plus 4 common attacks to anticipate.
by bill reeb
we pick up in part 3 of this column series with some additional changes in best practices that will help you better focus your talent on what is truly important to the firm’s future.
parts 1 and 2: change happens: how to master it. | building competency on every level
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as well, we will review a few simple change management strategies and approaches to propel the successful changes and transformations you and your organization desire to make. so, let’s get started.
firms need to evolve their thinking about focusing their talent
to pick up where we left off, we believe firms should be operating around leverage and focusing their talent on what is truly important to their firm’s future. today’s recommended operating structure looks like a pyramid with fundamental principles such as:
- always push work down to the lowest level.
- the bottom levels should always have billable work to do.
- the time at the lowest levels of staff should only be filled up by three things:
- billable client work
- time learning or being trained
- taking their earned pto
some firms – those that are very community-oriented – would add community service to the basic expectations of the lowest levels of staff within the firm. but the bigger concept here is that with each promotion, billable time should go down and non-chargeable time should go up (with people taking on the duties appropriate for the role they fill in the organization).
now consider that the box to the right surrounding the pink pyramid represents total time, with the box broken into job levels. next consider that the pink pyramid inside the box represents billable time from partner down to staff. finally, consider that the white space represents non-charge time designated to accomplish duties such as client relationship management, development of people, creation and implementation of firm strategy, management and accountability, etc.
counter to what we believe is a best practice for cpa firms, we see too many firms overly focusing on the pink pyramid (billable time) within the box. and we do not see enough importance being placed on not only managing the non-charge time, but on monitoring it and having clear expectations as to outcomes expected from that huge resource investment the firm is making year in and year out.
therefore, we believe firms need to do a much better job of directing non-charge time to specific objectives or goals, setting expectations, monitoring performance and compensating for accomplishment.
this change in emphasis on maximizing the value of non-charge time is critical in the next few years in order to change the culture within firms and get them ready for the technology and globalization revolution that is already well under way. in a recent conversation with mack lawhon – past chairman of weaver, a top 50 cpa firm – i was discussing the importance of stronger focus and leverage of the non-charge time often wasted in many firms. his response was telling. he said (paraphrased), “…in our firm, we often talk about the $300 charge hour versus the $3,000 charge hour. the difference being that the $3,000 charge hour is the time someone spent helping the firm reach a particular goal, or when someone took the time to develop another member of our firm, or time spent building relationships with clients and referral sources. that hour spent is so highly valued because we get a return on time over and over. yet, a $300 hour charged to a client, while also important, is simply a one-time gain for the firm.”
the reason why we need to be doing a better job managing the non-charge hour investment is because of how our profession and firm structure will need to change in the coming five to eight years.
many studies are suggesting that technology will do away with about 40 percent of basic accounting work in the next few years.
some projections suggest that this change could occur as soon as 2020. much of the basic accounting work will be eliminated as artificial intelligence, blockchain and cloud computing take over many of our accounting routine functions. and just in case you think technology won’t do that, it doesn’t matter, because globalization will (hiring staff from other countries, like india and china at conservatively 25 cents on the dollar all-in doing entry-level work). so, the idea of doing what you have always done and expecting to continue to reap the kind of rewards our profession has been so fortunate to make during the past decade is being out of touch with the reality around us.
don’t get discouraged, however. there has never been more opportunity, at least from my perspective, than there is today and in the future. it is just a different type of opportunity.
as our profession’s vision process predicted 18 years ago, cpas need to actually start living up to, and delivering on, our trusted business advisor mantra. to do this, we have to push work down, so that our managers, principals and partners are constantly providing high-level advice to dovetail with the presentation of historical performance and the data analytics that will become what is expected from the clients of all cpa firms.
today’s pyramid will morph to have a fatter middle (to house the experienced professionals providing advice and counsel) with low-end usa staff becoming the first compliance review level for the work performed by technology and our global employees.
