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The Change Implementation Series

I know just how hard it is knowing where to begin on your change journey, so I’ve written this series around the six starting points that I use to make implementation easier for my clients. Couple of weeks ago I introduced the series in TA75 – The Kick-start Change Implementation Plan. This article is part 3 of a 7 part series on kick-starting your own change implementation plan.

Part 2: Build the Confidence to Implement by getting crystal clear on what you want

I’m a strong believer that one of the biggest hurdles Accountants face in growing their practice, is that they lack the confidence to change and the clarity of knowing what they want to change into.

In fact, I’ve found that just getting clarity can build your confidence to take necessary actions to begin your change journey.

As a way of helping my clients gain initial clarity, I often ask them questions about their personal vision of the future and the practice they wish to build.

Six Questions that Will Give You Clarity on What You Want

Try applying these questions to your situation:

1. Do you want more time to do other things?

a. lifestyle activities and/or

b. to have time to work on other business ideas

2. Are you in business or do you want to be the technician

a. Entrepreneur vs having a job

b. divisionalisation model or generalisation model

3. What are you looking for from growth?

a. Profit,

b. Size, or

c. Saleable Value?

4. Should you be servicing all clients or selected groups/types?

a. industry expert, service specialisations or generalists

5. What services are the most profitable that you offer?

a. Should there be more services or less services offered

6. Do you need more accountants or selected people with specific skills?

These questions (and ones like them) are designed to give firms clarity on their business goals and set the scene to achieve an ongoing, positive impact on partners

How this Clarity helped a Firm

I have successfully used this process of achieving clarity with many firms over the years.

To give you an idea of the impact we can achieve together, take a look from Darren Smith’s perspective…

>>>Darren Smith’s testimonial<<<

“I started working with Andrew because I wanted to see what other accounting firms were doing and how we could grow our income and bottom line, the practice was running well but I was still tied up in everything and finding it tough to make the time to implement growth ideas.”

Darren really wasn’t clear on what growth looked like, he was thinking like the typical accounting firm and viewed growth from new clients as the only way to grow. In addition he felt he had to be involved in everything regarding clients as the team were not stepping up.

Starting with his vision and what he wanted to do which led to a clearer focus on implementing alternate ways of doing things, we designed a plan which took into consideration how Darren worked, the skills & personality of the team and client demographics, the following happened.

Activities completed:

Rejigged roles and responsibilities
Designed value add products
Implemented a delegation plan
Designed a new client selection process

Personal impact on Darren (in his words):

“Made me focus on adding value to existing clients rather than getting more clients”
“Gave me an awareness of valuing my services more appropriately”
“Helped me to understand where best to spend my own time and how to delegate more effectively”
“Taught me to be more selective with the new clients we do take on”

Results for the Firm (in his words):

“We have a more engaged and effective team”
“My own time has been freed up to develop additional services / offerings that have a higher recovery rate”
“Our bottom line has grown 25% in 12 months”
“Our average hourly rate recovered has improved by > 20%”
“Staff recoveries moved to 100% plus”

This is the second strategy in a six part series that addresses how to confidently begin implementing your change growth plan.

Next week we continue with “3. Three Strategies to Hone Your Focus & Optimise Your Implementation”.

This includes:

How to delegate work most effectively
How to create a proactive team who are self-sufficient problem solvers, and
An effective method of ensuring that you make time for activities that grow your firm,
Plus, I share a timeline to guide your goals that will ensure momentum and maximise your successful implementation.

As always, if there is a specific barrier holding up your firm’s implementation or you want help building your confidence to implement your plans, you’re welcome to comment below or book a time using the link below the comment box.

Andrew Robertson | TwentySix Group