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Empowerment: The Secret to Exponential Growth

“The chief danger in life is that you may take too many precautions.”

~ ALFRED ADLER

Empowerment is a word that has gotten a lot of buzz in recent years. It seems like this word is similar to other buzzwords that are easy to pronounce and hard to implement, often bringing more buzz than change. Ideally, empowering staff members releases the energy, experience, and education of people, so they are more engaged. We want to create an environment where people can do their best and are committed—one where they act more like entrepreneurs. Leaders who empower others share their power in order to accomplish more than anyone could do alone.

Unfortunately, you can’t just tell people they have power. Overuse of the word empowerment leads to skepticism and confusion. When people hear that they are about to get the right to make significant decisions, they may doubt it. Given the number of times that employees are promised something that never comes through, who can blame them? Consequently, staff members wait for empowerment to be bestowed, and the novice leader wonders why people won’t take initiative.

In this chapter, we are going to discuss empowering people and their teams. We will delve into how to benefit from the positives of both micromanaging and abandoning your team members, without getting the negatives. We will discuss various forms of leadership and how each can be effective with giving power to individuals and their teams. This chapter is all about releasing the power from within your staff members to enable your firm to experience exponential growth.

What Is Empowerment Really?

We need to revise the way we view empowerment. It’s not something that a leader does for a follower. Instead, empowerment is the process of a leader and protégé working together to assess the risk of the situation and the experience of the person to successfully handle the role. Empowering an individual should allow him to stretch in his comfort zone but not blow up the firm. Partners and leaders must create a work environment that fosters the ability and desire of staff members to act in empowered ways. They must also remove obstacles that limit the ability of staff to act.

Empowering leaders neither micromanage nor abandon their direct reports. Micromanaging fits some accountants’ personal style: it’s quick; predictable; and, most of all, safe. Accounting is an exacting profession, and micromanaging is intended to assure high levels of excellence. However, micromanaging can be demeaning to team members or result in poor decisions, lack of commitment, indecisiveness, and uncertainty. And of course, it fails to grow and develop the people reporting to you. Some partners find it safe to surround themselves with doers and order-takers.

On the other hand, some leaders abandon their people because they don’t take the time to properly supervise them; the leader isn’t sure about what to do, or he or she wrongly believes that the person can handle the job without guidance. Abandonment can allow total freedom and even some creativity, but it more often leads to no accountability and anarchy. Some novice leaders bounce from micromanaging to abandonment. I’ve seen many firms that had a former managing partner who was a micromanager swing to the other side of the spectrum to a no-control situation in which partners and others did their own thing without any accountability.

Terry Harris, managing partner of McKonly & Asbury LLP in Harrisburg, PA, works hard to find the middle road between micromanagement and anarchy.

I am not a micromanager of the other partners in our firm. Partners are allowed autonomy and freedom to lead their practice areas with my full support. One of the biggest challenges that most partners have is being accountable for individual goals. In our firm, each partner has goals that are developed together with a member of our executive committee, and partners are measured and compensated based on attaining those goals. Key leaders are given a fair amount of leeway in utilization of firm resources.

Terry’s firm directly benefited from his empowering the firm’s leaders.

In the late ’90s, it was a goal of mine to develop the strongest tax practice in the region. In 2004, we hired a senior manager named Kurt Trimarchi from a national firm. His background was in the tax practice of national firms and included a stint in a local accounting practice. While Kurt was clearly on the partner track in the national firm, he saw the opportunity to build something special at McKonly & Asbury. We shared a vision for building a tax practice that rivaled the local offices of the national accounting firms. He attracted others to our tax practice who complimented his leadership and had strong tax expertise. He took steps to change how the practice functioned within M&A. Today, we have a strong tax practice that rivals the national firms in our region.

Keys to Effective Empowerment

One of the keys to empowering staff members is in knowing what kind of structure to impose and how much. Certain events are somewhat predictable, such as people and teams waste billable time, team members jockey for position and fail to perform, and partners begin to worry whether firm goals are being met. In many firms, groups of staff members are “anointed” as teams, told they are “empowered,” and expected to act accordingly. This approach can result in a flurry of interest and excitement about teaming, and some groups may even achieve a measure of success. However, at some point in the life cycle of most teams, unresolved internal issues threaten a team’s ability to meet its business objectives.

