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Welcome back to count me in,

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IMA's podcast about all things affecting
the accounting and finance world.

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I'm your host, Adam Larson.

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And this is episode 140 of our
series and today's conversation.

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You will hear from Dana Pascarella,
VP of finance at Wesco International.

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As she talks about staff development.

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Dana is a finance executive with extensive
accounting experience at a global

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publicly held fortune 500 organization.

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She is particularly skilled in mergers
and acquisitions, debt, financings,

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business growth strategies and
technology upgrades, among other areas,

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but she is especially passionate about
developing our finance staff to ensure

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organizational success.

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Let's head over to the conversation
and hear more about it now.

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So Dana, from a finance perspective
to kick things off here,

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what are some of the key areas you focus
on when it comes to staff development?

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Yeah,

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so ultimately I'm focused on providing my

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staff, you know,

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a foundation that will allow them to
deliver solutions in the future. So,

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obviously that's,

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teaching them the skills to become
an expert in their area. Right.

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I want them to become an expert.
I need them to have the basics,

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the fundamentals, the technical skills,
but also I think it's so important,

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especially with the
younger staff that they

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really start to understand
and learn those softer skills.

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So organization, adoptability,
communication, you know,

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those soft skills are so
important and can truly take

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years to learn and you want them
to be able to really be able to

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draw upon that,

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that total foundation so that the
technical skill plus the soft skill will

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really provide them something,

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to draw upon as they move
forward in their career.

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Yeah. You know,

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it's interesting at IMA obviously we
focus on management accounting, you know,

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accounting and finance
and the technical skills,

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the emerging skills are
obviously highly important,

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but we also really try to make sure
that the foundation, you know, the,

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the leadership skills and the ethics,
all of that is equally emphasized,

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I would say,

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and a lot of the things that we do and
now granted it's for members as opposed

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to staff, but I think the
focus is really there. And,

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it's all about developing
that pipeline. Right.

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And I think that's kind of what you were
touching on. So from your experience,

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from again finance and staff, when
it comes to developing your staff,

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what kind of methods or types
of trainings have you attempted,

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implemented? You know,

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what kind of training has been the
most effective for you and your staff?

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Yeah,

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so definitely every year always
focus on goal setting with a

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couple of stretch goals, right? I
want to, I want to challenge them,

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pull them out of their
comfort zone a little bit. But

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you know, something as simple
as regular communication,

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having one-on-ones and being
clear and providing constructive

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criticism to really help them, you know,

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improve if you're not providing
constant and regular feedback,

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I don't think individuals know where
to begin or what to improve on.

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So I really think that
communication is super important,

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cross training, getting folks into,

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maybe areas that aren't
their area of expertise, but,

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allowing that cross training
to really build out their,

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their expertise,

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involving folks in a new project or a
responsibility for a short period of time,

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if something comes along
again, that's part of,

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kind of pulling them out
of their comfort zone,

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but also seeing how they do with
these new projects and give them that

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role, you know, obviously guide them,

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but let them be the decision-maker
to an extent, obviously, you know,

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the leader I'd have to provide guidance,

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but let them participate to understand
the different perspectives and see how

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they would answer the questions.

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And let them feel kind
of part of that process.

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I also think anytime you can provide
a staff an offsite experience,

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I think that, especially in finance right,

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we're just the behind the
scenes books and numbers.

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So when you can give an employee an
opportunity to kind of better understand

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the business, the operational
side of what's going on, you know,

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be it visit a branch, an office,

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accompany an internal audit to a site
visit, visit a customer, a vendor.

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I think that really helps,

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especially some of the newer staff
really put the full picture together.

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So not only understanding the numbers,

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but also understanding the why, the how,

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and how the businesses is running.

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I just think it helps to put that full
picture together and is just so much more

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valuable as they move
forward in their career.

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Yeah, I totally agree.

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And a lot of great practices there from
my own personal experiences, I can say,

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you know, a lot of what you've
shared that I've been through,

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it certainly works,

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and it really helps with that stickiness
and makes everything kind of make

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sense, big picture, like you were saying,

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but I do want to kind of just follow
up on what we're talking about here.

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You've mentioned a few different skills,

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but when it comes specifically to finance,

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what are some of the skills you see
that are most important? You know,

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when it comes to staff development,

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we talk a lot about upskilling or
reskilling. Where is the focus today?

