The key resource that accounting firms are seriously under-utilising

We talk a lot about the resources that the accounting profession feels short of.  Deficits of time, people, skills and even money are subjects to be found in many firm owners’ in trays.

Yet we have access to a largely untapped resource that can help to address and even eradicate these other problems. We just don’t use it.

This resource is energy.

Not the National Grid but Human Energy!

Offices can be lacklustre places. People lack energy, drive and enthusiasm. They can be bored, going through the motions, stuck in repetitive processes that fill their day.

Why do we allow that?

I’m told that it isn’t about us ‘allowing it’ but the nature of the work that we do and the hamster wheel that we are all on. The work is repetitive, mundane, boring even. The problem with the hamster wheel is the faster you run, the faster you have to run, so better to settle into a steady pace below your best.

Here’s the thing…

First of all, accountants deal with a wide range of issues and tackle important matters that require skill and expertise. We can achieve amazing things for our clients. We are in a people business surrounded by many different individuals with a whole spectrum of challenges, needs and opportunities. We deal with the applications of law and the wheels of commerce. What’s mundane about that?

Secondly, as leaders of our firms, we set the pace and the mood. We create the vision and goals. We go into work every day and set the tone and pace. When did you last inspire and energise? When did you last have a conversation with your team around happiness, satisfaction, pride, drive and energy? When did you last explore strategies for raising these emotions and for doing  things differently?

Working in an accounting firm is only as mundane as you make it.

I can hear the objections raised around our compliance work, the nature of bookkeeping, the challenges brought by deadlines and reticent clients but any negativity around our daily tasks is an internal issue for us to address, not put up with. The problems brought about by clients are something very much within our control. We choose our clients and tolerate their behaviour or not.

Ask yourself some questions:

·      Does your work environment energise or suppress your team?

·      Does your messaging to your team around your core work emphasise its value and importance, the difference that we make, or focus on its pressures and repetitiveness?

·      Does the office chatter highlight your clients’ successes or moan about their failings?

·      Do you talk about business opportunities  or just delivery needs?

·      Do you encourage training and development or complain about lost hours through CPD?

·      Do you raise your own energy levels for work or hideaway behind a pile of tasks?

·      Do you lead your team from the front or let them get through their day as you try to get through yours?

·      Do you actively try to be better and progress every day or is your focus on survival?

I know that I get sneered at but, after over four decades within this wonderful profession, I still refuse to accept that we can’t be as creative, energetic, interesting, rewarding and as much fun as any other business sector. We should feel passionate about what we do.

If accountancy is truly a people business then we are the people who make it mundane, nobody else.

That’s great because that means that we are the people who can do something about it and do things differently.

Where to start?

First, put a smile on your face!

Second (sigh, he’s going to say it again!) make sure that you are so clear on your vision and goals that you can confidently share them.

Third, sit down with your team and a blank piece of paper and ask yourselves this:-

“How do we take what we do and make it more fun and more interesting for us and our clients? Let’s start by looking at…….”

There is so much that we can do to make our workplaces and services more enjoyable. To do so, we should look at them with a fresh set of eyes. Creating a more enjoyable work environment will raise energy levels so what can we do around us to achieve that? Is it about redecoration, changing desks, changing the sounds and smells of the office, looking at different work patterns? Maybe!

Creating more enjoyable services and work patterns requires a different approach to education, learning, development, understanding both team and clients better. The final delivery of our services maybe the same but how we perceive them and approach them can always change. It’s about understanding the true value and not forever putting ourselves down.

It's not about changing what we do but changing our attitude towards how and why we do it

How we approach our working lives is a choice. Focusing on energy levels, having a better appreciation of value, looking at how we can mix things up in the office, these are not just tips for a better day but make a real difference to your performance as a firm.

Next time you want to have a conversation with your team about how much time you have, or don’t have, how about talking about what would make things more interesting and fun instead.

Time to focus on energy!