snh - 2025 - achieving your goals and improving staff performance

*terrell a. turner, TLTurner Group*… most actionable strategic breakout sesh operation mama bird… profesh development ## how to get started - define your why - figure out what you want - set supporting goals - do an inventory - develop a strategy - identify accountability milestones - celebration points ### define your why why start your firm? why are you here? why are you part of this team? ### figure out what you want what do you need to do to reach the things you’ve laid out in your *why*? have explicit conversations with clients about their financial goals. do your staff members know what’s actually important to your clients? team might know their own goals and deadlines, but if that’s not getting us close to what the client *actually* wants, we’ll see higher churn. ### set supporting goals build internal goals that match what your *client* wants + additional goals that support your wants. ### do an inventory review resources (staffing and tech), assess capacity, assess the skills available on your team, GAP analysis. **what are the responsibilities for each role / team member?** do they actually know how to do everything that’s required? you can even go back and review interview recordings. you can create a document showing all the skills necessary to do the bookkeeping job; here are the skills you need to be an accounting manager. during later interviews, you’ll know exactly what you’re listening for. when assessing capacity, you might choose a task and have multiple team members time themselves completing that specific task. if there’s a major discrepancy, who was most accurate? either way, truth probably somewhere in the middle. >[!note] mentioned by attendee: >notes the time goal set for clients and each team member’s variance; quarterly bonus based on that. ### your strategy - product strategy - marketing strategy - one thing he does is create two versions of content changing the keywords: - here’s what you need to do to “know your numbers”, then change outfit, and - here’s what you need to do to “read your financial statements” - A/B testing… - take what we’re doing verbally / saying all the time and create a graphic out of it - puts transparent pricing table on website; higher conversations… but in this table, charges per week - **download this graphic** - accounting strategy - accountability strategy ### accountability milestones *see more in slides* | role | growth and volume | profit margin | influence | | ---- | ----------------- | ------------------- | -------------------- | | ceo | sales | pricing and product | meetings and reviews | | | | | | ### celebrate with your team invest in your team! ## common challenges - lack of clarity → it is the *leader’s* role to make it clear what we’re doing, what the strategy is, and how they’re going to keep the team accountable to that strategy. - poor performance - confusion → can be details of how to do their job, lack of communication b/w team - lack of maturity → can be helped with *more robust onboarding* ### what helps eliminate challenges #### weekly core values **communicate the core values of your organization! - make a list of the core behaviors that we want the team to exhibit - create a simple visual - record a 3-5 minute video - post it to your youtube channel - monday morning assignment - can focus on one value every week or month - create a task for them to watch a video explaining this value for them to check off on mondays - if you have a “best employee”, consider what traits and behaviors make that person so valuable - can focus on one value per month - encourage everyone to participate - honest conversations → talk to the person you actually need to talk to. #### fixing poor performance - self-performance review… then have firm owner rate them. - gold age performance score - if you keep score, ppl will perform for the score card - everyone does their own performance review on their score card *golden age performance score card example for finance director* | Goal | Average | Good | Excellent | Your Rating | | ------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------- | ----------- | | Time management | 50% Detail Work 35% Strategic Planning 15% Staff Development | 35% Detail Work 40% Strategic 25% Staff Dev | 15% Detail Work 50% Strategic 35% Staff Dev | | | Automation Reporting | 50% of Client | 70% of clients | 80% of clients | | | Onboarding Capacity | 2 new clients a month | 4 new clients a month | 7 new clients a month | | | Initial Financial Reporting[^1] | < 45 days | < 30 days | < 20 days | | | Client Meetings | 4 direct client interactions | 10 direct client interactions | 20 direct client interactions | | | AGE Assessment | 100% Average + | 80% Good+ | 80% Excellent+ | | | Total AGE Score | 18 points | 22 points | 32 points | | #### fix ignorance **explain how to ask for help!** | what to do | example | | ------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | try to figure it out yourself | if it takes more than 30 minutes, you should moe to the next item | | search our loom videos for a resource | use key words to find videos we already have on this | | ask chatgpt or search online | ask AI or search but don’t include any confidential information[^2] | | ask a team member for help | here is what i have already tried, but i need some help with this part: ____ | #### addressing lies + deception :| more on honest conversations; teach team how to push back on clients and fellow team members in a non-confrontational way: | practice | example | | ------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | it’s okay to ask for help | here is what i have already tried, but i need some help with this part: ___ | | give honest feedback | when you do _ it has this impact, so is it possible for you to __? | | ask questions if you don’t understand | here is what i understand from what you said; can you tell me if that’s correct? | #### addressing immaturity operation mama bird → there are some things you’ve relied on me to do that you’re going to do yourself. - wing exercises - first flight (fledgling) - post-fledge coaching - gradual independence what are you depending on the senior accounts to do for you? over the next 3 months, figure out how to do it yourself. … what are seniors waiting on manager sofr? figure out how to do it yourself. what are you waiting on for ceo to do for you? your job is to figure out which one of these you can do yourself. not going to let you fall and hit the ground; but you’re going to learn how to fly on your own for some of these things. when dealing with AI, ask it, “what would anne say about XYZ?”, especially when creating content. easier if you have a backlog of public content to deal with, but could be sufficient with the website? ## industry trends - global staffing and sources - ethical use of AI - value-based services - more defined scope of work - flat, subscription, value-based pricing ### hierarchy of value for accounting ![[hierarchy of accounitng]] what are you doing on the bottom of the pyramid? how can we outsource to automations or AI? ### tech stack - web-based accounting system - practice management softare - automated billing and payments - automated reporting and dashboards - shared spreadsheet tools - virtual phone systems - instant message communication - meeting / training video storage >[!note] >set up monthly reviews with your staff members: what are your goals? create AGE targets for each staff member. have more honest conversations about their performance [^1]: this is for the first financial reports sent to a new client; prove that you can get their books done in less than 30 days *when onboarding* [^2]: actually teach them prompting and how to get answers to their questions / research on their own