Mastering the growth mindset by putting tech to work

Look at the matrix above and consider how you spend your time each day. Professionals tend to spend a lot of time on tasks that fall into the lower left quadrant — urgent but unimportant activities like games, junk mail, busy work, etc. When we have a few minutes between Zoom meetings or want to take a break, we tend to turn to these activities; they take up valuable time we don’t have to give.

Our important tasks fall into two categories: urgent and not urgent. Some functions like deadlines and meetings are urgent, whereas some tasks like visioning, planning, improving firm processes, and developing relationships are extremely important but not urgent. Unfortunately, it’s all too easy for those non-urgent tasks to take a back seat and perhaps even fall off the to-do list entirely. They get lost in all the urgent tasks we focus on.

So, how can you carve out more time to do the important but not necessarily urgent things you should be doing to level up your team, go deep with clients, and grow your firm?

In this white paper, you’ll learn how to increase capacity in your firm, what to do with it, and how solving this problem will improve your firm’s culture on a wider scale.

Understanding the growth mindset

As conceived by Standford Psychologist Carol Dweck, a growth mindset is the belief that people can develop abilities and intelligence through dedication and hard work. This idea contrasts with a fixed mindset, where individuals believe their abilities are static and unchangeable. 

Embracing a growth mindset leads to continuous learning and resilience, which are crucial for innovation and adaptation in the rapidly changing accounting profession.

Here are just a few of the benefits of adopting a growth mindset:

• Enhanced firm capabilities. Firms with a growth mindset better position themselves to innovate and adapt to market changes.
• Improved client relationships. A growth-oriented approach fosters deeper, more meaningful client relationships, improving client retention and satisfaction.
• Increased focus on innovation. In firms where a growth mindset is part of company culture, staff are encouraged to explore new ideas and approaches, leading to more efficient and effective processes.

Assess if your firm has a growth mindset with this self-evaluation

Leaders and employees alike should assess their current mindset and identify areas where they can cultivate a growth mindset. Questions to consider include:

1. Do you believe you’re born with certain skills, or do you think you can develop and improve them with hard work?
2. Do you view challenges as something to avoid or as opportunities for growth?
3. Do you get defensive when you receive feedback, or are you open to it and willing to learn from it?
4. Do you believe effort is a sign that you’re not good enough, or do you think it’s essential and leads to mastery?
5. When you face setbacks, do you blame others and get discouraged, or do you see them as learning opportunities and make changes?

Creating capacity for growth

Capacity challenges are common in CPA firms, where deadlines and talent shortages make it challenging to feel like there are enough hours in the day to get everything done.

However, creating bandwidth is essential for firms that want to expand their service offerings to include high-value advisory services.

Strategies to increase bandwidth

While we can’t create more hours in the day, other ways exist to increase capacity. Here are a few strategies to consider incorporating:

• Upskill your team. Take the really good people you have and make them even better. This method might sometimes mean reskilling them to fill new roles that take advantage of their unique abilities.
• Focus on your ideal clients. When you focus on your ideal clients, you can replace revenue from non-right-fit clients by providing more services to right-fit clients. Package and price a menu of services for your ideal clients so you can serve fewer clients, earn more revenue, and enjoy better employee engagement.
• Improve your processes. By improving processes within your existing systems, you increase bandwidth, gain efficiencies, and create a better experience for employees and clients.
• Delegate and realign staff roles. Reallocate tasks to appropriate team members to optimize efficiency. Use tools like staff responsibilities evaluations to ensure tasks are aligned with skill sets.

When you think about capacity, remember the goal isn’t to do more of what you (or your team) are already doing. It’s to provide an opportunity to learn and implement a value-added approach.

Case study: Process improvement increases capacity

We worked with one client whose billing processes were a mess — full of loops, waste, inefficiencies, and steps that didn’t add value.

After initiating a process improvement project, their billing processes were much cleaner, more efficient, and better streamlined.

The results weren’t just anecdotal. Consider these key performance indicators (KPIs):

• Reduced the number of process steps by 80%
• Reduced the number of days locked up in work in progress (WIP) by 18%

The same firm did a process improvement project in its audit department and was able to submit 16% more reports to quality control and reduce the average number of days in audit fieldwork from 54 to 26.

The tax department's process improvement project doubled the number of returns completed by late February.

Those are numbers you cannot ignore.

Leveraging existing technology to create capacity

Another way to increase your firm’s bandwidth is by leveraging technology, which doesn’t necessarily mean investing in new technology. Many CPA firms are missing out on the ability to create efficiencies by maximizing the technology they already have.

Maximizing technology use

So, how can your firm get a more significant return on investment from your existing technology?