Empowering people the right way allows a leader to gain all the pluses of both control and abandonment, without the negatives. Empowering requires the leader to weigh two important aspects of his people: confidence in the person’s experience, character, and motivation versus the visibility and financial risk of the situation.

Mike Cain, founder and comanaging partner of the top-50 firm Lattimore Black Morgan & Cain, PC (LBMC), in Nashville, TN, explains, “When you deal with empowerment, you choose the amount of authority and accountability based on your experience with that person. If the risk to the firm in the event of failure is major, then you want to be much more careful about the level of authority that you give that person.”

A performance (balanced) scorecard (reviewed in detail in chapter 8, “Accountability: Trust but Verify”) is a great tool to use for empowering people. In the balanced scorecard process, you discuss a person’s goal or desired results, the authority that he or she may have in the pursuit, resources that may be allocated, and how and when accountability will be measured. Knowing what everyone is accountable for creates the standards and measurements for determining progress. Accountability should be measured in terms of quality, quantity, and time.

Existing Leadership Philosophies

The primary leadership philosophies in existence today run the gamut from very directed and controlled to autonomous. Table 10-1 outlines the most predominant leadership philosophies and their common characteristics.

Table 10-1: Leadership Philosophies

Leadership Philosophy	Characteristics
Dictatorial	All decisions are made by the leader. Buy-in is not sought or received well. Work activities are tightly structured and controlled. Interaction of lower-level staff is minimal across functions. People keep their heads down and do their work.
Abandonment	Decisions are made by individuals, often in silos. Partners use their own staff members and processes. Work may be structured and controlled, depending on the individual style of the partner. Lower-level staff may interact across functions if no control issues exist.
Democratic	Decisions are reached by majority vote. Buy-in is considered desirable but not essential—just vote. Responsibility for structuring and controlling work may be assigned to individuals or committees. Individuals interact across functions, as directed.
Empowered	Decisions are reached with input from those affected. Buy-in is considered important. Work activities may be structured and controlled, depending on the experience of the team member and the risk of the assignment. Individuals interact across functions at their own discretion, usually at their own level.
Consensus	Decisions are made by consensus. Buy-in is considered essential, and the vision is tailored to accommodate as many workers’ needs and wants as possible. Work is structured and accomplished by cooperative teams. Individuals are encouraged to interact across functions at whatever level is most appropriate.

Mistakes: Both Risky and Rewarding

One of the biggest fears of leaders in accounting firms is that their people will make serious mistakes. A good leader is not afraid of mistakes, so long as those mistakes are made by people attempting to accomplish something. A great leader teaches people to be quick, make decisions, and take action. It is important to distinguish between mistakes of commission and those of omission. Failure to act is one of the biggest plagues in the accounting profession.

As a leader, you must be confident enough to hire people who aren’t afraid to speak up. If you are willing to listen, it means little if nobody is willing to talk in a substantive manner.

I saw an interview with one of the Boston Celtics a few years ago. He was telling about the final seconds of a close game when Larry Bird came into the huddle and said, “Give me the ball, and get everybody out of my way.”

The coach yelled, “I’m the coach here, and I will call the plays.” Then, he said to all the players, “Give the ball to Bird, and get out of his way.”

When you begin developing protégés who are empowered, something magical begins to happen: these empowered team members infect their teams. As people gain the freedom and confidence that the empowerment gives them, they subconsciously transmit that freedom and confidence to others. So, as your individual protégés work in teams, your empowering leadership can have an exponential impact throughout work teams, sales teams, practice groups, and the entire firm. The process works from the inside out; in other words, individuals who are empowered model this behavior for others, and you can create an entire culture of empowerment throughout your firm.

Empowering Members of a Team

Although empowerment can work for everyone on an individual level, there are special considerations for team empowerment.

You may need to help develop self-assurance. The first aspect of sharing power is giving team members the ability to act. That means a number of things, including providing the knowledge and resources they will need as well as creating the proper atmosphere. Your team members have to believe that they can make decisions and that they have the backing to do so.

