You have followed the practical suggestions made in Part 1 of Diversity: Attracting & Retaining Tax Professionals. As a result, your department is more "diverse".¹
|
|
Attracting diverse talent to your department, however, is simply not enough. The complete package requires development and retention. In Part 2 of this series we will offer some practical suggestions on how to develop minority talent. In Part 3 we will discuss steps you can take to retain minority tax professionals. Picture this: Jane Doe was hired several years ago from a top business program. She has a great work ethic, she gets the |
best projects (although her role is limited), and she has outstanding annual evaluations. Many of her colleagues feel that Jane is good management material. Yet Jane feels unchallenged and leaves the organization before the end of her third year.
Though Jane seemed to be excelling, this did not mean that she was being appropriately developed.
To properly develop talent, organizations have to do more than simply assign "good" projects to an employee. They must take steps to ensure that their employees have access to resources that will develop both their technical and "soft" skills.
Here are some practical suggestions that can get you on your way.
Mentoring Programs
A mentoring program is a critical tool in developing any professional.
Over the last few years, many organizations have implemented mentoring programs. While they may differ from company to company, most programs share similar objectives - to expose employees to top-level leadership, corporate culture, corporate values, and the opinions and experiences of others.
A minority employee may or may not have unique mentoring needs. What may occur to the employee is that their needs/concerns might be unique because they are a minority. This is where an experienced mentor can provide a broader perspective and direct the minority towards the resources necessary to resolve their issues. More importantly, such programs give many minorities the knowledge that the organization is serious about developing people from different backgrounds, cultures, races and religions.
The mentor does not have to be from the tax department. It is more important that the mentor is someone who will take a genuine interest in the minority's career development by offering opportunities to be exposed to key decision makers and critical information about the company and the industry. The mentor should be at the senior management level and be knowledgeable about the company and the industry.
In Jane's case, a mentor should have been assigned to her within the first year of employment.
Although Jane was getting good assignments, she probably felt that she wasn't getting overall exposure and was doubtful about her contributions to the company.
A mentor familiar with the organization and its structure would have been able to confirm or refute her thoughts and feelings, and reassure her about her position within the company - which could well have influenced her decision to stay or leave.
Career Planning and Cross Training
Every successful career has a written plan that generally doesn't happen by circumstance, but instead it is driven by a series of deliberate and steps.
The critical component in any career plan is providing the resources that will allow the professional to get to the next step. At a minimum, this should include continuing education, opportunities to work in different areas, "cross training", time lines for achievements and next level positions and finally measurement tools.
Employers need to have a greater sensitivity that diverse employees may develop a belief that they are being pigeon holed; that they are just there to do the work and not an integral part of the organization. A long term career plan and cross training would reinforce the message that management does not view the minority as just another sprocket in the overall machine.
Providing opportunities outside the tax department can be extremely beneficial in developing the minority tax professional. Opportunities in related business functions - finance, treasury, legal, operations, for example - can enhance the minority tax professionals understanding of the company and industry.
Some companies have realized this and have formal rotation programs. Even if your company has not done this, it might consider an informal "loan program" that gives broad exposure to the business and the people who run it.
In our example, let us assume Jane was hired to do domestic planning but has a strong interest in international planning.
After three years of domestic planning she has mastered that position. Without a career plan that includes helping her reach a position in international planning or something comparable, Jane is likely to leave the organization, and all the skills the organization has invested in her will be lost.
Jane's manager should have worked with her in developing a career plan and reviewing the plan at least annually. If an opportunity in international planning was not available, the manager should have been up-front, and try to come up with other areas that might be of interest or suitable to Jane's development.
Development of "Soft" Skills
"Soft" skills (or people skills) could be generally described as skills, which are beneficial and necessary in effectively interacting in both business and social settings.
For tax professionals, this is perhaps one of the hardest skills to acquire because we tend to be very technical. But as one moves further up the business structure (whether at a corporation, law firm, accounting firm or government), less emphasis is put on technical expertise and more emphasis is put on people skills.
Most people inherently feel a greater connection to people they share a similar background with. Thus, an employee may feel especially intimidated presenting to an executive team that does not come from their ethnic background.
Repeated exposure, both as presenter and a participant, will provide the employee with a certain level of comfort and provide them with an opportunity to develop/modify their own presentation style. This helps to reduce the anxiety associated with addressing senior management.
Soft skills can be more daunting for minorities, particularly in social settings, since they are often the only one or one of a few attending an event.
That is why it is imperative to develop these soft skills early on in the minority's professional career.
Soft skills can be developed through taking courses on presentation - many companies have Toastmasters clubs that provide employees opportunities to practice their public speaking.
Allowing professionals the opportunity to make presentations inside the company to executives, and outside the organization to other practitioners in industry seminars (see continuing education below) is a good vehicle for developing soft skills.
In our example, Jane worked on important and complex tax projects for the company, but she's never had the opportunity to present to management. She was active in her local professional association, but her company was not supportive of her participating in substantive panels. Jane was not developing soft skills.
Continuing Education
Involvement with professional organizations through continuing education activities is essential to developing technical skills, but even more beneficial as a tool in the overall development of the minority professional.
Through professional organizations, not only are technical skills
gleaned and enhanced, but critical relationships, industry knowledge
and soft skills (as defined above in this article) are fostered and
acquired. It is the combination of both technical and soft skills that
is crucial to developing the minority tax professional.
As mentioned above, Jane was active with her local professional
organization, but she was not given the ability to further develop her
technical skills by fully participating in panels and presentations.
Conclusion
Complete development of minority professionals is not only critical to that professional's individual growth, but also important for the company in retaining the investment they have made in that professional.
Part three of this series will focus on retention issues.
