Certified Management Accountants of Ontario (CMAO) provides the CMA designation to certify professional accountants and resources to
Question:
Certified Management Accountants of Ontario (CMAO) provides the CMA designation to certify professional accountants and resources to optimize enterprise performance. CMA of Ontario has approximately 25 000 members. CMA Ontario has 83 employees and has doubled in size from five years ago. Its annual revenue has also doubled from five years ago when a new strategic vision was adapted and propelled the not-for-profit organization to perform like a Fortune 500 company. Development at CMA has been fuelled by the need to offer members and prospects more value with an aggressive growth target of 5 percent annually.
"If we are going to compete in today's marketplace, it's not enough to be a sleepy not-for-profit. We must operate similarly to our membership, many of whom are running successful Canadian businesses," says Christine Thrussell, Manager of Human Resources for CMA Ontario, who recalls the push for change when she first started with the organization. Thrussell made it her objective to be a designation of choice for employees in the not-for-profit sector. "To be competitive, we have to ensure we have the resources employees are looking for."
As part of having the necessary resources, CMA Ontario knew the importance of having a culture to support new work designs. As a result, it was important to the leadership to tap into how their employees valued their workplace. In combination with its balanced scorecard system, CMA Ontario implemented a culture audit assessing employee satisfaction with technology, training, benefits, etc.
At the beginning of Thrussell's career at CMA Ontario, the employee climate survey indicated the organization was in the bottom 10 percent of companies of similar size and revenue base. After four years of improvement and changes under the current leadership, CMAO reached the top 10 percent of the survey. For example, four years ago, 52 percent of employees believed they had the technology needed to support the business. Today, 88 percent indicate they have appropriate technology to do their work.
CMA Ontario reports back to employees on these improvements at quarterly town halls and senior leadership and management team meetings. "Employees are able to see the benefits. They've been able to draw a line of sight from what they had to what they have today," says Thrussell. "We have a different mindset now, where the focus is on a world-class customer service experience. It's all about implementing the strategy and doing it with discipline."
Question 1:
If you were the manager of HR, how would you rationalize to your members investing in a culture audit?
Question 2:
What additional measures would you use to show the value of investing?