Your Professional Headspace_Chapter 5

Copyright © 2011 Scott Charlton All rights reserved

Published by Vivid Publishing P.O. Box 948, Fremantle Western Australia 6959 www.vividpublishing.com.au

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data: Author: Charlton, Scott MacGregor. Title: Your professional headspace : achieving career success and

ISBN: 9781921787553 (pbk.) Subjects: Career development. Success in business. Dewey Number: 650.14

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a published review.

The information presented herein represents the views of the author as of the date of publication. This book is presented for informational purposes only. Due to the rate at which conditions change, the author reserves the right to alter and update his opinions at any time. While every attempt has been made to verify the information in this book, the author does not assume any responsibility for errors, inaccuracies, or omissions.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

During a varied career exceeding thirty years, Scot Charlton has worked at two of the biggest international professional f rms, commenced the world’s smallest accounting practice, and has been one of three principals in an aspiring CBD partnership. Scot has also changed occupation several times, had a career break, and faced the challenge of being “between jobs.” During this time Scot has worked from home and in CBD ofces with stunning views. He has also toiled in soul-less broom cupboards, owned commercial premises, and been a “road warrior.”

A chartered accountant by background, Scot ran his own practice for many years in a leafy Brisbane suburb before merging with two other practitioners to create a f rm in the CBD. T roughout this period Scot specialised in advising a range of professionals in practice including health professionals, lawyers, and consultants. Te systems Scot developed to run his practice were later sold to Business Fitness and are now used by hundreds of accounting f rms across Australia and New Zealand. A manual he wrote to train his team in using business analysis sof ware was subsequently marketed internationally.

Since leaving his accounting f rm, Scot has focused on business coaching. In this capacity he has been state manager for two f nancial services companies, and coaching program manager at an organisation dedicated to leading the accounting profession.

Scot’s particular interest in coaching stems from his personal mission to help others achieve their potential. In the past ten years Scot has worked with the owners and team members in over three hundred accounting and

f nancial planning f rms. T is work has taken him all over Australia and to New Zealand.

Scot is currently Head of Strategic Development at Fortnum Financial Advisers, a f nancial planning group dedicated to client f rst solutions. As part of this role, Scot is ofen called upon to facilitate working relationships between accountants and f nancial planning f rms, an area where he has particular expertise.

Outside of work, Scot has at ained several quali fcations through parttime study. He also maintains a range of interests including photography, cycling, and travel. Scot lives in Brisbane with Jill, Emma and Harry the Labrador.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Tere are many people whom I would like to thank for their assistance to me in writing this book.

Let me start with Gail Rehbein for suggesting this task in the f rst place. Her input came at a time when I was looking for a project to take on. Perhaps it was fortunate that Gail let me f nd out for myself how much time would be involved!

T anks are due to Greg Lyons, a long-standing colleague who willingly shared some of his philosophies at a time when my ideas were forming. I’d like to acknowledge Gary Tupicof who made a point of asking about progress whenever we caught up. Scot Walters bravely shared his experience of being out of work I am sure he has a book in him on the subject. T anks are due to networking guru Jaeneen Cunningham of Integr8 for her cheery optimism and valuable knowledge about building social capital. Business coach Julienne Barton shared her insights on f nding personal direction and Paul Burgess of LinkUp International generously provided the beneft of his experience in working with professional people. Nic Clark gave valuable know-how on partnership chemistry and I am grateful to Margaret Jolly for her compelling input with respect to the family unit. I also appreciate the very constructive contribution that Brad Corby of Divorce Solutions provided for Chapter 16.

Credit for the heading in Chapter One is due to John Noonan and Mal Jensen of Paceseter Financial Services for the heading “Are You Having Fun Yet?” Invariably, our business coaching sessions would start of with this challenging question.

I very much appreciated the cool, competent professionalism of my editor Tomas Hauck. I really benefted from his guidance and perspective. Trevor Clark provided constructive comments as he stoically read through the unedited manuscript. Margaret Gimpel, Bret Cribb, Terry Dewing, and Sharon McCla ferty reviewed various chapters and bravely provided feedback. Jill Charlton and Sonja Bancrof each kindly applied their learned eyes to reading the all-but-f nal document.

