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1st QUARTER 2014
29
afford the all-knowing executives with great
resumes,” he said. “But I could bring in can-
didates who were willing to learn and bring
them up through the company. We took
care of them with bonuses and shared the
company’s success with them.” The point is
to “carry through on that promise.”
“My team and I have regular communica-
tion on my expectations for behaviors, tasks,
and priorities,” said Lalit Ahluwalia, CFO of
Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Inc. “It is critical
for me to let my staff know I have their back
and provide plenty of opportunities for their
exposure to senior management.”
Communicating Value
Part of intuiting how to develop a staff mem-
ber is to understand that person’s history be-
yond what you can read on a resume. “When
you’re hiring, you’re not hiring new people;
you’re hiring used people,” said Michael
VanPatten, CFO of Princeton Power Systems.
“They might even be abused people. You
need to ask questions to find out how they
were used and if they were abused by previ-
ous employers. Unless you are hiring people
right out of school, most of your candidates
may have had a bad experience on the job at
some point.”
A good understanding of both history
and goals has to go both ways between an
executive and his team. Every employee has
to understand “how they impact what hap-
pens downstream,” Zezas said. “People want
to be connected to other people and they
want to have purpose. When people spend
eight to 10 hours a day, five days a week do-
ing something, they want to know how that
affects the overall business.”
Jay Shepulski, partner at Rothstein Kass,
shared the positive experiences he has had
by just inviting some of the junior team
members out for a cocktail hour and taking
a genuine interest in their career. “They felt
valued and had an avenue to share their
thoughts and ideas about growing our busi-
ness and ultimately becoming part of the
process to do so,” he said.
Communicating the mission of the com-
pany can also help create an ownership men-
tality among the staff and an emotional bond
to the company. This type of attachment can
help retain talent. Rosalie Mandel, principal
at Rothstein Kass, spoke about getting her
staff to become part of the company’s mis-
sion and see themselves in the organization’s
vision for the future. “Our people are like
owners of this business and put themselves
in the owner’s shoes,” said Mandel. “We ask,
‘How are you going to drive this business
going forward? Let’s talk, let’s come together
as a team.…’ When people feel like they’re
a part of the future, there’s a reason to come
back to work every single day and not look
for another job.”
In the end, the participants agreed that
the greatest retention strategy is for the CFO
and other members of senior management
to personally take an interest in and support
their staff.
C
“WHEN YOU’RE HIRING, YOU’RE NOT HIRING NEW
PEOPLE; YOU’RE HIRING USED PEOPLE.”
—MICHAEL VANPATTEN, PRINCETON POWER SYSTEMS
Lisa VanPatten spoke with the group about the unique staffing
challenges that rapid-growth companies face
From left: Michael Eldredge, Ed Sitar, CFO, Healthagen, and Gene Cancellieri talk about how counterproductive
micromanaging your finance staff can be.
