Archive for the ‘Communication’ Category
Tuesday, August 27th, 2019
Bruce Tulgan tells us: Being a great manager requires a lot of time and effort. You cannot treat your management responsibilities as a low-commitment responsibility! You owe it to the people on your team to give them the support, guidance, and coaching they deserve.
An important part of managing people involves one-on-one conversations. These one-on-one meetings help you create an upward spiral of performance.
There are four basic steps to creating an upward spiral of performance on your team:
1. Define performance standards
2. Spell out expectations
3. Collaborate on next steps
4. Follow up, revise, and adjust
Download Tulgan’s ebook here.
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It’s the most talented, not the least talented, who are continually trying to improve their dialogue skills. As is often the case, the rich get richer.
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Kerry Patterson
Wednesday, August 21st, 2019
“If you love your work, if you enjoy it, you’re already a success.” – Jack Canfield
Partners in many firms really try to provide a friendly and fun work environment. They care about providing value, offer competitive salaries and have 4-day workweeks in the summer, plus other perks.
These things are appreciated by staff. However, there are always a few things they would like to see improved:
- Managers need to do a better job at delegating. Partners and managers are busy and staff are looking for work (this is an on-going theme I have blogged about several times).
- Partners say they have an open-door policy but they really don’t welcome interruptions. Don’t tout it if you don’t mean it.
- The partners are very competent but they struggle with understanding younger staff and their struggles. Things like commuting, two working parents, lack of on-going feedback on performance, etc.
- They need to develop more work for after tax season. The firm needs to offer a wider range of services.
- And, to me, the biggest issues in most firms – They need to improve communication, as a firm and as individuals.
There are many more positives and negatives but this is just a list that might be a wake-up call to leadership.
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It is highly impossible for you to be successful at what you don't love. Do what you love and love what you do.
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Israelmore Ayivor
Tuesday, August 20th, 2019
“Negativity is the enemy of creativity.” – David Lynch
I love these rules from Jon Gordon:
5 Ways to transform negativity on your team:
1. The No Complaining Rule.
2. Engage in Positive Conflict: Have difficult conversations to address issues.
3. Meet and talk about the negative effects of negativity.
4. No energy vampires.
5. Discuss ways to stay positive as a team.
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When someone tells me "no," it doesn't mean I can't do it, it simply means I can't do it with them.
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Karen E. Quinones Miller
Friday, August 16th, 2019
“Sometimes you don’t have to say anything. Silence speaks it all.” – Disha Patani
You are stopped in the hallway and asked for your opinion on a rather important matter. Don’t feel like you have to answer right away. But, when a staff member is waiting for an answer to complete a client engagement, don’t delay for days or weeks!
Read more about silence here.
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Silence at the proper season is wisdom, and better than any speech.
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Plutarch
Thursday, August 15th, 2019
“Strategic thinking starts with the end in mind.” – Pearl Zhu
If you are planning your fall retreat, plan your agenda carefully.
So many things are going on inside the firm such as issues with people and their performance, a renegade partner or secondary office, the progress on technology upgrades, the lack of new business coming in the door and so on.
Don’t let all the daily noise cloud your retreat. Put one thing on the agenda – strategic planning – then do it.
What are the big-picture items you need to address? Things that affect the future of the firm and things that will force partners to think of the firm before themselves.
Explore and discover what your firm is truly all about (vision/mission/purpose), identify (or review) your core values, uncover what needs to be done to prepare your firm for the next generation or for an upward merger. If your firm is not growing steadily, that is a huge issue to discuss. All partners must generate new business. Discuss and document the expectations for every partner. Actually talk, face-to-face, about issues within the partner group that everyone has always swept under the carpet. Address that elephant in the room!
If you don’t have a solid strategic plan to share with your team you will soon experience turnover. Talented people can easily move on to a firm that is transparent, forward-thinking, growing and creating a culture where they can see, in advance, where their career is heading.
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Be strategic about productivity. Do less exceptionally well, instead of doing more in an average way.
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Laurie Buchanan, PhD
Friday, August 9th, 2019
How many times have you contemplated the fact that you should have done something but you didn’t?
“Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.” – William James
Click here to read this flashback post from 2017.
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Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.
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Leo Buscaglia
Tuesday, August 6th, 2019
“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.” – Leonardo da Vinci
Every due date, CPAs complain that the clients are the reason for the last-minute added pressure. They are the reason the team has to work longer hours as the due date approaches.
It’s not all the clients’ fault. Perhaps you have lost your sense of urgency, especially over the summer. Those fall due dates are approaching. How much effort did you and your team spend on getting the clients to help you spread the work over the entire summer instead of the first two weeks of September?
This also applies to the winter busy season. Create a sense of urgency relating to getting the client work out the door before the last minute.
I also see a loss of the sense of urgency by partners when the firm is doing well and they are making good money. They are not hustling to bring in new business and expand services to current clients.
Some of my clients have created “keep the work flowing” initiatives this summer. They made it a priority to continually communicate with the clients to obtain their information sooner rather than later. Each partner was held accountable – it’s wasn’t deferred to the staff.
Did you lose your sense of urgency this summer? Read the quote above again.
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We have to live life with a sense of urgency so not a minute is wasted.
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Les Brown
Monday, August 5th, 2019
“In teamwork, silence isn’t golden, it’s deadly.” – Mark Sanborn
Almost every problem I encounter in working with CPA firms, whether it is a partner group issue, a procedural issue, or a people management issue, can be traced back to poor communication.
Every person working in public accounting needs to have the ability to effectively communicate.
Perhaps the partner group has discussed a certain issue so much and so long that they just assume everyone in the firm is aware of the issue. Many are not.
Managers believe they are so busy that they shouldn’t take their precious time to actually talk in-person to a team member about an issue. They use email or text and end up creating a lot of misunderstanding.
Employees are troubled about a certain aspect of their job but they are actually afraid to speak up and discuss it with the boss.
Open, honest communication should be part of your culture. Ask your team to give feedback to the leaders on the topic of communication. If you rank poorly, it is a wake-up call!
Sharlyn Lauby, @hrbartender, in a recent post gives us 4 Practical Tips for Effective Business Communication. Check out her post to read more about these four:
- Clarity
- Commitments
- Documentation
- Interaction
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The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn't being said.
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Peter F. Drucker
Friday, August 2nd, 2019
“Kindness can become its own motive. We are made kind by being kind.” – Eric Hoffer
Sometimes it is nice to phrase the way you say “thank-you” differently.
Click here to read this post from February. You might not have had time to read it then!
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You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late.
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Ralph Waldo Emerson
Thursday, August 1st, 2019
“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” – Mark Twain
My July newsletter went out this week. Did you receive your copy? This month I feature my podcast on the topic of CPA management. I also provide information about my advisory services. If you are not on the mailing list, you can sign-up here.
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It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it.
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Oscar Wilde
