What CPAs Can Learn From Weight Watchers
Source: Partner Insights
The following includes excerpts, reproduced with permission, from an article by August Aquila.
Can Partners Change?
There are a multitude of platitudes about change. But unless we change we don't grow, and the skills that got us to where we are won't get us to the next level.
Is there a change process? The quick answer is yes. Let's see what we can learn from Weight Watchers' process:
- The organization must have a plan for its people to follow. Like Weight Watchers, accounting firms will make money if they get their partners and employees to embrace a culture of change.
- Partners and employees need to be aligned with the change policy.
- Change requires firm and the individual to make investments. I often recommend the development of competency tables for every position in the firm. Knowledge workers yearn for new skills so that they can grow.
- Similar to Weight Watchers, there must be a personal development plan and a personal commitment to its outcome.
- Weight Watchers educates members about good eating habits. We must do the same thing with our people. Continual learning is key in today's world. Firms are beginning to have book clubs for their employees in addition to the regular CPE classes. Coaching and mentoring is about helping people in the firm grow, not just having lunch once a quarter.
- There is accountability in the Weight Watchers program. Every week people in the program weigh in. We need to create the same type of accountability programs in our firms. A partner/employee accountability model is one way of doing this.
- Change is something that we do every day, not just at the end of the year. It may involve as little as spending five minutes a day reading or listening to an audio program or asking a client or partner some questions about the business.
For the complete article, read "Can Partners Change?"
From Partner Insights, December 2012, Aquila Global Advisors, LLC, http://www.aquilaadvisors.com.