By Jeremy Clopton
Many accounting firms say they want a culture of learning. Creating one requires more than providing opportunities to learn.
Most firms invest in CPE, internal training, webinars and technical updates. Those things have value, but participation alone does not create learning. If the expectation is simply to show up, get the credit and return to work, we have created a culture of compliance.
Compliance vs. Learning
As technology, outsourcing and new service models reshape our profession, people will remain a firm’s most important competitive advantage. The firms that stand apart will be those that develop professionals who can think critically, exercise judgment, solve unfamiliar problems and become trusted advisors faster than we have historically expected.
Compliance-based training can teach someone to perform a task accurately and consistently. We need that. But it cannot, by itself, develop the business acumen required to navigate situations without a predetermined answer.
Creating that capability starts with the choices leaders make every day.
Turning Mistakes into Conversations
Consider what happens when someone makes a mistake. The natural reaction is often to step in and fix it. It feels responsible and it is usually faster. But when leaders quietly correct every error, they teach people that mistakes are defects to conceal rather than data from which to learn.
A better response begins with curiosity: “Walk me through how you got here.”
The work still needs to be corrected, but the conversation helps both people understand what happened. Was the assignment unclear? Did the professional lack knowledge, context or judgment? Is there a weakness in the firm’s training or systems? The mistake becomes an opportunity to improve the person and the process.
Asking and Answering Better Questions
The same principle applies when someone asks a question. If the leader immediately provides the answer, the work may move faster, but dependence grows. Over time, the leader becomes the firm’s answer key and, eventually, its bottleneck.
Instead of supplying every answer, help people learn how to find one. Ask what they have already considered, where they have looked and what options they believe are available. There will be moments when a deadline requires a quick answer. When that happens, return to the conversation later and teach the thinking behind it.
Leaders also need to ask better questions. “Does that make sense?” rarely stretches anyone’s thinking. Questions such as these do:
- How would you approach this?
- What risks do you see?
- What alternatives have you considered?
- If you were the client, what would you be asking?
These questions require professionals to examine what they know, acknowledge what they don’t know and practice the judgment we expect from advisors.
The Efficiency of Tomorrow
None of this is particularly efficient in the moment. Learning rarely is.
It takes longer to let someone wrestle with a problem, participate in a difficult client conversation or help think through a consequential decision. Yet our constant pursuit of speed can communicate an unintended message: We have time for you to work, but we don’t have time for you to learn.
Efficiency optimizes today. Learning optimizes tomorrow.
Learning Outside the Course Catalog
A learning culture isn’t primarily built through a larger course catalog or another required program. It’s built in meetings, feedback conversations, client interactions, mistakes and decisions. It emerges when leaders stop protecting people from every productive struggle and start inviting them into experiences that build capability.
That means learning can’t be delegated entirely to HR or the learning and development team. They can create valuable resources and experiences, but leaders shape the culture through their daily behavior.
Learning to Lead
The question isn’t simply, “What training do we offer?”
The better question is, “What are people learning from the way we lead?”
Leadership is a series of choices and those choices compound. When leaders consistently choose curiosity over correction, questions over answers, productive tension over comfort and long-term capability over short-term speed, learning becomes part of how the firm operates.
That leaves every leader with a question worth considering: Where might your firm be creating compliance when learning would serve you better?
About Jeremy Clopton
Jeremy Clopton is managing director at Upstream Academy, where he specializes in developing future leaders, facilitating partner retreats and helping firms launch new services. He also hosts The Upstream Leader Podcast. He joined Upstream in 2018 after leading his own consulting company. Before becoming an entrepreneur, he spent 12 years with a national accounting firm, where he led its Big Data & Analytics and Digital Forensics practices.