the shape of things to come is really about widening the middle of the pyramid to add more knowledge workers at upper levels while raising the bar for what entry-level staff are expected to accomplish. the rough pyramid shape will still exist. however, it will include the augmentation of technology and globalization to perform the work currently consuming many of the firms’ lowest-level, to quite frankly, highest-level people in the firm. so, the waves of changes coming our way make it clear that firms need to position themselves to be able to deliver on being their clients’ trusted advisor every day, which also diminishes the price sensitivity for some of the traditional compliance work that will be left for us to do.
to implement change, follow a successful change process
with this in mind, it seems clear that one of the key skills and capabilities to develop within every cpa firm is the ability to manage change and successfully implement change. the best advice we can share on this front is provided by john kotter, a harvard professor who is a change management guru. in his award-winning training video, “succeeding in a changing world,” he has broken down this process into eight steps:
- increase urgency (among the masses).
- build the guiding team (with the authority, standing and skills to get it done).
- get the vision right (clear, simple, with strategies to get there).
- communicate for buy-in (simple messages many times).
- empower action (remove the barriers).
- create short-term wins (select initial parts carefully).
- do not let up (continually monitor, adjust, queue up the next parts).
- make change stick (new culture – norms of behavior, shared value developed through consistency of action).
as you look at your firm, think about each change initiative you are working on. have you followed the eight steps above? if you haven’t, shore up your approach by adding the ones you have missed, overlooked or done but done poorly. each step is critical.
if you don’t create a clear sense of urgency, you won’t get the commitment level you need to motivate people to get out of their comfort zone to change.
there has to be an understanding that the status quo is more dangerous than the risk of making mistakes along the way of traveling a new path.
you need to develop a team with the authority to get the job done. in other words, the team has more authority than any individual on the team. and the team is made up of the people those in your organization respect and will follow as the ambiguity of change looms larger. having trust and faith in the guiding team is paramount to creating change momentum.
get the vision right and make it easy to understand, easy to articulate, with the strategies, goals and action plans supporting it at a level to get the job done.
communicate, communicate and communicate. what we tell management teams is that you need to keep sharing the vision, why it is important, and the progress you have made so often that you feel like you will throw up the next time you have to repeat those messages. and then, cover that ground from three to six more times once you feel that way. people don’t sit around waiting to hear whatever management has to say. they get inundated with messages, some specifically sent, others through the grapevine, some correctly conveyed, some miscommunicated. with that in mind, repetition, with consistency, is foot soldier on the battleground motivating change.
empowering action and removing barriers is an essential part of the successful execution of any initiative.
step 6 is far more important than most people give it credit. i remember my first job out of school with ibm as i helped manufacturers and contractors install large computer systems. my manufacturers would always want to jump right to materials requirement planning (mrp) and capacity requirements planning (crp). the problem was that those two systems relied on many other systems, like inventory, backlog, purchasing, project planning and more, all to work flawlessly for them to be effective. so, we never started with those projects, including inventory. we needed to install parts of the manufacturing software that would give them an early win and quick benefits. why? because you need to create momentum and maintain it.
if you start with the most complex, by the time you get it fully implemented, everyone will have lost faith in the project and moved on.
create early wins and continue to create new wins to rev up momentum and generate excitement about the coming changes.
the next step is to not let up. in our constantly changing world, thinking you can go through a change, and then rest, and then take on the next change is setting yourself up for disappointment. change is like waves in the ocean … they just keep coming at you. you need to process them, manage them, react to the ones you want to ride … but just don’t fall into the trap of thinking of changes as something you need to complete and then take time to rest and recover from them. change, and keep changing (don’t let up).
finally, make sure that your changes stick. once you have implemented a change, it is time to ensure that the new behavior or process or approach becomes part of your culture. the new way needs to simply become the accepted way you do things. and your people should be held accountable to adhering to the new culture.
be ready to address the common attacks change initiatives commonly receive
understand that anytime you are trying to implement change in your organization, be ready to respond respectfully, clearly and confidently to the attacks you can count of receiving. kotter mentions the four most common attacks from those looking to maintain the status quo, which typically come in the form of:
- creating fear about your plan
- finding ways to delay your plan
- creating confusion about your plan
- ridiculing the proponents of the plan
creating fear about your plan will start with comments like: “this one step could easily start us down a path to certain disaster – no good can come of it.” fear is a powerful emotion.