Everyone on a team can be empowered; however, if staff members are not accustomed to exercising authority, you may need to coach them, so they will accept this new level of authority. In some cases, you might find that people resist because they have either lost the belief in their ability to be effective or never developed it in the first place (or they don’t want to take responsibility). This will make your leadership role more difficult.

When staff members lack the self-assurance to take on power, something is wrong. Watch some children; even at play, they are daring and willing to create worlds and imagine themselves with tremendous abilities. Coaching team members who lack confidence will be a tedious process of giving them small amounts of responsibility at a time. Later, as they gain experience, you can increase the scope of what you expect them to do.

Even if staff members have self-assurance, the leader will also need poise and confidence. It may not come naturally, and you’ll need to create your own process to increase your acceptance of the strategy. You’ll need to convince everyone that you mean it when you use the word empowerment. Persuading yourself is like persuading team members of their own worthiness. You hand off some power, see positive results, and then try more. When it comes to winning over others, you must show that you mean it when you talk about empowering people on your team.

Principles of Empowerment

Following are the six most important principles for empowering people in a way that results in the work being delegated to the right level in your firm. These principles will help you allocate the right amount of authority and control based on the risk of the project and experience of the worker:

Develop a Rational Shared Vision

Paint as clear a picture of your vision as possible for the outcome of the initiative or project. Let team members know that they are part of something bigger than themselves. Make sure that they know, and have access to, the firm’s overall mission, vision, and values and how they can contribute. Share the most important goals and direction for your group. When possible, either make progress on goals measurable and observable, or ascertain that you have shared your picture of a positive outcome with the people responsible for accomplishing the results.

Jim DeMartini, managing partner of the top-100 firmSeiler LLP in Redwood City, CA, says, “What I’ve learned with accountants is they’re not used to being empowered, and they’re not used to being held accountable. The trick is to get them to think beyond that and to feel really responsible and accountable for the success of what they’re doing.”

Provide Training and Information for Good Decisions

Make certain that team members have all the training and information that they need to make well-thought-out decisions. Delegate the important meetings, committee memberships that influence business development and decision making, and projects that people and clients notice. The team member will grow and develop new skills.

Raise the Level of Conflict

Many people avoid conflict. As a result, important issues do not get raised and discussed. It’s your job to encourage people to argue about approaches. You are doing your protégés and other team members a serious disservice by not confronting those habits of “going along to get along” that don’t bring everyone’s best to the project. (In the worst case, not contributing is a passive-aggressive strategy to sabotage results.)

As leader, you are responsible for providing constant information, so that people know how they are doing. You can be the role model to raise the level of conflict. Sometimes, the purpose of feedback is recognition; other times, it is corrective in nature. Your team members deserve your constructive feedback, so they can develop their knowledge and skills. When a problem occurs, ask what is wrong with the procedures and systems that caused failure, not what is wrong with staff members.

Scott Dietzen, managing partner, Northwest Region, of the national accounting firm CliftonLarsonAllen LLP in Spokane, WA, says

I’ve gone from more hands-on, very active, lots of touches with people to trying to be much more strategic and to prioritize where my time is spent, so I can spend it with people who bring the most impact. When I’m dealing with difficult challenges or hygiene issues (cleaning up other people’s messes), maybe with owners, I set very clear expectations and a clear time frame to deal with those quickly. Whereas before, I was just so uncomfortable dealing with those difficult situations that they would extend for long periods of time. And the consequence of that was confusion in the people around them: “Why is that behavior being tolerated?”

Allocate Proper Resources

The allocation of resources must be clear in terms of money, people, and time. The budget allocation should be very clear regarding the amount to be invested, when the funds will be available, and who controls the money. It should be clear who will be assigned to the team, both inside and outside the firm, and what their experience and training needs to be in order to succeed. The time line for allocations of resources should specify when dollars and people flow to the project, department, or team.

