Archive for the ‘Leadership’ Category
Wednesday, December 11th, 2019
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams
For many years, I have been a fan of The Growth Partnership’s Partner Institute. This class is a must for those currently or soon to be in leadership positions with your firm.
Here is some information on their 2020 program.
If you’ve been considering enrolling your future leaders in The Partner Institute™ 2020, now is the time to act. There are only a few spots left. Once the class fills up, you won’t have another opportunity to participate in The Partner Institute™ until next year.
This three-year, multidisciplinary program will help your senior managers and young partners develop the personal, interpersonal, managerial, and organizational capabilities they need to assume leadership roles within your firm. For more information, follow the links below.
The next session of The Partner Institute™ begins January 16-18, 2020 at the Boardwalk Inn at Walt Disney World. Reserve spots for your team members by submitting registration and a deposit of $500 per person. Participants can attend the initial course and then decide if the program is right for them. If they elect to continue, we will invoice accordingly.
For more information, please visit The Partner Institute online
or call them at 877-226-0496, or email:
info@thegrowthpartnership.com.
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Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.
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John F. Kennedy
Monday, December 9th, 2019
“Whatever you do in life, surround yourself with smart people who’ll argue with you.” – John Wooden
Everyone is hiring. It used to be a seasonal event for accounting firms. Now, progressive firms have adopted a plan for continuous hiring. Firms are growing and it is important to hire before you have to.
My questions for accounting firms (and some things for you to consider):
Do you have a rigorous focus on professional development? Maybe this is why there is so much worry about succession. Why not be more generous with education dollars for your younger staff. Of course, you must give them technical training but don’t forget about the “success skills” (formerly known as soft skills) if you want them to become business advisors earlier in their careers.
Have you attracted and retained the smartest people? Young people are drawn to public accounting because they appreciate being able to work with smart, successful, creative, and hard-working people. Do the majority of your people fit this description? Do you keep too many mediocre performers?
Do your young all-stars have vast opportunities? Or, do they have to wait ten years to become a manager?
Do you reward your best performers with salaries beyond being competitive? Or, do you try to get by with the minimum of just keeping pace with average firms?
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Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose.
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Bill Gates
Thursday, December 5th, 2019
“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” – Jack Welch
To develop an enthusiastic and loyal team it is important to communicate and be inclusive. Firm leaders should be doing this every day.
Many firms take the opportunity to do this on a higher level at least once a year with a full firm retreat, state of the firm event or similarly named gathering. I had the wonderful opportunity yesterday to be part of Kirsch CPA Group’s full firm event in Hamilton, Ohio.
The three partners, John Kirsch, Chad Williams, and Pete Abner each talked to the team about firm performance, future focus and the unveiling of a new training program that will provide each team member with a full-fledged career development plan that is backed up with extensive educational opportunities.
Recruiting and retaining isn’t enough. Now it is about attracting and developing. You want talented accountants to seek out your firm because your brand is a strong magnet for people who want to advance their careers in public accounting.
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Become the kind of leader that people would follow voluntarily; even if you had no title or position.
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Brian Tracy
Wednesday, November 27th, 2019
“The price of greatness is responsibility.” – Winston Churchill
Don’t you love to hear those three little words?
Sure you do, everyone wants to hear “I love you.” I hope you hear them and say them daily. But wait, that’s not the “three little words” I’m talking about.
The three little words I’m referring to are three you do not want to hear. You probably hide from them and deny them.
I hear the following comment often from CPA firm managing partners, “We don’t have a succession plan. There is just no one at our firm who can take over from me and do what I do.” I ask them, “Whose fault is that?” And, the answer is three little words – Baby It’s You.
If you are the managing partner at a firm (or a sole proprietor), you are in charge. The future of the firm is in your hands.
- If your people are not good managers, relationship builders or passionate about the firm
- If your managers are not coaching less experienced team members
- If your team spends too much time on the web and social media for personal reasons during the day
- If they put too much time in a job because they don’t have a budget
- If they make you cringe some days because of the way they are dressed
The responsibility for all of these kinds of issues comes back to the leader – Baby, it’s you.
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The task of the leader is to gt his people from where they are to where they have not been.
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Henry Kissinger
Thursday, November 21st, 2019
“The truest wisdom is a resolute determination.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
CPAs have been immersed in the process of succession planning for years.
As the Baby Boomers have aged and retired succession planning for firms took on a whole new life. How will the firm survive without me? Who will take over my client relationships? And, the continuing statement made by retiring partners, “We don’t have anyone who can replace me!”
When I hear that statement I always ask, “Whose fault is that?”
As you approach succession planning, I am sure you are making sure that your successors have all the experience and technical knowledge that public accounting demands. But, they need more.
According to Bruce Tulgan, a writer specializing in management training and generational diversity in the workforce, “One of the hardest things about succession planning is what I refer to as ‘wisdom transfer’—passing on institutional knowledge and soft skills to new leaders. How are you tackling wisdom transfer in your organization?”
