Who should be on the committee that oversees the program?
We use our senior managers — people that are familiar with
different aspects of the profession and the firm. They enable us to get an
understanding of different people’s roles. If people are knowledgeable about
the workplace, they can say, ‘OK, this person they want to become a certified
fraud examiner, that is their No. 1 goal for the next year. Well, we want to
put somebody with the mentor that knows a lot about that.’
There has to be somebody to champion the program. Somebody on
the committee or task force, whatever you want to call it, is paying attention
to it. Otherwise it just drifts.
Nobody has ever said in any firm I’ve ever been, consulted
with, discussed with, ‘Mentoring is not a great idea,’ but they say, ‘When is
there time for it?’ There (needs to be a) process to monitor it and then to
review it.
How do you ensure employees make time for mentoring?
That is a big challenge. We have our busy season, which the
audit tax season is just extremely busy from February through April, so there
isn’t a whole lot of formal mentoring going on in those three months. We try to
encourage people outside of those times to, at least every other month, have
communication.
We do have a little monitoring system to check and see if it’s
happening. Talk to people and say, ‘You’re supposed to be meeting and there’s
no indication that you’ve had these meetings. Just be on top of it a little
more.’
If you wait until your free time, you’ll never do it, that’s
why there has to be some process to account for when you’re supposed to meet.
There has to be some schedule of when they’re expected to meet.
How do you review the process?
We do an annual review of how did your relationship work in
the last year just to make sure if there should be any changes.
It has to be done sensitively because there has to be a
process in which people feel there’s some confidentiality. If somebody has a
mentor relationship and says, ‘This hasn’t worked for XYZ.’ there has to be a
process that that person feels their review has been held in confidence.
All of the surveys come to me, and then I will communicate to
the committee. Sometimes that person (being evaluated) might be on the
committee.
It might be as simple as I think this person was great for me,
but that was last year’s goal. Last year, I wanted advice on how to become a
CPA, now I want advice on marketing and I think I need a different mentor. It’s
not always a personality clash; it’s stages in life.
Does the company leader need to play a role in the mentoring
program?
At a firm our size and any company where everybody knows each
other by name and it’s not a structure where it’s impersonal in that regard,
you have to set the example. If I’m not going to meet with my mentee, then how
can I expect the people I’m mentoring to meet with their mentees?
I have to set the example and I have to communicate during our
firm meetings the importance of this. The people that aren’t adhering to the
program, I have to talk to them and say, ‘You need to tell me why you’re not
participating.’
Some people don’t want to be mentors and that’s OK.
How to reach: Horovitz, Rudoy & Roteman LLC, (412) 391-2920 or www.hrrcpa.com
