Getting things done
Communication skills and problem solving are arguably as important as our technical skills but we spend little time developing these.
What techniques do you use and what would you recommend to others? How important are soft skills for ensuring you have a successful day?
What a brilliant question and answer! 1 thanks
I second everything Jason said, and would recommend to anyone that they read Eat That Frog by brian Tracy, it's like seven habits by Stephen covey but much easier to read and implement.
The truth is, if you ate highly effective in everything you do then you will earn more money and lead a happier life, because you'll accomplish the things that matter most to you.
Nobody is ever taught these soft skills, and I personally think it should be part of the curriculum because this country would be a much better place of all business owners worked in the right way.
My own experience has been that, whilst I am confident that technically I am very good, I became a director of a firm of chartered accountants just before I was 28 and had not developed these skills, and am still learning to this day. I am not even half as efficient as I would like to be which means I work harder than I need to to achieve what I want - it drives me mad!
Another skill I think is essential, and again never really taught even during your professional exams, is managing people effectively. I make mistakes in this area and that also frustrates me because I want to be better
What I would add to jason's comments is:
• get rid of time vampires. That means , if you are working, don't allow people to interrupt you unless it's urgent. This could be staff, clients or anyone else. Switching off email helps but I would also say have a do not disturb policy - if the door is closed you are only available for emergencies and everyone should know what constitutes an emergency
• only work on your most valuable and important tasks. You need to have a plan for the business and your life to know what these are, but once you do you should do these before anything else
• set timescales for each task. Make sure you allocate time for working on important areas, and when you reach the end of this allocated time spend a few minutes deciding if you should continue or move to the next thing on your list. Which brings me to a final point!
• always have a list of things to achieve, and work on these to the exclusion of all other things. If something arises that is not on the list, add it to the list at the point that is most suitable.
Communication is a great thing - if you can communicate effectively and clearly then yoj save time and effort explaining what you mean and avoid upsetting and confusing people. My golden rule for this is to use the least amount of information needed to explain a topic and use the language you would use if you were talking to the person face to face.
Hope this helps - writing the post has certainly helped me!
Productivity
Some really good additional points from dbowleracca and Lancsboy2, agree with them all.
Tosie - It's easy to dwell on things when they go wrong, especially if you are conscientious and pride yourself on good service, which most accountants rightly do. The thing is that dwelling on it and beating yourself up is a waste of energy - we all make mistakes the key is to learn from them.
Next time you find yourself in that postion try analysing what went wrong, why it went wrong, and how you can put plans in place to make sure that it won't and can't happen again. Be honest with the client and explain what happened, the implication and what you are doing about it - you can then turn the negative into a positive. This will always have a better effect than going over and over what went wrong and going in circles. Of course sometimes this is easier said than done but no one ever said that running an accountancy business is easy!
One other thing to bear in mind re productivity is annuall culling your client list to get rid of that small minority who will always cause you problems no matter how much you charge them. Even better weed them out at the consultation stage. I am not a fan of the 'price it high' answer as these type of clients can sap a lot of energy as well as time.
Jason
Seahorse (UK) Ltd - For Accountants and Bookkeepers
A dying art
I'm afraid that increasingly people are losing their ability to communicate directly in favour of emails, texts, memos etc. It's a regular grumble of mine that this section of AWeb is full of people with uncertainties that could be cleared up by just picking up the phone and having a two-way conversation. I think this is a society-wide problem.
People are wary of the unpredictability of a phone conversation, so they insulate the process by putting technology in the way. They'd rather an exchange of 10 texts or 5 emails than a 5 minute conversation. Talking to people also gives you the capacity to uncover unmentioned things or nuances in people's feelings that you just can't convey in writing.
As purveyors of fairly low-rent, compliance-driven trash, the technical requirements of what we do are fairly limited, although our clients are bears of little brain so they respect what we do (more than we do anyway). But what they respect most is an ability to communicate stuff and concepts in a way that seems beyond large tranches of the profession. Where you get an ability to communicate from is just practice. Do more of it and you'll get better at it and all the lectures in the world are no substitute.
As EM Forster says - Only Connect.
Guilty as charged
Marion I fit the description you outline. I find it so much easier to explain things in writing rather than a call. In addition, I also have a record of what was communicated. I am also finding a large number of clients prefer written communication, since they are busy too.
It is only the elderly clients in the main who prefer a call.
Though there are times when a call would be better than am email. I still email. I should not do this.
Getting things done 1 thanks
Very important topic.
There is a balancing act between being available for client (and staff) needs and to not be constantly interupted.
To get things done:
- Work from home at least once a fortnight, focus on the 'important but not urgent' stuff which helps you develop you and your business
- Turn off outlook and only check your emails twice a day
- Get your calls monitored and filtered
- Delegate as much as you possibly can to lowest cost resource without quality compromise
- Plan your working week in advance
- Do a checklist each day of what you want to achieve - it will help you focus
- Don't allow things to become urgent do them well in advance
- Scope out to clients when you need their records and incentivise them not to be late
- Get someone to call clients on meeting days to ensure that they will attend and on time
- Have agendas and set times for meetings so that they do not go on longer than they should so
- Comminicate to clients if their actions are causing issues and train them to change their ways
As you say, communication skills and problem solving skills are equally as important as technical when running a business, any business, but far too many business owners don't try and hone these skills, focusing purely on technical skills.
I had a client this week tell me that all of his clients where exceptionally happy the service, trouble was he wasn't happy himself, is working 80 hour weeks, and not making the profit that he should be. There's no point having happy customers if the business owner isn't happy - anyone can make clients happy at their own expense, the trick is making the engagments mutually rewarding. This is where problem solving, communication and people management skills make the difference.
Jason
Seahorse (UK) Ltd - For Accountants and Bookkeepers