Trouble in accounts

Posted by The CEO on Tue, 02/02/2010 - 11:39 in Blogs 1558 3 comments | report

February 2 – These are troubled times in the accounts department here.

I’ve been aware for some time that #1, who is chief accountant, and her deputy were not getting on. I’ve tried to intermediate, but equally am always anxious not to manage around someone. In general that exacerbates problems.

I stuck to the principle but we’ve now lost the number two and three out of a department of 4 and a half. That’s not good. Especially as year end is a month away and the timings of the resignations almost look designed to impose maximum stress.

They’re going as a team to a company that has moved into the area. Maybe, just maybe, they saw a real opportunity for promotion – and #1 certainly blocked that here, but I have more to learn.

And in the meantime we will be recruiting urgently - a process I will be involved in given a senior accountant is to be appointed .

And I’m not happy that #1 is wholly innocent in all this. We’ve had problems before, as some criticised me for, but deep down I think she might be the antagonist and that worries me.

Comments

exit

alistair_king | Wed, 03/02/2010 - 01:26 | Permalink

Will you be taking part in their exit interviews?

It would be interesting to hear their reasoning.

trouble in accounts

1228330 | Wed, 03/02/2010 - 12:04 | Permalink

Do I detect a touch of paranoia in the CEO? No. 1 would have realised that there was no chance of promotion for Nos. 2 and 3 in her department and may have encouraged them to go for the jobs at the new company in their best interests. The fact that it is an awkward time of year is just happenstance, they had to go for the jobs, which probably represent promotions, or with the chance of promotion when they came up.

Don't take it personally...

Matt Hardwick | Wed, 03/02/2010 - 13:52 | Permalink

1. Don't take staff losses personally as CEO. People come. People go. The timing will always look bad. Looking at it from #2 and #3's perspective, it is a little self-indulgent to think they timed such a move to cause maximum negative impact.

2. #1's management skills may well be an issue. You should explore that in the exit interviews. But understand that people will always move to the prospect of more money or further advancement regardless of their managers (good or bad). What you need to get to the bottom of is whether poor management / prospects galvanised them into seeking alternative employment or whether it just fell in their lap and, as the saying goes, were offered a deal they couldn't refuse.

3. Have a think about your relationship with #1. Having read this post for years, my feeling is that she is the one member of staff that you write about without full management objectivity. To be clear, I'm not suggesting anything untoward here - working relationships are complex - I would simply recommend you consider those complexities as they relate to #1 as opposed to another manager on your staff who you inherently 'get'.

Add comment