“when you aren’t tracking the minutes, your team can learn to lead itself.”
by jody padar
from success to significance: the radical cpa guide
where is ownership and leadership in the old-school model?
uh, nowhere?
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is that why everyone is complaining there is no one left to take over our firms anymore? whose fault is that?
in a new firm model, leadership evolves naturally because team members are forced to grow (aka get out of their comfort zones). the learning is constant and firms are growing organically.
it’s on-the-job leader training.
the new firms are growing very quickly and, quite frankly, hiring from the outside doesn’t work because of the “old firm mentality” that has been drilled into younger staff people today.
in the old model, leaders get burnt out and leave for corporate opportunities. the grunt work is pushed down to new team members. in the new firms, the grunt work is done by technology, and team members are forced into customer service and customer questions or advisory work much sooner.
this makes for an engaged team.
you will also see a customer service role evolve. although it is based in administrative, like procedures, it is more than an administrative assistant. i used to say it was a digital admin, but it’s actually more. this customer service role becomes critical in growing your firm. it will make you rethink training, which becomes an everyday occurrence in the new firm model. the good thing is that we now have the capacity for all this training because we aren’t billing for hours. we can teach each other.
consider this: an easy step on the road to no longer tracking time might be to allocate a certain number of hours to learning that is not cpe-driven. a certain number of hours to “customer work.” a certain number of hours to customer service. before you know it, your team will naturally evolve. ultimately, work still needs to be produced, but when you aren’t tracking the minutes, your team can learn to lead itself. the folks who aren’t capable will be exposed, and you can coach them or remove them from your firm. most likely you already know who they are anyway. the stars will shine brighter and you can give them more opportunities to grow as your firm changes and moves through its transformation.
this is my favorite part of the transformation. i am so proud of a truly working-in-a-team model. it’s not always easy, but it’s a much more sustainable and happy model for both professional and personal growth.