Reward Staff Members for Empowered Behavior

When protégés feel undercompensated, undertitled, undernoticed, underpraised, and underappreciated for the responsibilities they take on, don’t expect results from empowerment. The basic needs of staff members must be met for them to give you their discretionary energy, that extra effort that people voluntarily invest in work. You should even give rewards for mistakes. When someone makes a mistake while attempting to accomplish something, that should be applauded. I will tell my team and clients, “Those who make no mistakes aren’t doing much.” However, mistakes that occur from vacillation, hesitancy, or fear are not acceptable.

Trust People

Trust the intentions of people to do the right things; make the right decisions; and make choices that, although may not be exactly what you would decide, still work.

Gary Shamis, founder and CEO of the top-100 multioffice firm SS&G Financial Services, Inc., in Cleveland, OH, says

To really grow our business, I have learned to delegate and empower other people. That has been the entire secret of our growth. There have been some losses, but I’ve had to tolerate those in order to grow. For example, I developed a great client and helped them grow. When I had to delegate their work to someone else, the person I delegated it to didn’t respond well and didn’t take great care of their needs. The long and the short of it was they ended up finding another accountant because they thought that we were too expensive and not responding to their needs. This experience was gut-wrenching for me, but I had a huge choice to make. Was I going to step back into the client server role and save this client, or was I going to allow one of my partners to learn a tough lesson from this loss?

We were a $12 million firm at the time, and now, we’re a $60 million firm. I realized that when I focus on leading our firm, I’m going to take the risk of losing some things. But I’m transferring over client responsibility to allow me to leverage my skills. Things like that are going to happen, and I just have to get over it. It was a really good learning experience for me.

Anyone here will tell you that I’m absolutely famous for giving people all the rope they possibly can handle. If we are all going to grow, we must delegate and empower. My rule is if I’ve empowered you to do a job, I’m giving it to you, I don’t want it back, call me when you need me.

Working With Teams

Can teams be empowered while at the same time working within the structure and discipline imposed by their firm? Best-practice firms think so, and those that fail at teaming often cite the lack of firm structure as a contributing factor. In this section, I’ll use the terms team and firm. In some cases, a firm is made up of many teams, and in others, the firm is one team.

It’s nearly impossible to move an entire firm in any direction. However, most leaders break down their firms into small teams, each commissioned with a purpose that supports the overall mission of the firm. In the past, to be successful, a business needed a group of people with technical or functional skills and another group with key interpersonal skills. Not so anymore. Accounting firms are recognizing that it’s important to have people with a mix of talents who can interact effectively. They have also realized that soft skills can take a team a long way in relationship building and staff member and client satisfaction. Effective communication is a primary key to team success.

The following are some tips for building and working with teams:

▴ We have found that a team size of 8–12 is optimal. Why is this important? What impact does the team size have on its results? One thing to remember is that teams meet more to share information than to carry out their work. If all members must be involved in a decision, it will take longer. In a smaller group, information is communicated much more quickly.

▴ It is important for a team to have a common purpose, performance goals, and approach. If they don’t, you’ll have chaos. Each member of a team has his or her own perception of what the team is about, and each person is different. Without a common purpose, each individual works toward his or her own goal. The team, as a unit, should have a defined mission that is focused on the overall mission of the firm. The team should know why they exist to help accomplish that mission. Each team should have goals and objectives to accomplish the team purpose, and the goals should link directly to the departmental and company objectives.

The team approach includes operating guidelines, rules, and commitments that define how they will communicate, how decisions will be made, when they meet, why they meet, and the meeting format and guidelines. These are working agreements, which help eliminate confusion and foster cooperation.

▴ Get buy-in from leaders, managers, and partners in the early stages and throughout the life cycle of the team as business needs change.

▴ Mutual accountability means that each person takes responsibility for his or her actions within the team. It’s important that both team and functional roles and responsibilities are defined within the team. It’s also critical that team processes are defined to ensure that each team member can assist in making the others successful. If team members aren’t clear on who does what, how can they be responsible and accountable? When mutual accountability is practiced within a team, there is high commitment and trust among the team members; team members take ownership of their work products. Mutual accountability and ownership lead to empowerment and enable higher levels of productivity, quality, and achievement of goals.

In our strategic work with accounting firms, we will almost always form several special teams to carry out the major tasks of the strategic plan. The successful teams all seem to have a pattern of characteristics, as illustrated in table 10-2 and explained in the following sections.

