Stepping Up is the New Norm
Richard Brewin • March 16, 2020
Have you noticed how everyone’s demands seem to grow every year?
Whilst our hopes and personal expectations may fluctuate, there is a sense that, no matter how good the last year was, the world around us wants more in the next.
Clients expect more value and service. We expect more of our team – they are 12 months more experienced, possibly promoted and better rewarded. Both clients and team probably expect more of themselves, wanting to be better. We expect more of our business performance, looking for growth and greater profitability. And like our clients and team, we expect more of ourselves, wanting to see that self-improvement.
The problem, of course, is that we all feel like we gave everything last year, so how can we give more? Is it even right to expect more?
With increasing demand comes stress. If we’ve worked our socks off last year then we want to know that this year will be easier, not harder.
I think it important, not to resist the rising expectations but to recognise it as the norm, accept it and look at how we can embrace it. Rather than say that last year was tough, press the reset button and recognise that last year has merely set a higher benchmark, how do we deal with it?
In an Age of finally recognising the value of good health and personal time, the answer must not simply be to work harder and work more, we have to be smarter.
I use the example of a firm moving to a four day working week. Hopefully, many of you will agree that the principle of a shorter working week is a good thing. However, there are good reasons why the firm and its employees currently work five days per week. The employees need five days’ worth of salary and the firm needs a full week to meet its own commitments and financial goals. To be successful, the firm and its team will need to either lower expectations (not going to happen!) or find a way of meeting them in four days, not five…and the answer can’t be to just slog harder for those four days or what’s the point?
Therefore, how does the firm and its team work smarter to achieve the same goal? The answer lies in better client, production and time management, better communication, better use of technology, better decision making, better individual performances. In other words, exploring your internal workings for ways of being more efficient and effective, an exercise that requires input from both you and your team.
I’m not offering the answers to what will be very individual challenges, but what I am saying is, that be recognising higher levels of performance as the new norm, resetting the high bar and committing to not simply working harder, it does force your firm to find more creative solutions whilst everyone in your team recognises that the need to step up is something to accept and embrace, rather than resist.
Worth a thought?
Look at any accounting firm website and there is a fair chance that the word ‘proactive’ will be prominent. Ask some business owners and taxpayers whether they consider their accountant to be proactive. There is commonly a gap between the two, between the intent of the accountant and the expectations of the client.
The tag ‘Trusted Advisor’ gets bandied around a lot. Without trying to be deliberately contentious, I often challenge its use. Undoubtedly, accountants were once the trusted advisor to their clients. When I came into the profession 44 years ago now, the older partners, especially, were seen by their clients as their trusted advisor, their ‘go to’ person on any issues, business, family or personal, that were troubling them. Without the filing deadlines of today, these clients were with their accountant primarily because they valued the relationship rather than the products.
All accountants are the same! We’ve all heard it said. It’s nonsense, of course, but, when you are asked what it is that your firm does that differentiates it from other accounting firms, it can be a challenge to come up with something tangible. Accounting firms tend to offer similar services, that’s what makes them accounting firms. Differentiating from competitors based upon services provided is therefore an issue.