Most importantly, a special mention for Jill, whose forbearance and support on the home front gave me the latitude to commit to this undertaking. For the patience Jill has shown throughout many projects over the years, my complete and total thanks.

Scot Charlton

5Having a Great Day at the Office

Te most value that gets added to a professional services f rm is when the owner is “In the Zone.” What a shame so lit le time is invested there.

A standard component of my business coaching is to ask professionals in practice, “What for you is a great day at the ofce?” For many, the f rst response is a semi-joking, half-exhausted, “When I’m not there!” However, by persevering with my enquiry, a more considered answer is forthcoming.

Te results have proved overwhelming. For the vast majority of professionals in practice their most enjoyable periods at work are: “Doing their thing” in face-to-face client meetings. Enormous professional satisfaction is achieved by bringing clarity to client problems, coming up with solutions, and the enhanced client relationships that result.

Engaging in that f rst interaction with a new client. It’s here where many professionals are performing at their best, with the added excitement of bringing in additional revenue for the f rm. Interestingly, this enjoyment is ofen unrelated to making a sale. In fact, most professionals are more comfortable when clients have already acknowledged the problem and recognise they need help.

Completing a major assignment or reaching a project milestone.

Professionals know that until such time as a project can be successfully concluded and the solution is provided, there are unmet client expectations and unbilled services.

Mentoring younger team members. Few activities are more satisfying than guiding a young person who is just starting out in his or her career. Collaborating/facilitating. Typically this involves coordinating with other professionals to bring an overall solution together for a client. It also can include set ing up and maintaining referral relationships. Learning something that can be applied in other situations.

Most professionals agree that these are also the areas where they are adding the most value. Tey further agree that if the majority of their time were involved in these activities, they would be far happier and make more money.

George

At a relatively early stage of his working life, George made a conscious decision to follow his interest in investments. Working his way part time through a business degree gave him the confidence to pursue financial planning as a career.

Success in his chosen field did not come easily but George persevered, steadily adding to his technical knowledge. Over time a solid client list was also accumulated. However, George became restless and he started to look further afield. It took a failed merger with a more diversified and aggressive advisory firm for George to realise how much he enjoyed looking after his clients and that he was best suited to financial planning.

Extracting himself from the larger business proved to be stressful and expensive. But for George the clarity of purpose that came with the restructure ultimately proved to be his greatest professional asset. Through fresh eyes, George became very focused on the clients he liked to work with and the services he provided to them. With astute analysis

he developed fee packages tailored to the needs of each client category, and this model proved self-sustaining financially and professionally.

George’s passion for his chosen field continues to burn brightly and his clients love the genuine interest he shows in their progress.

Why So Little Time Is Spent in the Optimal Professional Zone

Because time invested with clients and prospects on high-level issues is usually the “Optimal Professional Zone,” it raises some interesting questions. If this is where professionals are best suited, what are the obstacles that get in the way? In particular, what can you do to have more great days at the ofce?

Obstacles and distractions

Let’s look f rst at obstacles that prevent you from having a great day at the ofce.

On a following page is a checklist of obstacles for you to consider. You will notice that many of these have the potential to accumulate. Once you have these responsibilities or distractions, it is very di fcult to shed them.

Distractions can be the worst enemy of a professional. It’s not always easy to get into the headspace required to work through a complex problem. Te concentration needed to deeply consider a client’s situation and develop potential solutions is a delicate fower, easily crushed by interruptions.

On top of this, most professionals are their own worst enemies in terms of their willingness to assist others, be accessible, and do “their fair share.” Consequently they can be seen photocopying, f ling, binding reports, chasing up debtors, and even emptying the dishwasher in the ofce kitchen.

Let’s talk management

From my survey it’s clear that very few professionals enjoy management-related activities. Tose with talent for management invariably migrate to such roles. For the majority, however, management responsibilities occur by default because they are the owner, the most senior person and/or there is no one else on the

team deemed capable. Te seriousness of this situation goes much further than simply not having an enjoyable day. By losing focus on what they do best professionals run the risk of severely compromising the success of their f rms and the potential benefts their clients could receive. Tese other responsibilities bob up at inopportune times, are the cause of stress, and otherwise consume headspace best directed elsewhere. Consider the following example of professionals becoming distracted by management activities.