• Leverage the intersection of process and technology. When you align your processes and technology, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
• Identify subject-matter experts. Identify the people in your firm who have a passion for technology or a deep understanding of the tools you use. Give them time to learn and teach.
• Stay current on new developments. If you work with forward-thinking solution providers, they are constantly adding new features and functionality to their products. Make sure you’re taking advantage of new features and security updates. 
• Build partnerships with technology providers. Collaborate with providers to understand and utilize all software features and determine which ones are on the horizon.
• Identify behavior versus technology issues. Often, people have frustration with software that has nothing to do with the platform itself. Differentiate between issues caused by user behavior and by the technology itself. Change your processes and behaviors to maximize the technology.

Exploring new technologies

While leveraging existing technology can provide some incredible gains, we can’t ignore the potential new technologies that are improving the client experience and transforming the accounting profession, like chatbots, automation, and artificial intelligence (AI).

AI is everywhere, and every solution provider is working on incorporating it into their products.

Automation is a potentially transformative way to increase potential in your firm. Remember, you don’t have to automate an entire process to benefit from automation. Small steps to automate repetitive and boring process steps can have big returns.

Some small steps we’re seeing firms improve with automation include:

• Opening emails and attachments
• Logging into web and enterprise applications
• Moving files and folders
• Copying and pasting
• Filling in forms
• Reading and writing to databases
• Making calculations
• Connecting to APIs
• Following if/then algorithms
• Scraping data from the web
• Extracting structured data from documents

Learn about what’s out there, determine your needs, and match those needs to the solutions available to see whether they can create momentum for your firm.

Technology’s impact on culture

To truly understand how technology impacts firm culture, we need to understand the changes taking place inside firms.

Today's firms have a pyramid structure, with many doers/preparers; fewer thinkers and analyzers who see the big picture; even fewer relationship builders who really connect with clients and understand their needs; and finally, strategists who focus on the firm’s business model.

The firm of tomorrow will take a different shape — a diamond rather than a pyramid. Much of the work traditionally done by doers and preparers will be outsourced or automated. The remaining individuals will be strategists and thinkers/analyzers; all will be relationship builders.

When we talk about automation, we’re not talking about automating roles but tasks. We estimate that about 30% of the tasks professionals spend time on each day can be automated — which frees people up to move into the thinker/analyzer or strategist category and build relationships with clients.

Automating these repetitive and often boring aspects of our jobs creates a much happier culture because people can focus on the elements of their jobs that create value.

Addressing technostress

There is a downside to technology called “technostress.” It occurs when firms try to implement too many technologies too fast, and the change isn’t managed as well as it could be.

Employees feel like change is happening to them rather than being part of the change. It can include feelings of overload, invasion, complexity, and insecurity related to technology use. It can negatively impact job satisfaction and performance.

The solution isn’t to stop or slow down, which can mean falling behind. Instead, it’s about better change management and understanding the people's side of change. Here are some strategies your firm can implement to help avoid technostress:

• Implement effective training programs. Provide comprehensive training to ensure staff are comfortable with new technologies. Give people time to study and try out new technology before you expect them to incorporate it into their daily workflow.
• Assess the stress. Ask people how they’re feeling and whether they have a good work-life balance.
• Create focus time. Allow staff to have uninterrupted time to focus on tasks.
• Set and protect boundaries. Prevent work from encroaching on personal time by setting boundaries. This strategy isn’t just about client work but includes non-billable responsibilities like training and professional development.
• Get the right people in the right roles. Empower people to leverage their unique skill sets to make a positive difference. Your firm is made up of individuals — not just parts of a machine.

Conclusion

Adopting a growth mindset and leveraging technology can help your firm thrive in today’s competitive environment. By implementing the strategies outlined in this white paper, you can achieve sustained growth and improved efficiency while enjoying a stronger, more positive firm culture.

Actionable steps

In summary, here are checklist items to master the growth mindset and put tech to work for your firm:

• Maximize existing technology and explore new technologies to enhance efficiency and culture
• Continuously look for ways to improve your processes for efficiency
• Prioritize high-value clients and offer value-driven services
• Foster a culture of engagement and continuous learning
• Address and mitigate technostress to maintain a healthy work environment
• Gain capacity by:
  • Growing your talent through education and knowledge
  • Using your technology in new and different ways
  • Changing your processes to add efficiency and effectiveness
  • Leading with a new mindset that focuses on change leadership
• Establish a culture committee to monitor and improve the firm’s culture
• Encourage open and honest communication about the challenges and successes related to technology use

If you’re looking for a partner who can help you automate tasks, create efficiency, and rethink how you’re utilizing your technology and staff to reach the next level, we have two solutions that can help.

Checkpoint Edge with CoCounsel

Checkpoint Edge is an accounting and tax research tool powered by AI and machine learning to get targeted search results in less time. Confidently evaluate and determine the best options for your clients with an end-to-end process for delivering specific tax planning and advisory engagements.

Get a free trial of Checkpoint Edge with CoCounsel.

Practice Forward

Practice Forward is the proven roadmap your accounting firm needs to get paid for the valuable knowledge, advice, and strategies you provide your clients. Our tool library will jumpstart your advisory journey with over 280 resources, including proposal templates, client deliverables, pricing calculators, checklists, videos, and more. 

Request a free demo of Practice Forward.