Our lives are full of change. Some kinds of change we breeze through without even thinking. We change our socks. We get change at the grocery store. But when your work is in need of change, the change may not be so effortless. When you are responsible for leading others towards change, the task may be harder still.
How can you guide your accounting firm through change? It’s not easy, but here are some key factors that can smooth out the path to managing change:
- Create clear goals, strategies, and measures for the change. Change cannot take place if your desires are unclear. What goals do you have? What strategy will get you there? How will you measure the change? Make these clearly and narrowly defined so that all your employees understand every aspect of the process of change. This truly includes all employees, not just the ones that are directly involved in the particular change.
- Make sure everyone is involved in the “what” and “how” of the change. What is each person in the organization going to do to effect the change? All members of the organization need to feel ownership of the change and understand how they can influence the change for success.
- After a sufficient amount of time, hold accountable those who are not adhering to the change. There is often resistance to change, but if it is not addressed early, morale can be affected and momentum can be lost. This also communicates to other employees the seriousness of your dedication to the change, which is very important as well.
- Send more reminders than you think are necessary. Over-communicate the why, what, how and progress of the change. Rewiring your thought processes requires repetition of ideas and thoughts. Use a variety of methods like email, in-person meetings, physical memos, and even a scoreboard for a visual reminder that everyone can see.
- Celebrate! Reward the hard work of your employees by celebrating successful steps towards change. Your employees need to know that you recognize how hard it was for them to change and the effort they put forth through the change. Ask for some ideas from employees about what kind of celebration they would like.
Many accounting professional will not be shy in telling you that they don’t like change and that things are already exactly the way they should be. But the reality is that change is constant! After leading your firm through this current change, there is sure to be another one on the horizon. Thoughtfully managing your firm through change will not only benefit your firm today, but the success of this change will propel your team to come with you on the next adventure!
WHAT ABOUT YOUR FIRM?
If you are in need of some feedback on how your accounting or bookkeeping firm can navigate through a change, please contact me.