Three partners

Jo, Phil and Andrea were partners in a regional accounting firm providing taxation services and related advice. The firm prospered by virtue of the partners doing a good job for clients and being well known in their town. Their comfortable existence became challenged by a combination of external factors and the partners losing focus. Tough economic conditions resulted in fee resistance and a drought reduced the special assignments they otherwise would have undertaken for their rural clients.

Internally, their failure to work towards clear overall goals meant the partners’ actions were inconsistent. Invariably they took on too many initiatives, many of which they were prone to abandoning when something more interesting came along. The result was a history of incomplete projects and staff increasingly battle-weary from the many changes which were attempted. Making their business manager obsolete and resuming all management activities exacerbated the situation. Whilst this made them feel “back in control,” it resulted in the partners becoming engrossed in an ever-growing list of non-client priorities.

Now very little of the partners’ attention was focused on improving the top line. No one was investing relationship time with current clients, developing new services, or calling in to see potential clients. Without holding one another accountable for creating new business opportunities, the partners found that revenue dried up and profit levels dropped considerably.

5: Having a Great Day at the Office

Fortunately the partners turned to a business coach for an external perspective. They subsequently made changes to increase their attention on clients and services.

Their experience provides a salutary lesson. When otherwise intelligent, highly trained professionals foresake the work they enjoy for roles for which they have no particular aptitude, profits fall and frustration abounds.

Here’s a checklist to consider, comprised of items pulling you away from having a great day at the ofce.

Client issues doing low-level work, f le reviews, preparing engagement leters, invoicing, following up queries and chasing outstanding information.

Team member issues hiring, f ring, performance counselling, training, determining remuneration, employee entitlements, capacity planning, sta f amenities.

Management issues premises, IT hassles, equipment breakdowns, work fow management, day-to-day issues, kitchen roster. Finance issues debt collection, creditor payments, credit card facilities, keeping the bank manager happy.

Marketing and sales writing marketing leters , developing advertisements, organising seminars, creating PowerPoint slideshows, being treasurer for non-proft organisations.

Organisational de fciency wearing too many hats because there’s no one else who is available to do the task.

Towards Better Work Habits

Now let’s consider work habits. Tere are three important categories: diary management, set ing priorities and personal organisation. Very few professionals have had any training in these categories and invariably they lack the awareness and discipline required to achieve optimum results.

1. Lack of diary management

It’s all too easy to be a slave to your work diary. Invariably appointments are scatered throughout the working week and sometimes beyond business hours.

Professionals as a breed are keen to be accommodating witness the early morning meetings, working lunches and client meetings into the evening. And it doesn’t stop with clients; suppliers, sales people and team members all variously receive slots in the diary. Tese appointments ofen feature a high degree of perceived urgency, with the result that professionals utilise their energies keeping up with a torrent of interaction. Unfortunately, this compromises less deadline-oriented issues, including:

Time out for holidays causing staleness, burnout, insu fcient time with family.

Professional development skills are neglected, new trends missed, boredom sets in.

A tending signi fcant family events sense of personal con f ict and sacri fce.

Developing goals and strategy the business can only react to external forces, rather than chart its own course. Business development initiatives business growth is compromised. Improving processes rushed deadlines and repeating previous mistakes.

Writing articles intellectual capital under-developed, nothing to promote the f rm as a thought leader.

2. Failure to set priorities

Without a clear sense of what’s important, professionals react to what is immediately in front of them. Consider a typical day at the ofce that starts with contemplating various f les and documents lef on the desk from the previous day. Tese get pushed to one side whilst the overnight emails are atended to until the f rst client appointment. Team member queries follow and the f rst

of the day’s management hassles must be dealt with. One or two client phone calls later and it’s lunchtime. T is process continues until the close of business, at which time some more serious client work gets undertaken, before rushing home to see the kids before they go to bed.

A strong sense of what you should and shouldn’t do is highly benefcial: Delegate tasks best performed by others. Decline opportunities that are outside core objectives. Encourage subordinates to come up with solutions and recommendations, not just bring you problems to be f xed. In fact, the most powerful question in successful management is, “What’s your recommendation?”