Table 10-2: Comparison of Great Firm and Poor Firm Characteristics

Great firms	Poor firms
Shared mission	Fuzzy mission
Mutual respect and trust	Low trust
Frequent substantive communication	Rare communication
Shared processes	Individual methods
Different talents	Generalists
Adaptability and flexibility	Rigid
Continuous improvement	Improvement when problems occur

Shared Mission

Partners and team members share a common reason for their existence. Their priorities are clearly defined, and they work collectively toward achieving common goals, focused on results. They are committed and accountable for high standards and quality results. Contrast this with a shared-services-type firm where partners work in silos, and each has his or her own vision. The team leader is an active member of the team, and everyone is accountable for the team performance. Team members coach each other and provide ongoing support and encouragement for other members.

Mutual Respect and Trust

Team members are authentic and honest. They request, receive, and give honest feedback. They value other members’ opinions and are interested in ideas. They are proud to belong to the team. Contrast this with the firms whose partners won’t introduce other partners to their clients either because they don’t trust the other partners’ skill set, or they may fear that the client will like the other partner better.

Frequent Substantive Communication

Meetings are held regularly in person or on the phone. Team members say what they think and feel; there are no hidden agendas. They have the information that they need to work together and individually, and they participate openly in team discussions. They handle differences in opinion and conflict openly by attacking the problem, not the person. Contrast this with firms whose partners rarely meet and know little about each other’s clients.

Shared Processes

Processes, policies, and rules are documented by the team to enable team members to perform their jobs more successfully. Decisions are made based on the conditions to be satisfied, and risks are considered and minimized before implementation. Contrast this with firms where each partner has his or her own book of business, staff, and way of doing things.

Different Talents

Members make full use of the different skills, knowledge, and personal strengths of individual team members. They also seek information, ideas, and opinions from people outside their team. This allows partners to develop deep specialties in important areas. Contrast this with firms whose partners are all generalists.

Adaptability and Flexibility

Members respond quickly and flexibly to changes in the external environment. They follow existing processes but challenge them when appropriate. They value change as an opportunity to improve.

Continuous Improvement

Continuous improvement is built into the team operating guidelines. Members readily admit to, and learn from, mistakes. They take time to think and agree before they act and evaluate. Contrast this with firms that only make improvements in processes after a problem has occurred.

Building Highly Empowered Teams and Firms

So, how do you move a firm from where it is to a highly empowered one? We have discovered in our consulting work that when you build groups or small teams with high empowerment, then you are able to fuse them together as a firm. Guiding teams through their formation creates a strong sense of ownership for team results, staff member empowerment, and accountability. When team members take pride in being a part of a team from the formation and have control over the outcomes, they are more engaged.

A good basic methodology for building empowered teams, as illustrated in table 10-3, is to first define what you want the team to do; then lay out the purpose or mission of the team; and lastly, guide the team through the operational steps to success.

Table 10-3: Methodology for Building Empowered Teams

Team Vision	Select team members Define business objectives and expectations (vision) Allocate resources Understand internal or external client demand Acquire approval of CEO, partners, and so on
Team Missioning	Define purpose with clarity Define required skills Set clear boundaries and operating guidelines Define roles for each team member Create performance measurements Write action steps
Team Operations	Execute action steps Monitor performance against objectives Actively promote and engage conflict Continuously improve processes Review and learn from experiences Celebrate successes

The Seven Elements of Empowerment for Teams

Fostering teamwork is a top priority for many leaders. The benefits are clear: increased productivity, improved client service, more flexible systems, and staff member empowerment. But is the vision clear? You can’t just hand this methodological framework to your newly created team and tell them to get busy. To effectively implement teams, leaders should guide new teams through the following seven elements of empowerment:

Communication

For a person or team to reach full potential, staff members must be able to say what they think, ask for help, and risk making mistakes. This can only happen in an atmosphere where team members are trustworthy and focus on solutions, not problems. A commitment to regular communication plays a vital role in creating such cohesiveness.

