Accounting professionals are all about the numbers, the facts, and the present time. They deal with what is happening now. Does it matter if they think about the long term? It could be a big problem if they don’t. Though it may be harder for you to gauge success and progress in this field as an HR manager, you can and should invest in setting long term goals. Doing so will encourage your employees to progress further in their abilities.
No Incentive Means No Progress in Accounting
Even with the very detailed thinking of accounting and financial professionals, one thing is very clear. If you do not offer any incentive to improve and grow, no one will. Without any target to aim for, you can expect the person sitting at the desk to do the same thing for the next ten years if you allow them to do so. In fact, you may even see their progress slip and their productivity plummets over time.
Establish Long Term Accounting Goals
The place to start is with your company’s long term goals. Do you have them? You need to if you want to provide goals for your employees. In other words, you need to know which direction your business is heading so that you can tailor the goals you set to those achievements. Take a collective look at your employees, from senior managers to the basic entry level individual. What are your goals for improving and growing the health of the company?
Areas to Focus On in Finance
As you work to develop these incentives to get your employees thinking long term, consider the following. You may find that refocusing your efforts can make a tremendous improvement not only now but well into the future as well.
- Get rid of unhealthy habits that could be hurting your organization. This includes habits that go against standards like providing clear feedback, addressing problems positively and evaluating on a regular schedule.
- Know your values and prioritize them. What matters to your organization, integrity, respect, your record? Prioritize what’s most important and be sure to communicate this with the group.
- Create simple but meaningful goals. Look long term. Focus on making changes to your business that will achieve those goals. Then, focus on what employees need to do and change to achieve this.
In the accounting and finance world, you may have goals of improving efficiency, aiding productivity and changing the profit margins. However, to make that possible, you need to sharpen employee skills and create individualized goals for each person. It is not an easy task to do, but it can help you to achieve incredible things in the long term. It is possible to get your team to focus on more on the long term goals but to do so you need to make it a company-wide effort. To build your accounting team with employees who see the bigger picture, check out the skilled accounting and finance staff available at Venteon today – in Minnesota and Michigan.