3. Personal disorganisation

Lack of e fective work habits certainly contribute to a professional being distracted making appointments, responding to emails, f ling, booking travel and accommodation, interruptions, accommodating the priorities of others. But it goes further. Consider the following example.

Stan

By all accounts, Stan was super busy, at times bordering on out of control. Invariably files came to him for review on the eve of client deadlines. Often he would be reviewing the final reports on his lap when stopped at traffic lights on the journey out to see his clients. Following the meeting he would race back to the office in time for the next appointment. What Stan didn’t realise until much later in his career was that by being more particular about structuring his work and the clients he took on, life would be less frantic yet more effective.

Failure to develop team members Part of the deal for being a professional is that you develop the careers of those that work for you. It’s good for them because they learn new things, encounter fresh challenges and build their skills. It’s good for you too because you can now spend more time with clients, developing your skills and having time away from the ofce. You also retain your best people for longer and get the pleasure of seeing others ful f ll their potential. So, dispense with the notion that you are indispensible and park the ego that demands you have the spotlight. Poor self-esteem In professional cycling, to ensure that the team leader has the best chance of success, there’s a great deal of structure, with domestiques assigned to fetch water bot les and act as a wind break. Te assistance expected includes dropping back to ofer support, sacri fcing the chance of personal glory and giving up one’s bicycle mid-race to a more highly rated rider. Everyone recognises that the team’s ultimate success (prize money, exposure for sponsors, endorsements) is based upon giving the team leader the best chance of winning. Yet all too frequently in professional f rms the senior team members saddle themselves with work which should be performed by others. It’s hard to be feeling dynamic and at the top of your game if you have a big “to-do” list of things you should be asking others to perform! Interestingly, poor self-esteem is ofen refected in a failure to train team members. If your ego requires that only you should do a certain activity, then guess what? You are destined to do this task forever.

Penny pinching Let’s start with Charlton’s Law: “ Te more days that you, as a senior member of the f rm, invest with clients, the more revenue the f rm will earn.”

As a business coach, when I hear, “We’re a small business. How am I going to a ford all of the sta f you seem to be recommending?”

Chapter 5: Having a Great Day at the Office

I feel like responding, “How can you a ford not to?”

However, knowing that a f ippant response will likely get me thrown out of the ofce, I suggest a “step at a time” approach instead.

You may not be able to a ford a business manager to take your administrative duties away, but you can a ford a marketing assistant on an hourly rate to write that newsleter you haven’t got around to yet.

Perhaps it’s a luxury to have a full-time in-house accountant, but engaging an external bookkeeper may mean you no longer have to do the f rm’s accounts a fer hours.

Simply put, your razor’s edge can’t be maintained if it’s continually being blunted by work beter delegated to others.

Having More Great Days at the O fce

Tere is absolutely no reason why you should continue to toil away in areas for which you are not enjoying and adding lit le value. It’s time to take charge!

Chapter 6 includes powerful suggestions to take command of your diary. Ultimately, you must take responsibility for what goes in there, and more importantly what should be excluded. T at chapter also suggests ways to improve your personal e fectiveness delegating less-favoured tasks will leave more time for those you prefer. Chapter 8 discusses the importance of involving others who are beter suited to tasks you should let go.

For now, let’s explore the activities that you should be almost exclusively involved in.

Potentially, the activities listed at the start of the chapter will be su fcient. From this it may be readily apparent where you should be spending your time. Here’s a simple self-test “How best to structure my working week to have great days at the ofce all the time?”

Alternatively, it may not yet be clear. If you are unsure about what it is that you like doing, approach it from the other direction, progressively peeling back the layers to reach a more satisfying centre.

Start by identifying those tasks which aren’t core activities. What should be delegated, reassigned or otherwise divested? Typically these will be nonclient related. Examples for many professionals in practice include invoicing, following up overdue accounts and salary reviews for team members.

On top of this are assignments that hold no challenge, technical maters that hold lit le professional interest and management responsibilities. Administrative tasks can and should be delegated to team members who are more suited. Professional business managers can be engaged to take on most of the tasks that owners end up doing by default. Work habits and routines can be changed to provide you with quality, uninterrupted time. Clients you dislike can be sacked or referred to others. So too, work you don’t enjoy can be delegated, declined or outsourced.

