Until Partners are able to consistently and effectively delegate value added work, their firms will struggle to become experts in business advisory services and add true value to their clients.
Systems are the key to managing your delegation and ensuring that high work quality is maintained while value is passed to our clients.
Without systems, delegation fails and your firm’s output remains bottlenecked at the Partner & manager level. Your firm’s future with business advisory services depends upon your ability to delegate your value add service delivery.
The Problem with implementing Business Advisory Services
The problem is that without a clear service offer, you just can’t set up systems. You need to first know exactly what will be included in your value add product. This is like building a house without first designing it and having a plan to follow…
A secondary problem is that often firms are so caught up in delivering for clients that they just don’t make the time to think about their offer and then set up systems to deliver it. My clients get exceptional value just from having me drive their progress month to month. Without ongoing accountability the project can quickly lose momentum and stall.
Products and Packages empower high value Delegation
My solution is a system for creating systems. This is taught in great detail in the Products & Packages module of the Practice Growth Formula workshop (Sydney, May 2016).
When a methodical approach is applied to creating systems in your firm the entire process becomes easier, the results are standardised and the team are empowered to deliver added value to clients.
The entire productising methodology is too detailed for this blog post, (especially as it may require certain tweaks from firm to firm), so here’s a quick overview of how it works:
- Mine your special projects to find suitable service offerings
- Design the VAS service
- Step the process out from client enquiry to finalisation of service delivered
- Break down the steps by flow charting
Tips on applying the system
- Develop a system for each step
- Working from start to finish is easier than focusing on the deliverable and working backwards
- Define workflows, tools and checklists require for each step
- Assigning roles to each item makes it easier to delegate
Learn the art of delegation of PGF in May 2016
At the upcoming Practice Growth Formula workshop in May, I will be dedicated a full day to working through this process with a small group of Accountants. The small group environment is ideal for learning how the process can be applied in your firm and how others are applying it in theirs.
Click here for full details of the event, including a discount for TA readers…
A Final Word…
As I put the final touches on my workshop session, I found myself thinking back to when I first made Partner…
I still remember the feeling as I walked out of that boardroom… I was walking on air, and couldn’t wait to phone my family.
But the reality of the job soon caught up with me. I’d expected to be working on high value accounts, providing invaluable insights to the top clients and finally escaping the day-to-day drudgery of processing and the same old story of year-to-year compliance work. Instead, I was still doing the same work, just with my own assets on the line and a bigger sense of responsibility weighing me down.
It took me 5 years, long hours at the desk and countless sleepless nights to finally develop a process that reliably freed me up from the delivery element of VAS.
It’s gratifying to now be able to walk into a firm and start removing those roadblocks from day one. It’s a guaranteed result… as long as the partners show up, participate and take the action steps, the firm grows.