We are faced with a lot in our profession – competition is getting more fierce, technology is evolving faster than ever, the talent pool is shrinking, and we’re still left feeling overwhelmed and chaotic during tax season. And after tax season, we collect our thoughts and debrief. We collaborate with our team to review the things we did well and the things we want to change, but before we know it, we find ourselves on next tax season’s doorstep – with little to nothing implemented or improved. As one of my colleagues says, standing still is falling behind in this profession. That is why adding a Director of Implementation was a game changer for my firm.
Let’s start with the “why.”
Status quo is the easy path for accounting firms and change is rarely embraced. However, ‘this is the way we’ve always done it’ won’t work anymore if you want to keep your business thriving in today’s competitive environment. Customers expect different services and communication levels and vehicles than they did 20 years ago- or even 10 years ago. You know you need to make changes, but where to start and how to implement?
Consider how many tax season post mortem meetings you’ve had with your staff. The good, the bad, and the ugly are all fresh in everyone’s mind right after April 15th. People are full of ideas for what should be changed, but how much of that change actually gets implemented?
How about conferences and events you attend where you hear new and innovative ideas from thought leaders that inspire you? Then, you come back with a long list of things you want to implement, but how many of them actually get done?
In a profession that revolves around deadlines and is also naturally averse to change, daily routine that hasn’t changed in years is like a strong river current running through firms, and no one has the time or endurance to swim upstream. Rather, your team learns to adapt to the low functioning environment instead of taking the time to correct problems, modify processes, implement change, and propel the firm forward.
I think most of us who are partners and firm owners care primarily about 3 things in our professional lives: our business’ success and prosperity, our health, and our work/life balance. If we aren’t able to keep up with the rapid evolution of this profession and leverage technology to grow our business, retain our precious top talent, and serve our clients better than our competition- we will have none of these things.
The “make it happen” person in your firm
The Director of Implementation (DI) is your wingman. They not only share your values, your vision for the future of the firm, and your ideas, they cultivate them. Moreover, they are not afraid to dig for the “why” behind your decisions to ensure they are consistent with your vision. Most importantly, they Get. Things. Done. They are active listeners and problem solvers, removing obstacles for you, your staff, and your clients. In some ways similar to an operations manager, a DI is proactive in planning and executing for the future of the firm, holding everyone accountable for moving forward.
The core to the DI’s role is finding solutions to problems, creating processes and protocols that improve efficiencies and profits, and implementing ideas that you and your team come up with but would otherwise not have the bandwidth to execute. Further, the DI has his/her finger on the pulse of the customer, ensuring the client experience is always improving. With the right DI in place, standardization of processes becomes easier, and the packaging and productizing of solutions becomes clearer. Here are just a few ways our DI has made (and continues to make) a dramatic impact on the firm’s efficiency and growth:
- Productizing the services that we wanted to grow;
- Standardizing and improving the entire workflow during tax season and holding everyone accountable for following the process;
- Evaluating and improving our clients’ experience. Our clients just don’t leave us. We communicate with them when and how they want to be communicated with – efficiently. We have prioritized the time in our process to really evaluate and read between the lines in their financial position. Offering such proactive recommendations and guidance has not only maximized their financial positions, it’s maximized their client experience; and
- Removing obstacles whenever they come up. Our DI has become our ‘go to’ person for problems and concerns.
What type of person makes a great Director of Implementation?
Not everyone is a great fit for this position. If you have the ability to develop or promote someone already in your firm, do it. Otherwise, either outsource this role to a consulting firm with this expertise, or hire someone as an entry to mid-level administrator who has the creativity, enthusiasm, and drive to develop into this role. The ideal DI is not only a ferocious problem solver, but he or she is empathetic, creative, committed, goal- and detail-oriented, and passionate about your firm’s vision. Optimally, this person would embody the personality of “the Advocate” when using the Briggs-Myers personality test.
At the end of the day, ask yourself…
Have you been able to identify the most profitable services in your firm in order to develop and sell them more? Have you cracked the code on attracting top talent? Do you have a low attrition rate with your clients? And moreover, are you confident that the clients you want to keep feel valued? If you answered “No” to any of these questions, then what’s stopping you from finding your Director of Implementation?
To Your Success,
Pat
