When To Hire And When To Inspire
When to Hire and When to Inspire: Building a High-Performing Finance and Accounting Team
For finance and accounting managers, creating a team that can navigate deadlines, deliver accurate reporting, and support business growth is essential. But how do you know when it’s time to hire additional help or when the best path forward is to inspire your existing team to reach new heights? While hiring can fill gaps, inspiring your team to unlock their full potential is equally crucial.
Here’s a guide to identifying the situations where hiring or inspiring can make the biggest impact—keeping your finance and accounting team operating at its best.
When to Hire: Bringing in New Resources
The decision to hire should be thoughtful and strategic. In finance and accounting, where accuracy, efficiency, and regulatory compliance are critical, knowing when to bring in additional resources can help your team thrive without risking burnout.
1. When Workload Exceeds Capacity
One of the clearest signs that it’s time to hire is when your current team’s workload consistently exceeds their capacity. If you’re seeing increased overtime, rising stress levels, or minor errors cropping up in reporting or reconciliations, it’s likely that your team is stretched too thin. This is especially important in finance, where precision and timeliness can’t be compromised.
2. During Transition Periods
Transition periods can strain even the most well-prepared teams. If your organization is going through a major change—such as a merger, acquisition, or restructuring—it’s wise to consider bringing in additional help. This extra support can ease the burden on your existing team, allowing them to maintain their focus on core responsibilities while meeting the demands of the transition.
Temporary staffing solutions can be ideal in these situations, offering the flexibility to increase resources without long-term commitments. Contract or freelance professionals can be brought in to assist with specific projects or during peak seasons when the workload is heightened but not permanent.
3. For Projects Requiring Temporary Expertise
Certain projects or regulatory requirements may call for specialized expertise that your team doesn’t currently possess. For example, implementing a new accounting software, conducting a financial audit, or handling complex tax situations can be resource-intensive and require specific knowledge. In these cases, hiring temporary staff or consultants can provide targeted support and avoid overburdening your existing team with work they’re unfamiliar with.
4. To Address Skill Gaps
As your organization grows, so does the need for advanced financial skills. Whether you need a financial analyst for in-depth data insights, a tax expert to optimize filings, or a controller to oversee financial reporting, hiring new talent can fill specific skill gaps and bring more depth to your team’s capabilities. This strategic approach to hiring not only ensures accuracy and compliance but also enables your team to contribute more effectively to broader business goals.
When to hire: Bring in new team members when workload strains capacity, transitions demand more resources, specialized expertise is required, or skill gaps need filling. Temporary staffing can be a flexible solution for short-term needs.
When to Inspire: Empowering Your Existing Team
Not every situation requires hiring. Sometimes, the best way to elevate your team’s performance is to inspire and empower them. A motivated, cohesive finance team can deliver exceptional results without needing constant supervision. Here’s how to inspire your team to continually bring their best to every project.
1. Share the Vision and Goals
A finance team that understands the larger purpose behind their work is naturally more engaged. Whether it’s supporting sustainable growth, ensuring compliance for a potential acquisition, or managing budgets that drive product development, communicate how their roles fit into the bigger picture. When team members see the impact of their efforts, they’re more likely to stay motivated.
2. Foster Professional Growth
Continuous learning and development opportunities can be transformative. Offering professional certifications, online courses, or training sessions on advanced financial tools and analysis techniques can keep your team sharp and engaged. Development pathways are particularly beneficial in finance, where new skills and credentials can directly improve accuracy, productivity, and the quality of insights your team brings to the organization.
3. Encourage Ownership and Autonomy
Trusting team members to manage their projects and make decisions within their areas of expertise can be incredibly motivating. Autonomy encourages team members to take ownership of their work and shows that you have confidence in their abilities. In a field as structured as finance, a degree of autonomy allows team members to approach problems creatively and develop new solutions, improving job satisfaction and efficiency.
4. Recognize and Reward Excellence
When team members go above and beyond, a simple “thank you” or public acknowledgment can reinforce positive performance. Recognition doesn’t have to be elaborate—a quick email, shout-out during a meeting, or a small token of appreciation goes a long way in building morale. A team that feels valued is more likely to maintain a high level of commitment and strive for continuous improvement.
When to inspire: Share the broader vision, encourage professional growth, foster autonomy, and recognize achievements to drive engagement and motivation.
Creating Balance: Hiring and Inspiring for Team Success
Building a high-performing finance team requires balance. Strategic hiring can relieve strain, introduce new skills, and meet short-term demands without overloading existing staff. Meanwhile, an inspired team is equipped to handle challenges with resilience, bringing their best to every task.
By knowing when to hire and when to inspire, you can create a finance and accounting team that’s both productive and engaged, ready to adapt and contribute to the company’s growth. After all, the ultimate goal is to build a team that not only meets the demands of today but is prepared to drive success well into the future.
