Recent Approaches to Talent Management in Professional Services Firms

Accounting for Good People
The Economist
July 21, 2007, p68

Talent management is the key with a professional services firm, and there’s some sound, collective advice from the Big Four accounting firms, and a few others.

- make people-related goals one-third of the partners’ annual evaluation
- put programs in place to stay in touch with former employees to maintain ‘emotional allegiance’, enabling them to ‘boomerang’ back to the firm, or at least to be a positive advocate in the marketplace
- make career breaks, sabbaticals, leaves, flex-time, home-officing, and part-time work an acceptable norm within the firm, for those on non-linear career paths
- to attract new MBAs it’s likely necessary to ensure an international assignment supplemented by language instruction; also, show evidence of high ethical standards
- many that join consulting and accounting firms do so with a plan to leave in about 3 years; to combat this, more in the firm need to be involved in identifying top talent so that they may be more effectively encouraged to stay; that is, have the partners help coach less experienced staff
- solid performers may be retained if the ‘up or out’ policy is dropped and a new senior role is created to enable those that are not destined to be partners to contribute, nonetheless
- consider expanding the ranks of [equity-holding] partners, as owners are best inclined to encourage networking and cooperative behavior

More on these topics might be found in “Mobilizing Minds’ by Lowell Bryan

Summer '07 Reading List

- Diplomacy by Henry Kissinger, ISBN 0-671-51099-1
- Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, ISBN 0-684-82490-6
- Journeying Far and Wide by Philip M. Kaiser, ISBN 0-684-19350-7
- Kissinger by Walter Isaacson, ISBN 0-7432-8697-9