there is nothing that will derail a project faster than someone who can strike fear in the hearts of his or her colleagues.
if that doesn’t work, those people will next look for ways to delay your plan. they will do this with comments like: “the idea you are sharing has some merit, but now is not the time – we just have too much going on.” the truth is … there is rarely a great time for change initiatives because we are always busy. so this attack always rings true. the only really good counter is to remind everyone that there is no perfect time to change, and that if you don’t start changing right away, staying the same might be far more risky.
next, if there is still momentum for the change process to continue, expect the opponents to create confusion about your plan. a statement might be made like: “your proposal raises more questions than it answers, such as… and what about …?” if the status quo supporters can make it look like you have not thought through the various likely scenarios and correctly assessed and have plans to address the various risks, even your staunchest supporters will fall back to the “let’s hold off on this for now, do some more research and look at it again next year” position.
finally, if all else has failed and change is imminent, expect this last attack. and know that is not only effective, but it is very personal, which quickly puts the people driving change in a defensive position. we are talking about the tactic of ridiculing the proponent(s) of the plan. those comments might sound like: “you wouldn’t be pushing for this if it weren’t for the personal benefits that will accrue to you. you are not being transparent and you clearly have a hidden agenda you are not sharing with us.” this attack, because it is personal, can be the toughest to repel if you are not ready. you have to be calm and reiterate the benefits of the change for everyone. if you take the comment as a personal attack and attack back in kind, you are subject to the interpretation of the william shakespeare play “hamlet” in which queen gertrude says “the lady doth protest too much, methinks.” or more currently interpreted as, “we caught you red-handed, which is why you are inappropriately so upset.”
none of these attacks should derail the changes you are trying to move forward. but be prepared to address each of them. and as a good practice, before you unveil your changes, especially when they might be controversial, put together a team that works through all of the possible risks and at least acknowledge that you have thought about them up front and that you have thoughtful approaches to addressing those that have a reasonable likelihood of occurring.
it’s about success, not perfection
in the world of managerial leadership, no one should be looking for accuracy with multiple decimal places of precision. in fact, there often are multiple ways of doing something that will get you where you need to be within the broad constraints of best practices and your particular facts and circumstances.
there is no room for perfectionism as you begin to implement your change initiatives.
do something. take action. constantly evaluate your progress, and then modify your next action based on the results you’ve found. you may need to change direction a bit from time to time, but that’s the way life works, and it certainly is the way change management and business evolution works.
as is often said in the publishing world, “don’t get it right, get it written.” that same intent works just as well here. when it comes to making your firm better, faster and stronger, “it’s about success, not perfection.” this motto embodies a simple process of taking action, evaluating and responding.
things change
as the market place changes and as your operations change, you should always be re-evaluating where you are, where the market is and where you are trying to go. there is no answer you can come up with today that will always stand the test of time. the changes you are making now are no more a negative reflection on where you have been than the changes you will make in years to come. at the foundation of this discussion is a simple concept: your success will help create your current need for change. and your continued success will require even more need for change in the future. this is best said quoting the title of marshall goldsmith’s best-selling book, “what got you here won’t get you there.”
enjoy the journey
change can be disconcerting at times, but it doesn’t have to be. keep the collective vision you and your partners have for the future of your firm in front of you. continually remind yourselves of how good it will be as you make the changes necessary to move toward your vision. monitor your actions taken as well as the outcomes of those actions. and make sure that you recognize and compliment yourselves for the positive movement that occurs, no matter how large or how small the movement is at any particular time.
your destiny – your firm’s destiny – awaits you! as tim christen said in front of every audience he spoke to while serving as the chair of the aicpa during the 2015-2016 term … “it is a great time to be a cpa.” thank you for allowing us to play some small part in your wonderfully successful journey!