What are you, as a firm and as individual senior partners, doing to be sure that you are making that “wisdom transfer” to the next generation of firm leaders?
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Foolishness is a twin sister of wisdom.
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Witold Gombrowicz
Monday, November 18th, 2019
“If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.” – Henry Ford
Beware of the age-old behavior that kids use – They want something and they ask their mother. Then, if Mom vetoes the activity, they go behind her back and ask their father (without telling him they already asked Mom). Maybe, just maybe, Dad will say yes and they are very happy and proceed to move ahead.
This occurs in accounting firms. An employee wants to do something a certain way. The partner on the project says, “No, do it according to the firm procedures.” The employee seeks out a different partner, perhaps one they work for more often, and whines about having to do the client project a certain way when they can do it faster “the old way.” The second partner, not wanting to get into a big discussion, just says “Do it however you think is best.”
Owners should be united in many ways even in how work is processed. Of course, they should discuss the processes, modify if necessary but then commit to the processes they helped establish.
Partner unity (in all things) is important in becoming a one-firm firm rather than a group sole-practitioners under one roof. I call those firms silo firms. You can be a silo firm and make decent money but don’t call yourself a one-firm firm if you really aren’t one.
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Individual commitment to a group effort--that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.
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Vince Lombardi
Friday, November 15th, 2019
“A fool is made more of a fool when their mouth is more open than their mind.” – Anthony Liccione
Have you ever been in a meeting where someone spews words in a never-ending dialogue that is pretty much meaningless? It seems they just enjoy hearing themselves talk.
I believe that communication within CPA firms needs to be continuous and enlightening but that doesn’t mean too many meetings where certain people ramble on and on. I recently read the following and realized how meaningful it is to CPA firm meetings.
Joe had always considered individual words as finite units of currency, and he believed in savings. He never wanted to waste or unnecessarily expend words. To Joe, words meant things. They should be spent wisely.
That’s why Joe despised meetings where he felt the participants acted as if they were paid by the number of words spoken and, as a result, the words began to cheapen by the minute until they meant nothing at all. In Joe’s experience, the person who talked the most often had the least to say. (C. J. Box, author)
Does this apply to someone at your firm? Is it you?
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Great people talk about ideas, average people talk about themselves, and small people talk about others.
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John C. Maxwell
Thursday, November 14th, 2019
“Be grateful for what you have and stop complaining – it bores everybody else, does you no good, and doesn’t solve any problems.” – Zig Ziglar
You are in a firm meeting. It could be a partner meeting, a staff meeting, a committee meeting or an admin meeting. Someone complains (gripes.. bitches…) and another person joins in and soon there are several on the bandwagon.
Think about it. It probably happens all too frequently. In some cases, the person running the meeting (a manager, partner, firm administrator) actually joins in. They feel like they are sympathizing and showing support for the concerns.
If you are leading a meeting that suddenly turns into a gripe session, don’t join in. Tone it down! You might think you are building camaraderie but you are actually undermining your own credibility.
Take immediate steps to turn these bitch sessions into productive, problem-solving meetings. You might simply say, “Wait a minute, I hear the problem. Let’s talk about solutions.” Enlist the entire group into voicing possible solutions.
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Everyone has to make their own decisions. I still believe in that. You just have to be able to accept the consequences without complaining.
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Grace Jones
Tuesday, November 12th, 2019
“Stop thinking in terms of limitations and start thinking in terms of possibilities.” – Terry Josephson
If you are part of a smaller firm, with one owner or two partners and are reading this blog – my answer is a resounding YES!
Just because you don’t have a multi-partner firm doesn’t mean you should not devote a special time and place for strategic planning. Try involving your entire team in the planning session. When I have facilitated these types of planning sessions, the employees contribute an amazing amount of relevant ideas and suggestions.
Sole practitioners who include their entire team in sculpting the firm’s future are making a positive difference for their firms. I believe it is a tactic that smaller firms should embrace wholeheartedly. It’s not too late to have this type of session in December or early January. It could even be a half-day event with a follow-up session in late April.
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Take a chance! All life is a chance. A person who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare.
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Dale Carnegie
Monday, November 11th, 2019
“Influence means your behaviors matter. The people around you – to some degree – reflect you.” – Dan Rockwell, Leadership Freak
If you are a partner in the firm and it bothers you when people are not punctual yet, you often come into the office late, others think it is okay.
If you are the manager on a review engagement and because you are experienced, you cut a corner or two, others think it is okay.
If you are at the Senior level in a firm and you are not completely accurate and punctual recording your time on jobs, others think it is okay.
If you are the firm administrator and you occasionally take an extended lunch hour for no particular reason, others think it is okay.
No matter what your title, your peers and others observe what you do and are influenced by your actions. What you do and the behaviors you adopt make a difference – you are an influencer.
You can also strive to be a GOOD example. That also influences others.
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Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.
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Albert Schweitzer
