Monday 6 February 2017

Working Your Way To The Top: Four Ways To Help You Make It To Management

Working Your Way To The Top: Four Ways To Help You Make It To Management


In the following post, Lewis Daidone discusses how CPAs can rise to a managerial position.

Even if you’re satisfied with your current position, there might come a time when you want a more challenging role. Although your excellence might inspire senior management to promote you, it’s more likely that you’ll have to do more to get ahead. Here are ways that you can get the appropriate experience and skillset for that senior position.

Work for a specific job title.


Map out a clearly defined career path. Rather than dream of more money and responsibility, work towards an actual job, like controller, senior financial analyst, or accounting manager. Once you’ve identified the role you want, you can begin to get the necessary qualifications.

Get the appropriate degree.


Having a graduate degree could help put you on the fast-track to management. Learn which credentials and certifications both appeal to hiring managers and provide the necessary knowledge and skills for your desired position. For example, if you want to be the head of corporate compliance, having a law degree could make you an extremely valuable candidate.

Hone your leadership skills.


If you want to reap management rewards, plant the seed of leadership. Don’t keep your ambition a secret; discuss your plans during your performance review, and ask which steps you might take in order to achieve your goals. Additionally, take on project team leader roles, and act as mentor to new hires.

Look the part.


It may seem superficial, but do your best to dress and present yourself in a way that causes people to think that you’re in a more senior role. If clients and colleagues look at you and think “manager”, then – if you’re performance is up to par – it’s only a matter of time before your supervisors think it, too.

Lewis Daidone, CPA, is a consultant to technology companies and financial services firms. For more on his credentials, click here.

Thursday 2 February 2017

Fun In The Office? 4 Do’s And Don’Ts

Fun In The Office? 4 Do’s And Don’Ts


In the following article, Lewis Daidone discusses how striking the right humor balance can improve workplace productivity – and how getting it wrong can lead to disaster.

If you’re happy in your current job, it’s likely because you’re working for a well-organized firm where you’re confident in your abilities, your colleagues are pleasant, and you’re receiving more-than-adequate compensation. There’s no doubt that you take your work seriously, but having an occasional humor break helps to ease the tension of a tight deadline.

Studies have shown that laughter is a great reliever of stress, and that the right balance of creative humor helps to contribute to creativity in the workplace. But how do you know where to draw the line between fun and distracting? Here are a few tips that can help you make yourself a valued team member in the eyes of your employer.

Do: Try to be light-hearted.


Even if you’re seriously stressed by a recent management directive, do your best to stay lighthearted and cheerful. By using occasional self-deprecating or silly humor, you can help lift the spirits of your colleagues.


Don’t: Overload on sarcasm at the expense of your team – or worse, your supervisors.


It might be tempting to make fun of an underperforming colleague or an unreasonable manager, but doing so only erodes confidence in the whole organization. The goal is to enhance productivity, not to demoralize the staff – no matter how funny the wisecrack might be.

Do: Stay appropriate.


There are certain subjects – like politics, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and age – that should be handled extremely delicately, if not avoided entirely, in casual conversation with colleagues. Not only might you make your co-workers uncomfortable, you could leave yourself open to complaints to HR.

Don’t: Be disruptive.


All humor should be used with the intent to increase workplace morale and, ultimately, productivity. Forwarding silly email chains or pranking unsuspecting colleagues only serves to delay or halt team members’ production and output.

Lewis Daidone is a Certified Public Accountant and a consultant to technology companies and financial services firms. For more management articles, follow this Twitter account.