LIGHTEN-UP - IT'S THE WEEK-END (a time for off-subject, fun, off-beat, maybe even weird topics)

Sometimes we do carry things a little too far. While I think titles can sometimes be a reward and provide motivation, we should probably just "walk the walk" and our people would be thrilled and motivated.

SIX DRIVERS OF EMPLOYEE FULFILLMENT AND BUSINESS PERFORMANCE

Rebecca Ryan, Next Generation Consulting, often talks about the six key drivers of high employee fulfillment and high business performance.


She advises that you should at least have five of the six going strong in your firm.


They are:
Meaning
Voice
Enrichment
Membership
Appreciation
Harmony

Click here to read more about these drivers from Next Generation Consulting.

You can meet Rebecca at Winning Is Everything, one of the best known CPA firm management conferences, in Las Vegas in January. Click on the link for more information.

“Winning isn't everything, but the will to win is everything." - - Vince Lombardi

IS NO PERFORMANCE REVIEW AN IMPROVEMENT OVER WHAT YOU DO NOW?

While it seems that most CPA firms conduct their annual performance review process in the summer, there are some who still hold-off until December or early January to give formal feedback on performance to their team members.

I used to believe very strongly that an annual performance review is an ABSOLUTE must and that people will sink into the land of poor performance and poor attitudes if they don't hear, hopefully more often than annually, how they are doing and if they are meeting expectations

While I still believe that LOTS of feedback is important (I like to see formal feedback given at least 3 times per year), I believe immediate feedback, especially if something needs improvement, is much more important than any formal, sit-down, go-thru-the-forms process.

Of course, daily positive feedback needs to be part of your culture. All this is called MANAGING and most accounting firms need to do a better job in this area. Period.

I will be focusing on this topic in a couple of weeks with the managers of Collins Barrow, a Canadian association of accounting firms. If you are a Collins Barrow firm, I hope your managers are registered.

I urge you to follow this link and read a recent article on The Juggle blog (a Wall Street Journal site dedicated to juggling work and family). Here's an excerpt:

Carol Bartz, chief executive of Yahoo, assailed the entire performance review process in a recent interview in the New York Times. Ms. Bartz says she would rather skip annual performance reviews altogether in favor of telling someone right away when they perform poorly. "When the puppy pees on the carpet, you say something right then because you don't say six months later, 'Remember that day, January 12th, when you peed on the carpet?' That doesn't make sense," she is quoted as saying. She prefers more instant response: "This is what's on my mind. This is quick feedback." Then she moves on to the next thing. Many young workers, in particular, prefer quicker and more frequent feedback than the annual review affords them.

I hope you are managing your people every day by simply giving them feedback as they move through their projects. This means open, honest and immediate feedback. And, please do not talk to them everyday about the weather, about their favorite sports team's performance or about what was on TV last night. Talk, talk, talk about the work they are doing, if they are on target for completion and if there is anything you can do (as their manager) to help them.

As busy season nears and you reflect upon your team and your partners, keep this quote in mind.

"Executives owe it to the organization and to their fellow workers not to tolerate nonperforming individuals in important jobs." - - Peter Drucker

GARY BOOMER'S THOUGHTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Did you read Gary Boomer's recent article in Accounting Today titled, Social media: Influence or control? If not, be sure to follow the link to read it on-line or dig it out of that stack on your desk (November 2 issue, Page 39).

The best thing about the article is that Gary Boomer is a baby boomer and he is talking to baby boomers. Baby boomers are the fastest growing group of new Facebook users. Yet, the baby boomers running CPA firms (and they are by far, for the present moment, the over-whelming majority of managing partners), are very hesitant about embracing social media for use in their firms.

Boomer cautions firm leaders to leverage, don't restrict, and adds, "Social media is ultimately about developing communities and encouraging involvement in those communities. This is where the greatest potential for influence resides."

Visit this blog tomorrow for more on social media and information about social media policies. Also, if you haven't viewed it yet, watch the amazing video about social media - click here.

“The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.” - - Flora Whittemore

ARE YOU LISTENING TO YOUR GEN Xers?

The following are some very important points in an article published yesterday in many newspapers around the country about how Gen Xers (your experienced seniors, managers and your youngest partners) are feeling during this recession.

• They're antsy and edgy, tired of waiting for promotion opportunities at work as their elders put off retirement. (If you have been in one of my audiences this year, you hear me STRESS this dangerous fact, your STARS will leave if they see future ownership in the firm being pushed out even farther into the future.)
• The 32- to 44-year-olds who are wedged between baby boomers and their children, often feeling like forgotten middle siblings - and increasingly restless at work as a result. (I call this group, and many females fit in here, the CPA firm "sandwich generation," caught-up in taking care of parents (aging partners) and kids (Gen Y fresh off the college campus).

