments, benefit-cost analyses and/or management surveys. Systematically track on-the-job accomplishments by surveying supervisors, analyzing performance evaluations or using self-assessments. Most firms gauge a teaching program's effectiveness solely by asking participants to fill out post-session evaluation forms that rate how well stated objectives have been met. A more comprehensive impact analysis will help to determine if the benefits of a training program on staff performance and skill acquisition outweigh the costs, including the opportunity cost of staff time (average net hourly billable rate multiplied by the total number of participants).
   
   
6. How do we decide when to make changes to our training program, and what changes should we make? Use periodic (annual or semiannual) needs assessments and surveys to help your firm gauge when economic, industry or firmwide shifts call for adding to the firm's program. Create a training database (a consultant or an internal IT department can do this in Access, for example) that tracks and reports all programs by category, cost, staff level, hours and industry area, to help you decide which training to provide and when.
   
   
7. Should we align our training with the firm's short- and long-term strategic goals? Whether your firm creates a new training program or modifies one that's already in place, it should support the organization's overall aims. For example, a firm that aspires to be the leading health care advisory firm in its region within three years will need to make sure its training gives its professionals skills that will wow health care clients.