NOTE

1. Philip Crosby, Philip Crosbys Reflections on Quality: 295 Inspirations from the Worlds Foremost Quality Guru (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1995).

2. Harold R. McAlindon and Michael Michalko, The Little Book of Big Ideas: Inspiration, Encouragement & Tips to Stimulate Creativity and Improve Your Life (Nashville, TN: Cumberland House Publishing, 1999).

3. Kennedy Information, Inc., Benchmarks in Management Consulting: Operational Metrics for Sound Firm Management (Peterborough, NH: Kennedy Information, 2002).

Career Tracks, Compensation, and Professional Development

John Baschab and Jon Piot

I havent the strength of mind not to need a career.

-Ruth Benedict (1887-1948), U.S.anthropologist1

Show me the money!

-Cuba Gooding Jr.as Rod Tidwell in Jerry Maguire1

Of the internal operations issues affecting the performance and delivery of services to clients, staff satisfaction and performance has an enormous impact. The biggest predictor of that satisfaction and performance is happiness with firm career path, compensation, training, and professional development. However, the rewards of a well-articulated and deliberate career track, compensation, and professional development plan to the firm are indirect and often neglected.

Why This Topic Is Important

Professional services firms must have a systematic way to promote, train, and compensate those who are best at executing and selling the business of the firm. Effective measures will attract and retain the best professionals, as well as ensure the future of the firm itself.

Top professionals in any field generally have their pick of which opportunities they pursue and are attracted to positions with well-defined paths that will reward them consistently and objectively. They want to perform and to be recognized for their achievement by their firm. They also know that firms that have taken the trouble to provide clear career tracks to their professionals will attract other A players and are likely to be well managed in other critical areas, such as sales and operations.

Because planning in these areas is of indirect (and often delayed) benefit to the firm, it is an often-neglected area of focus for professional services providers. As firms grow from small and mid-size to encompass dozens or hundreds of professionals, the management of the staff becomes exponentially more difficult. Defined career tracks, compensation, and development plans can reduce the overall human resources effort required to be effective. Instead of every case being handled as a one-off proposition, with the attendant spaghetti-tangle of disparate compensation, bonus, and promotion decisions, decisions can be made according to predetermined policies and practices within the firm. These policies and practices remove the immense burden of case-by-case decision making from firm management and send a reassuring message of consistency, predictability, and reliability to the staff.

Additionally, properly constructed training programs can enhance the productivity, expertise, and capability of the professional staff. Well-executed professional development programs can reduce costs for services firms by allowing lower cost staff to perform higher level functions sooner in their career.

A company that has thoroughly thought through its compensation, career track, and professional development approach will attract and retain the best professionals and find itself executing most efficiently in a difficult-to-man-age internal area.

Determinants of Staff Satisfaction

A variety of studies has highlighted key drivers of staff satisfaction. Based on our analysis of these studies, as well as first-hand experience, we list the following key drivers of staff job satisfaction, in priority order:

Satisfaction with immediate manager: Because of day-to-day contact, professional staff identify with the company through their immediate manager. If an employee does not have a good relationship with his or her manager, that employee is at risk of leaving. Conversely, if that employee has a productive working relationship with the supervisor, risk of the employees departure decreases significantly. To reduce the likelihood of uncontrolled attrition, firm executives must ensure that their