Managing teams, managing time: The importance of setting expectations

Pushing the right buttons — it’s an essential skill for leaders when the clock is ticking, whether you’re directing an accounting team or a football team.

“What made Vince Lombardi such a great coach?” Kristine Lemanski, CPA, CGMA, asked the crowd gathered for her session at AICPA & CIMA ENGAGE 25. “He knew his players. He knew which players needed an arm around the shoulders and which players needed a push out of their comfort zone.

“If you want to be a great leader, you need to know your team.”

While leaders like Lemanski, the recently retired AssuredPartners Aerospace CFO, thrive by learning what makes individuals tick, success starts with setting expectations for the entire team. That’s key in a profession where there often aren’t enough hours in the week, and especially in an age when employees are more protective of personal time.

During an ENGAGE session titled “The Unshakeable Leader: How to Balance Change, Team Morale, and Your Sanity,” the panel broke down some winning strategies related to time pressures.

Time to work: The power of setting expectations

One firm leader in the audience shared a challenge he’s facing: His recent hires, right out of school, are expecting a 9-to-5 schedule every week. With one exception — half-day Fridays.

According to Wassia Kamon, CPA, the firm leader ideally should have made his intended work schedule more clear before committing to the new hires.

“It’s about the expectations that you set prior to bringing the person in,” said Kamon, CFO of Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs. “In the interview process, because of the talent shortage, we might be like, ‘I’ll take you. Hopefully I’ll change you.’

“But that’s almost like getting into a bad marriage. You won’t be able to change them.”

Lemanski shared what a leader might say to recent hires to establish the expectation that long hours may be necessary at times.

“You know what needs to be done. You’re a professional. That’s why I hired you.”

She also shared thoughts about talking to employees who don’t get the message off the bat.

“I think you can gently set the expectation of when you’re working, I deserve all of you. I deserve your best while you’re here and your full attention,” she said. “In return, you deserve me to leave you alone when you’re not working.

“I think that would be a fair negotiation.”

Time to pivot: The power of framing unexpected projects

A general understanding that long hours are expected at times, combined with repeated unexpected projects that make hours longer still, can be a recipe for burnout.

According to Michael Burns, CPA, CGMA, the key is to remove “unexpected” from the equation as much as possible.

“The more proactive you are, the better,” said Burns, director of controlling at Covestro LLC. “I know for us, an international company, July Fourth tends to be in the closing cycle for the first half. You know that going in, you know that’s expected, and I think that cuts down on the stress if you know it’s coming. If it’s unexpected, that’s what adds stress.”

Lemanski said one key to helping employees navigate particularly tough stretches is to accompany the request with a “why” that everyone can get behind.

“Say a new investor is interested, and so we’re pulling five years’ worth of customer records and revenue,” she said. “It’s really important to explain to your team why. Why are we taking time out of our already busy lives to get this done? I can tell you that one way to not keep your team morale up is to use the phrase, ‘Because corporate said so.’”

Burns believes the effort to help employees steer clear of burnout should continue after the conclusion of a stress-inducing project.

“If you have to work more to achieve something really important for the company, then I think there’s a sense of satisfaction when you’re done,” he said. “One other thought: Be flexible afterwards. Allowing flexibility where people are able to say, ‘I’m going to suffer through these couple days of busy, but I’m going to get it back another time.’ I think that’s important.”

Time to recover: The power of self-care

The visual of the boss sneaking out of the office to get a pedicure isn’t exactly the kind of thing that motivates the team.

However, the boss striding out of the office to get a pedicure is an entirely different story.

“It’s good for the team for me to say, ‘Hey, I’m taking a long lunch. I’m going to get a pedicure. I’ll be back,’” Lemanski said. “Then they know they can do the same thing and take care of themselves.”

Moderator Rob Teis, CPA, director of finance for Gun Lake Tribe, described it as “putting on your oxygen mask first before helping others.”

For Burns, that means continuing a Tuesday tradition of playing golf — assuming that it’s at least 40 degrees. For Kamon, it’s a different set of greens.

“I love chopping vegetables,” she said. “It’s whatever works for you.”

Lemanski sets expectations in part by setting an example: She wants her team to be prepared to do whatever needs to be done — armed with an understandng of why it needs to be done. But she also wants boundaries, for her team and for herself, that aren’t trampled on simply because advances in technology have made it easier to step out of bounds.

“When I first started in auditing, we were still auditing on paper. Laptops were not a thing,” she said. “Nowadays, it’s really easy to sit there and go, ‘It’s Friday night. Let’s see what crises are going on at the corporate office.’

“Don’t do that. Put your phone away. Your family, yourself, you deserve some time just for you. Somebody will make sure they get ahold of you if there’s some emergency. It’s accounting, not brain surgery. It can probably wait till Monday morning.”

Editor’s note: If you didn’t attend ENGAGE, you still can access this session. Those who purchased an all-access pass to ENGAGE can log in and view this and other archived sessions, including a new set of ENGAGE+ 2025 sessions. For information on ENGAGE 26, including an opportunity to save up to $350, click here.

— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Bryan Strickland at Bryan.Strickland@aicpa-cima.com.