A recent Deliotte study warns of a "resume tsunami" once economic recovery begins, especially among Gen Xers and notes that many executives were largely unaware of employee complaints unrelated to money.

Do you know how your valued, experienced workforce REALLY feels? As a CPA firm leader, do you find your owner group feeling smug about the fact that they don't have to bend over backwards to please employees at the present moment?

Please read the entire article here.

It's time to kick-up the communication machine and develop even more ways to LISTEN to your team - at all levels - during these trying times. Also, TALK to them about what the firm leadership is thinking and where the firm is going and be sure they see aggressive actions on continuing to grow the firm.

Now is not the time for leadership to hide in the bunker until the recession is over.

"If you don't get everything you want, think of the things you don't get that you don't want." - - Oscar Wilde

COMPENSATION BY GROSS FEES

Some recent data from IOMA's CPA Firm Practice Management Survey 2010 gives us a look at equity owner compensation.

The survey information indicates that there is a clear decline from last year's survey data in owner compensation for the highest paid owner group.



This year: (does not include bonuses, benefits or perks):

Highest-compensated group of equity owners averaged $285,800.
The middle group averaged $210,677.
The lowest-compensated owner group averaged $162,506.

Last year: (does not include bonuses, benefits or perks):

Highest-compensated group of equity owners averaged $347,071.
The middle group averaged $204,292.
The lowest-compensated owner group averaged $153,918.

This information, and more, is in the November, 2009 issue of Partner' Report. Click here to subscribe.

“It's not your salary that makes you rich, it's your spending habits.” - - Charles A. Jaffe

LIGHTEN-UP - IT'S THE WEEK-END (a time for off-subject, fun, off-beat, maybe even weird topics)

Ever feel like the challenges, issues, tasks and things you must do to make your firm a winner seem like a bottomless pit?

Well, maybe it's not that deep after all!




"One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important." - - Bertrand Russell

BACK WHERE IT ALL STARTED

Have you heard the song Back Home Again In Indiana? Most of you probably know it from the opening ceremonies of the famous Indianapolis 500. It is the official song of the race and has been sung for MANY years, at the opening ceremonies, by Jim Nabors.

Although, I am not a Hoosier. I was born and raised in Ohio about 2 miles from the Indiana state line. My parents both worked across the state line in Indiana, like most people did from my small Ohio border town (New Paris, Ohio). I also worked most of my adult life in Indiana.

About 4 or 5 years after I began working for Brady, Ware & Company in Richmond, Indiana, Luke Ware sent me off to Indianapolis to check out this new organization called the Association of Accounting Administrators (now known as the Association for Accounting Administration).

It was there I found my home, my passion and lifelong friends.

Today, I will be speaking to the Indiana Chapter of AAA in Indianapolis and it is, in my mind, where it all started.

"Back home again in Indiana,
And it seems that I can see
The gleaming candlelight, still shining bright,
Through the sycamores to me.
The new-mown hay sends all its fragrance
From the fields I used to roam.
When I dream about the moonlight on the Wabash,
Then I long for my Indiana home."
- - - Chorus lyrics from Back Home Again in Indiana

NOW WE'RE TALKING

You all know I've been on this social media kick and how important it is for firms to "get it" (meaning the importance it plays in how CPA firms will obtain clients in the future.

Once again, my friends at Freed Maxick in Buffalo are showing us how it's done.

Thanks to Rick Telberg for bringing it to our attention on CPA Trendlines.

Click below to read more about social media and CPA firms.
What Do You Want To Do Every Day For The Rest Of Your Life
CPA Firms and Blogging
The Bonadio Group And Exploring Social Media
A Social Media Eye Opener


"For tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today." - - African Proverb

TIPS ON PORTALS FROM ROMAN KEPCZYK

Today's business world continues to drive towards "less paper" technologies for every aspect of customer service and product delivery, which is being pushed even further with today's environmentally friendly "green' initiatives.

Tax and accounting firms have gotten on board by providing digital copies of tax returns and financial reports, as well as receiving client source documents electronically.

Read more about this from Roman Kepczyk in his article, 7 Keys To Setting Up a Successful Portal in a recent issue of the CPA Technology Advisor.

"We never know the worth of water till the well is dry." - - Thomas Fuller, 1732