Regular and open communication is equally important to a team’s success. To assess work performance, members must provide constant and honest feedback, accept constructive feedback, and address issues head-on. Positive communication affects the energy of a work team. When members talk about what they like, need, or want, it is quite different from wailing about what annoys or frustrates them. The former energizes; the latter demoralizes.

Keith Farlinger, CEO of the national firm BDO Canada LLP in Toronto, Canada, empowers his team to be able to make informed decisions.

I used to go into a meeting with our policy board and say, “Here’s what I’ve done, and here’s what I want to go through,” thinking that they had the same knowledge that I had. I expected they would debate and ask lots of questions. This caused some confusion. Now, I give them the background information to get them up to the level of understanding with me. I’ll do a PowerPoint presentation, so it’s there in front of them.

To enhance staff member and team communications, leaders can provide skill training in listening and the use of speaking or writing, as well as consensus building.

Conflict Engagement

No one grows without conflict or other problems, teams included. And of course, it is inevitable that bright, diverse thinkers will experience conflict from time to time. The problem is not that differences exist but in how they are confronted and managed. If team members sweep conflict under the rug, then misperceptions, ill feelings, and misunderstandings will ultimately result. Soon, the conflicts reappear. They take on the form of tension, hidden agendas, and stubborn positions. On the other hand, if leaders help teams work to manage conflict effectively, the team will be able to maintain trust and tap the collective power of the team. Three techniques that help staff members confront conflict are reframing, the “moccasin method,” and affirmations.

Reframing is looking at the glass half full instead of half empty. Instead of thinking, “If I address this issue, it’ll slow down the meeting,” consider this thought: “If we negotiate this difference, trust and creativity will all increase.”

Terry Snyder, president of the accounting firm alliance PKF North America in Lawrence, GA, says

You want people to have the ability to make decisions. As a leader, I have to have confidence they can make those decisions. As I have matured in my leadership, I’ve improved my ability to allow people to make mistakes and learn. I’ve also learned that a leader can’t control every decision. They may not make them like I make them, but they’ll get more done toward the ultimate goal than if I had made the decision for them.

You must have the willingness to allow mistakes. I have had to coach myself to widen the gate on decision making, knowing that they can make mistakes. Most of the time, we can go back, and they’ll learn from them or correct them if they’re not appropriate.

The “moccasin method” is a technique used to practice empathy by mentally walking in the shoes of another person. You answer questions such as, “How would I feel if I were that person being criticized in front of the group?” and “What would motivate me to say what that person just said?”

Affirmations are positive statements about something that you want to be true. For example, instead of saying to yourself right before a negotiating session, “I know that I’m going to blow up,” force yourself to say, “I am calm, comfortable, and prepared.” If team members can learn to shift any negative mental conversations to more positive ones, they will be able to shift obstructive paradigms and manage conflict more effectively.

Contribution

The more individuals feel like part of a team, the more they contribute; the more members contribute, the more they feel like part of the team. To enhance feelings of inclusion, leaders need to keep team members informed, solicit their input, and support an atmosphere of collegiality. If staff members are not offering suggestions at meetings, invite them to do so. If team members miss meetings, let them know that they were missed.

To enhance balanced participation on a work team, leaders should consider three factors that affect the level of individual contribution: inclusion, confidence, and empowerment. When ideas (even wild ideas) are offered, show appreciation for the initiative. Even a crazy idea can be used to stimulate more practical brainstorming.

Confidence in self and team affects the amount of energy that a team member invests in an endeavor. If it appears that the investment of hard work is likely to end in success, staff members are more likely to contribute. If, on the other hand, success seems unlikely, the investment of energy will wane. To breed confidence on a work team, leaders can highlight the talent, experience, and accomplishments represented on the team, as well as keep past team successes visible. You can bolster the confidence of team members by providing feedback, coaching, assessment, and professional development opportunities.

Another way to stimulate contributions on a work team is to enhance staff member empowerment. When workers are involved in decisions, given the right training, and respected for their experience, they feel enabled and invest more effort. It is also important to have team members evaluate how well they support the contribution of others.

