Nurturing the next generation

04 Apr 2013 Voices

All finance leaders should be focused on developing the careers of their staff, says Rui Domingues.

All finance leaders should be focused on developing the careers of their staff, says Rui Domingues.

As well as being FD at Friends of the Elderly, I am also a trustee of my local Baptist church.

Recently, our minister resigned in order to undertake a doctorate in the theology of disability, partly inspired by last year’s Paralympics.

Exiting a key role like this does leave a church membership with feelings akin to bereavement, so ending this role well will be important.

But after the initial period of mourning, there is recognition that this is also a time of great opportunity.

The time between ministers can be an opening to explore the gifts, skills and abilities that are there in the church’s membership, but not used on a regular basis.

It’s a time to look at individual strengths and passions, so that they can be allowed to flourish in this period.

Leadership role

This has made me think about my leadership role at work and whether I do enough to encourage members of my teams to take on more responsibility when the occasion presents itself.

Currently I am, as we have a senior finance officer on maternity leave and another member of the team is acting-up in her role.

I think we’d all agree with the principle of vacancies being an opportunity for career development. But what are some of the pitfalls to look out for?

I want to share below some of the mistakes I’ve come across over the years (and some I’ve made myself) in this area.

  • Be realistic about capability

Although vacancies present a great opportunity, we must be realistic about the skills and abilities that people have, and about what they are capable of doing. The warning about ‘not putting square pegs in round holes’ is absolutely true. So it is vital to know your team members well enough to judge whether they can do particular roles well, and also what is required of each role.

This will require us spending time with our teams, both in formal meetings (like supervision meetings), but also informally, to get to know them as whole people, and to understand what their hopes and aspirations are.

  • Allow people to make mistakes

One thing that is certain is that people will make mistakes. I’ve been lucky enough to have spent a lot of my training time at organisations where mistakes (up to a limit) were allowed. I could learn from my mistakes and have benefited hugely from this.

Fortunately, my mistakes have not been too costly, but there is always a cost in any learning activity.

  • Supporting people properly

There is no point putting someone in a role that they have never done before, without proper support.

Too often, we assume that, because someone has been at the organisation for a while, they require less support than a new member of staff. What they actually need is different support.

  • Over-stretching

In one of my first senior finance roles, I was leading a new team based in Guildford, following a relocation of the finance function from London. As a new manager, I hadn’t yet appreciated that my personal style is to be a developer of people.

This is a good style to have, but not recognising it meant that I recruited a team full of people acting into positions they’d never had before. I spent so much time supporting the team that my ability to do the rest of my role suffered, as did the charity I worked for.

One has to recognise there are times when an organisation can cope with people getting to grips with new roles, and there are times when there is too much going on for this kind of learning.

Motivated staff

With all the drawbacks of these kinds of arrangements, what’s the point of doing it?

If you want motivated and challenged staff, then allowing people to explore different roles will help. It will also allow us to develop leaders of the future.

Think back on your own career. If someone hadn’t taken a chance on your career development, would you really be where you are now?

Rui Domingues is finance director at Friends of the Elderly