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I mean, clearly you have to have that
mathematical analytical skill set,

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right. I think, you know,

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today also having pretty
strong IT skills are

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pretty important and that's all part
of kind of that technical skill.

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But I also think
persuasiveness, decisiveness,

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interpersonal communication
skills are, it's all part of,

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of finance, right? It's more than just
that technical skill. It's how do you,

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how do you deliver that
technical answer? How do you,

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how do you provide that
with confidence? Right.

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It's one thing just to give a number,

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but if you provide it with confidence
and decisiveness, then your audience is,

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they have comfort in you and what
you're delivering. So it's, again,

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it goes back to, you know, not
only those technical skills, but,

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but having strong, soft skills.

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That's great. And, again,

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I can really see how everything
you're sharing comes together.

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I can relate personally to some of
my experiences. So, like I said,

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a lot of great ideas, perspective here.

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I'm curious when it comes to
thinking about these ideas

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and trying to put a plan together, how
do you go about mapping out these needs?

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How do you go about picking these
different practices to implement?

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Is it an individual basis? Is
it by department? You know,

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how do you go about planning
your staff development?

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Yeah,

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so I think it is important to kind
of first understand the individual's

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career aspiration, their
personality. You know,

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you want to make sure you're stretching
and challenging the right person and the

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person that you're giving them challenges
that fit their personality. Right,

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so you want to align project and work
with those desires because if there's a

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mismatch, it won't be effective. Right.

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But it is about understanding
that person, their career goals,

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their personality, and
providing challenges and,

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and stretch goals to kind of push them
outside of their comfort zone and see how

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they perform. You know, some
people they're just, you
know, you're steady Eddie,

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but, but some people have a desire to
continue to move up in their career.

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And so you would align projects and
responsibilities accordingly. So for me,

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it's always been understanding that
individual person and their desires and

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their personalities, and then
aligning the working accordingly.

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So I will wrap this conversation
up in just a minute, but, you know,

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I want to tie everything together first,
before we get to our last question.

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Obviously

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so much has changed in the last year
and a half that the whole, you know,

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global business environment.
But as far as, you know,

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your experience in finance
over multiple years,

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how have you seen the
skills, the training methods,

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the different staff development
plans change over time?

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Yeah, well, I think,

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I think last year was an interesting
example of some of that change, right?

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We had a,

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we saw a macro economic environment
that could quickly became unstable.

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There was a tremendous amount
of uncertainty globally.

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Companies' goals and plans
changed pretty quickly.

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We in finance had to be flexible
in our, in our approach.

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I think the basic skills
were still important,

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but we quickly saw an emphasis placed
on IT skills and the reliance on

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technology to stay connected
and be successful in our
day to day challenges. So,

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I mean, to some extent we
have to change our approach.

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We had to figure out how to use
our apply kind of those historical

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methods, but in a virtual environment.

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So I really think the skills
are kind of always the

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fundamental skills necessary for finance,

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but I think last year was a great example
of how we kind of had to change our

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approach to teach those skills and to
stay connected in a day to day virtual

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environment.

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This will be my last
question, I promise. But,

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as far as the different
skills that you've mentioned,

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the different methods that
you've, again, implemented,

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plans you've put in place for individuals,
what are some of the benefits?

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What can somebody expect to,

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what kind of rewards can they reap
from effective staff development?

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And what does that really do?
Not just for the individual,

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but for the organization as well.

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Well, I think when an employee
feels supported, valued,

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cared for, they feel that the company's
investing in them. I think, you know,

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in return, you get, you
get employee engagement,

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you get an employee that's
willing to work for a company and

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help to drive results. You get that
loyalty, the reduction in turnover,

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and all of that increased
employee engagement,

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I believe leads to improved performance.

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So also from a company's perspective,

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you have a trained up
employee, if you will,

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that can easily be slotted within
different roles in the company.

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So it creates not only opportunity
for employees looking to

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kind of grow, advance in their career,
but it also provides an organization,

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the ability to be able to look within to

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hire before going external. So,
you know, it's beneficial for both,

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both the employee and the
organization and it overall it's,

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it improves morale. It just creates
a strong, healthy environment.

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This has been count me in IMA's podcast,

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providing you with the latest
perspectives of thought leaders from the

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accounting and finance
profession. If you like,

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what you heard and you'd
like to be counted in for
more relevant accounting and

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finance education,

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visit IMA's website at www.imanet.org.