"I’ve got this": The importance of ownership
How do you get every individual in a firm to care as much as those who founded it? The solution lies in ownership.
Literal ownership of a company is inherently motivating—after all, it's the owners' livelihoods and reputations at stake. And partners of a firm draw their motivation from this without much difficulty because they are highly invested in the growth of the firm.
But ownership in other forms can be equally motivating. Ownership of a project, a client relationship or a process can motivate team members to be more productive.
As your firm's leader, it's your responsibility to delegate this ownership to your staff in a way that motivates them to embody the same (or similar) vision as you.
Your accounting firm is only as good as your team. And your team is only as good as you let them be. Start by including them in simple things like what they suggest you do to improve a client's business.
But what else could you do to motivate your staff?
1. Have faith in your team
It takes a leap of faith to place control in the hands of others. But this delegation is necessary to get more work done. And your confidence in the success of this delegation hinges on your hiring process. It should be a goal to attract and hire motivated talent who are passionate about the work and clients.
You need to trust that your team:
Will put their all into it
Has sound judgement that aligns with your firm's values
Delegating well increases your firm's productivity while also fostering your team's growth.
2. Clearly state who owns what
Everything should be assigned to someone. When there is no clear owner of work it creates an opportunity for things to fall through the cracks. Confusion about who is accountable can lead to overlap, inaction or disagreement, which is harmful to building a productive, collaborative environment.
The simplest way to make sure everyone is on the same page is to make ownership clearly visible. Open communication about ownership within your firm provides everyone certainty about their roles.
If everyone can, at a glance, determine who to talk with about a client or piece of work, it’s easier to cover all bases in fewer strides, and avoid costly wasted time wading through emails or attending meetings just to stay in the loop.
Accounting teams are interdependent so a team with visibility into each member’s responsibilities will benefit from a macro view and be able to collaborate more smoothly.
3. Discover what motivates you (and every member of your team)
Money isn't always the sole motivator. For most, it takes more than a pay check.
That's where intrinsic motivators like ownership and job satisfaction come in to play.
Sure, you might get out of bed in the morning for financial reasons, but your performance is also driven by satisfaction. Both personal recognition and the team's success are powerful motivators.
In accounting firms with entrepreneurial mindsets, people tend to be given a lot more freedom in their roles. The concept of the ‘entrepreneurial gap’ is where you give people more accountability than they have direct resources to accomplish.
The entrepreneurial gap is commonly coupled with an incentive system—perhaps a cash bonus, or simply the emotional incentive of social currency. It creates conditions where employees are challenged to find a way to meet their goals outside of what may be within their ‘span of control’.
Helped by greater visibility within the firm, it encourages a healthy, collaborative and supportive environment where individuals and teams can thrive.
For the entrepreneurial gap to work well, the goals of the team need to be aligned. The problem in many accounting firms today is that team goals, like billable hours, do not align with the client’s perception of value.
Accountants could challenge themselves to go above and beyond by managing feedback from clients with the aim of achieving total client satisfaction. They could also be inspired by opportunities to grow in their roles through continued education.
A strong vision for what the firm wants to achieve is critical to motivate people to ‘own’ their roles, as well as work with others across the firm to achieve results.
4. Align your goals
You may have heard the story of the NASA janitor who, when asked what he was doing by President Kennedy during a visit to the space center in 1962, replied “I’m helping put a man on the moon.”
An employee can take ownership of an individual role in a way that aligns with the bigger picture. NASA’s culture positioned all employees as holding an integral role in what they wanted to achieve. The collective ownership of this lofty goal spurred the creativity and innovation that made the Apollo space program a success.
The message is clear: having collective ownership will motivate and inspire teams to work together to achieve greater success for your firm. When you’re aligned, you’ll have more confidence in your colleagues and staff, creating a more positive work environment where teams are inclined to work together to keep deadlines and keep clients happy.
Welcome greatness
You can achieve big things with shared goals and an open collaborative culture.
They key to making this scenario a reality is visibility of ownership.
With a clear view of task owners across projects, each individual feels more accountable for their work, and sees how and when the pieces fit together. This way accountants can organize themselves to be more valuable, feel more energized and make better progress as a team.