and why we need them.
by martin bissett
passport to partnership
now we move on to our sixth “c” in the passport to partnership – challenges.
more: prepare the next generation now | five ways to show commitment | selling isn’t hard | do you make your firm look good? | 4 top communication habits | making partner when competence isn’t enough
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again the heading has more than a single application, which we’ll explore here.
ultimately, the partners interviewed in our research broke “challenges” down into two key areas:
- the ability for a manager to pull the firm out of the mire when there’s a problem
- the ability for a manager to pull the client out of the mire when there’s a problem
naturally, because this became a consensus answer, we speculated as to how often an occurrence of one of the above would be for a manager to need to be able to demonstrate their abilities in rescuing a client or the firm as a result of a previously substantial error. it would appear to be fairly commonplace.
regardless of the reason, though, the partners we spoke to looked to the manager to handle such situations with calmness, decisiveness and integrity. it is that decisiveness where the majority felt that they weren’t seeing this behavior demonstrated by their managers.
the managers, perhaps understandably, looked for confirmation that their course of action was partner-approved. the partners, however, wanted the managers to demonstrate that they could make the bold decisions in preparation for when there were none more senior to ask.
challenges, then, are defined by the attitude, experience, critical problem-solving skills and logical process abilities that a manager can show himself or herself to be in possession of when the pressure is on. this is our sixth “c.”
get challenged, get excited
it’s human nature for us to feel discouraged, inconvenienced or demoralized by anything that gets in the way during the working week of us carrying out that which we’d planned to do. this leads us to viewing a challenge, issue or problem in a negative light.
viewed differently, however, challenges
- provide our training,
- test our resolve,
- improve our resilience and
- form our leadership skill set.
what challenges do we encounter on the road to partnership?
1. health
our career health can be blighted by lapses in judgment, apathetic outlooks and “knowledge neglect.” “knowledge neglect” is the stage of your career that you get to where you’re either too busy, too disinterested or both. in continuing to learn and hone your skills as a leader, as soon as we stop wanting to learn about leadership, we should stop trying to lead.
stress: stress seems to have become an overused word to describe everything from being very busy through to genuine psychological pain. stress is a constant companion in running a successful and competitive cpa firm and only the triple combination of the very best in processes, profitability and personnel can elevate this on an ongoing basis. if
you’re already suffering from stress perform this diagnostic immediately:
- have you got the level of competence required for the work you’ve been asked to carry out? (yes/no)
- have you got scheduled breaks in your day where you do not look at or work on anything? (yes/no)
- do you have at least three evenings a week free from work-related activities? (yes/no)
- do you diarize meetings and tasks, scheduling at least 15 minutes more than you need for each of them? (yes/no)
- do you enjoy the work you’re doing and believe in the firm/people you’re working for? (yes/no)
address any “no” you might have scored, immediately.
political infighting: how often have you encountered the following?
- an individual working well below their capability?
- an individual jealous of a co-worker?
- an individual furious about the amount of work on their desk compared with the amount of money in their paycheck?
- an individual comparing their paycheck with one of a colleague who appears to do less than 50 percent of the work but for the same or better pay?
- an individual who has parked in an unmarked parking bay that is “understood” to be someone else’s?
- an individual who has been unsuccessful in applying for a promotion when the job has gone to a family member of the partner who runs the department despite them having no experience and half the skill set?
and so on it goes. political infighting is career cancer and must be avoided at all costs. that’s a lot easier said than done, but it must.
from experience, true colors tend to come out in the end and the ownership of the cpa firm you work in see
everybody for who they really are anyway. if they don’t, then it’s time to question whether you are in the right cpa firm.
going stale: most of us have experienced that “not another year at this firm” feeling when january comes around. the skill is making sure that there are enough challenges to keep our skills sharp and developing while staying on the right side of work/life balance.
2. wealth
poor customer service: this is another proven method for retarding growth. a $10,000 client is worth $100,000 minimum to your firm before referred work and cross-selling are taken into consideration and it could easily cost that same $100,000 just to try and replace that core work from the client alone, before all the add-ons.
the client may not always be right, but they do always pay your salary.
no new business: a reliance on referral work leads to two main concerns:
- being unable to forecast the regularity and amount of work that can be billed each year and …
- the uncontrollable quality of client with which a firm commits to working.
business development is a foundational behavior of the 21st-century cpa and new fees, higher fees, more enjoyable work should always be being targeted by the firm.
frozen fees: our bills went up last year. the client’s bills went up last year. yet so many firms think that they somehow can’t raise their fees because the client might leave. then let them, especially if they are unprofitable ones that don’t refer profitable work to compensate you.
“but what if we can’t replace them?” is the usual response. “you must not be offering anything more attractive than the worst of your competitors” is a valid reply.
your best prospective clients are almost always your competitor’s clients. if you deliver mutually recognized value to your clients, raise your fees.
3. stealth
litigation: always be aware of the silent specter of litigation from a client, a competitor, a supplier or some other unexpected source. litigation can disable a firm’s profitability by tying it up in bureaucratic red tape whether justified or no.
competition: today, one of your competing firms successfully or unsuccessfully contacted/wrote to/met one of your existing clients. this tactic will only increase as time goes on … because it’s successful.
legislation: audit levels rise; compliance is increasingly taken care of by technology. the market for the first becomes the preserve of the larger firms and the market for the latter becomes the preserve of the cheapest firms. how will you ensure profitability for your firm in the face of increasingly relaxed legislation that allows these two scenarios to occur?