No mater whether you f nd this analysis straightforward or challenging, your imperative is to maximise time in your Optimal Professional Zone. Put ing this simply you are going to be happier, add more value and make more money the longer you are there.

Jo

Jo was an accountant blessed with an incredible ability to inspire confidence in business people and win additional work. Yet Jo’s firm was stagnating. Encouraged by a business coach to analyse her work habits, Jo realised insufficient time was spent with clients. A positive step to free-up time was to arrange for members of her team to undertake peer review of files. Jo still undertook the final high-level reviews but otherwise had more time to devote to clients—work she far preferred to do.

In certain situations, delegation may not be immediately possible. For example, budgetary constraints may restrict resources. However, keep in mind that more revenue will be generated for the f rm by focusing on areas where you excel. It therefore will cost-justify the additional resources to make this happen.

Martine

After many years of leading her financial planning firm, Martine underwent a personal and professional crisis, bordering upon depression. Work was no longer enjoyable and she had become progressively more frustrated at not being able to achieve her high standards. Martine’s health deteriorated, her performance fell away and the firm marked time because she was no longer capable of driving it.

Martine appointed a locum and took two months off work, taking the opportunity to unwind and regroup. As a result, Martine got very clear on what she wanted to do and became reinvigorated about her vision for the business. Upon returning, Martine reassigned and delegated everything getting in the way of her core objectives. Martine is now vigorously pursuing a sophisticated growth strategy for her firm and is personally only involved with clients she chooses to work with. Martine exudes confidence resulting from a much greater sense of control.

T is process may bring on the realisation that it’s not the meddlesome extras that drag you down you may realise that you are unful f lled by the core activities expected of you. In my own case, I realised that being a tax accountant was no longer enjoyable. Whilst it was the primary reason for which clients engaged my services, it gave me no pleasure. Keeping up to date with the myriad changes was a chore. A tending tax conferences, reading legislation, leading sta f training and amending checklists in this area were all activities that I accepted needed to be done but no longer relished. Above all, I struggled with helping clients to reduce their proft for the sole reason paying less tax. Reduce proft? Pay less tax? Heck! I wanted my clients to make massive profts and pay heaps of tax!

Ultimately, it may be appropriate to change your core activities to something which you will f nd more enjoyable. Undergoing a reinvention and/ or career change is discussed further in Chapter 14, “Bold New Directions“.

Regardless of the assessment you make upon reading this chapter, it is your responsibility to implement the changes required to become more professionally ful f lled. Making such changes may be scary at f rst but ultimately it’s essential for you to enjoy professional life. In the next chapter, we will explore ways in which you can become more positive about your career and where it is going.

Your Optimal Professional Zone Checklist

You can’t be in the Optimal Professional Zone by trying to be all things to all comers. Focus on work you enjoy and are good at. Don’t try to be something you’re not. For example, if keeping up to date with the latest tax changes is crushingly onerous or incredibly tedious then don’t masquerade as a taxation specialist. Get real do you have genuine management talent or would you be happier and more productive working with clients?

Let go. Jot down six tasks/professional responsibilities that you don’t enjoy. Come up with a plan to minimise your involvement with these areas and yet still get the job done. Beter yet, f nd ways to engineer these out of your life. Do this today and repeat at regular intervals. Specialise. Find a service niche that enables you to work in areas that fascinate you. Aim to be the best in the world in this niche.1 Seek out other experts in this feld. Subscribe and contribute to relevant publications focusing on this area.

Be passionate. It’s great to be really enthused about a subject. For some, this has proved to be a lifelong cause. Your passion will at ract others and sustain you.

Articulate. Tell others about your talent. Tere are lots of great ways to do this presentations, websites, blogs, articles, newsleters, e-mail, personal referral, and business networks. Look for opportunities to utilise your skills. Interestingly, the more you

1 Why not? Someone has to be the best. Why shouldn’t it be you?

5: Having a Great Day at the Office

focus on developing your professional interests, the more opportunities open up to you in these areas.

Delegate, delegate, delegate. Work with others who have complementary talents to your own. T is will enable you to focus on what you are good at.

Become more efective. Find ways to get more done in less time. Te more you can achieve whilst you are “in the zone,” the more discretionary time you will have. You’ll f nd lots of good ideas for this in the next chapter.