Connections

When a work team feels connected to the firm, members discuss team performance in relation to corporate priorities, client feedback, and quality measures. They consider team needs in light of what’s good for the whole firm and what will best serve joint objectives. Leaders can encourage such connections by keeping communication lines open. Management priorities, successes, and headaches should flow one way; team needs, successes, and questions should flow in the other direction.

Tom Luken, president of the local firm Kolb+Co in Milwaukee, WS, says

I think the art of doing this is to surround yourself with good people, empower them, and demonstrate that you have confidence in them. You encourage them and tell them it’s okay if they make an error. You refrain from ripping their faces off when an error does occur, and you demonstrate the confidence that they will be able to resolve the error.

When a work team has developed strong connections among its own members, peer support manifests itself in many ways. Colleagues volunteer to help without being asked, cover for each other in a pinch, congratulate each other publicly, share resources, offer suggestions for improvement, and find ways to celebrate together. Need a few ideas for developing and maintaining such connections? Consider the following:

▴ Allow time before and after meetings for brief socialization.

▴ Schedule team lunches.

▴ Create occasional team projects outside of work.

▴ Circulate member profiles.

▴ Take training together.

▴ Provide feedback to one another on development.

Cooperation

Most challenges in the workplace today require much more than good solo performance. With increasingly complex client needs and accounting firms, success depends upon the degree of interdependence recognized within the team. Leaders can facilitate cooperation by highlighting the impact of individual members on team productivity and clarifying valued team member behaviors.

On a team that works well together, members trust that when a colleague agrees to return a telephone call, read a report, talk to a client, attend a meeting, or change a behavior, the job will be done. There will be follow-through. Team members are keenly aware that as part of a team, everything that they do or don’t do affects someone else.

When work team members are truly cooperating, they respect the time of others by turning team priorities into personal priorities; arriving for meetings on time; sharing information promptly; clustering questions for people, communicating succinctly; and asking, “Is this a good time?” before initiating interactions.

Being on a work team is a bit like being part of a family. You can’t have your way all of the time, and to add value, you must develop a generous spirit. Leaders can help work teams by addressing these rules of team spirit:

▴ Value the individual.

▴ Develop team trust.

▴ Communicate openly.

▴ Manage differences.

▴ Share successes.

▴ Welcome new members.

Change Initiators

In today’s competitive business climate, firms must not only respond to change but actually initiate it. To assist teams in initiating change, leaders should acknowledge any perceived dangers in the change and then help teams see the inherent opportunities. They can provide the security necessary for teams to take risks and the tools for them to innovate. They can also reduce resistance to change by providing vision and information and modeling a positive attitude themselves.

Commitment

Commitment to the purpose and values of a firm provides a clear sense of direction. Team members understand how their work fits into the firm’s objectives, and they agree that their team’s goals are achievable and aligned with the corporate mission and values. Commitment is the foundation for synergy in groups; individuals are willing to put aside personal needs for the benefit of the work team or company. When there is a meeting of the minds on the big picture, this shared purpose provides a backdrop against which all team decisions can be viewed. Goals are developed with corporate priorities in mind. Team ground rules are set with consideration for both company and individual values. When conflict arises, the team uses alignment with purpose, values, and goals as important criteria for acceptable solutions.

To enhance team commitment, leaders might consider inviting each work team to develop team mission, vision, and value statements that are in alignment with those of the entire organization but reflect the individuality of each team. These statements should be visible and walked every day. Once a shared purpose is agreed upon, each team can develop goals and measures, focus on continuous improvement, and celebrate team success at important milestones. The time spent up front getting all team members on the same track will greatly reduce the number of derailments or emergency rerouting later.

Conclusion

Teams that connect well with other work groups typically think of those groups as internal clients. They treat requests from these colleagues with the same respect shown to external clients. They also ask for feedback on how they can better serve both internal and external clients. They engage in win-win negotiating to resolve differences, and they share resources, such as training materials, DVDs, books, equipment, or even improvement ideas. To build stronger connections with other groups, work teams might consider scheduling monthly cross-departmental meetings, inviting representatives to their own team meeting, lending personnel during flu season, and combining efforts on a corporate or community project.

To compete effectively, leaders must fashion a network of skilled staff members and teams that support each other in the achievement of corporate goals and the delivery of seamless service.