“Okay, I’ve got one to add.” answered the firm’s managing shareholder. “Let’s establish a plan to reduce or eliminate overtime during tax season.” It was the first time he had voiced this to anyone. Tax seasons were 100-hour weeks from the beginning of February to the filing deadline, the rest of the year were 70-hour weeks for a lot of the staff. “I didn’t like working overtime and weekends. There must be a better way.” Laughter morphed into a telling question from the team, “Do you think we could really get rid of the overtime?” “The only way we will know is if we try.” he responded.
What followed was a transformational journey, fueled by focus, determination and teamwork that entirely changed how the firm approached work during “busy season” and beyond. Let’s take a closer look at how it all unfolded. Plus, other bold steps the firm is taking to reshape its future.
“Okay, I’ve got one. Let’s establish a plan to reduce or eliminate overtime during tax season.”
Welcome to Transform your firm. Transform your future.
This new series of modern-day success stories features firm changemakers who are challenging the way their practices do business. It is a part of the PCPS Transforming Your Business Model Initiative to help firms navigate a changing profession. Explore how everyday heroes and heroines are reimagining their firm’s future and rethinking how to get there. Discover the insight and insider tips that are turning their visions into new realities.
Firm spotlight
In this inaugural two-part issue, Dennis E. Sherrin, CPA, CGMA, Chief Value Officer, Strategic Consultant and Immediate Past Chief Executive Officer of Alabama-based Avizo Group, Inc. Certified Public Accountants & Business Consultants and member of the PCPS Executive Committee shares a behind-the-scenes look at some of the non-traditional ways they are changing things up in this people-focused firm.
Fostering an innovative mindset
Questioning the norm and looking for new ways to do things are not new for Dennis Sherrin. Two questions he has asked, even back to his days as a young auditor “Why do we do things this way?” and “How can we do them differently?” More relevant than ever, these questions have helped shape his career and set the tone for the innovative mindset that exists in the firm today. It was not until he became managing shareholder that he understood their true power.
“I realized I had the opportunity to give others the freedom to be able to give their input into what they see about the firm and what they want to make better.” says Dennis. Avizo’s culture and how they operate helps team members understand that everyone’s voice is important and can make a difference. This includes looking for what’s next and how to do things differently, better. It’s about creating a supportive inclusive environment where even the newest employees can feel comfortable sharing their input.
“I realized I had the opportunity to give others the freedom to be able to give their input into what they see about the firm and what they want to make better.”
Project 40
To explore the challenge of reducing overtime, a group representing every aspect of the firm was formed. The new group coined what became known as Project 40. “The whole idea was to find ways we believe we can reduce or eliminate overtime but still be able to get our work done. We knew it could happen if everyone wanted to accomplish it. We outlined expectations and developed a charter that would identify how we would go about it.” Effective strategies they learned while working on a pair of Lean Six Sigma projects that helped streamline the tax practice. The firm implemented Project 40 that next tax season with many of the things they identified in the planning phase.
“The whole idea was to find ways we believe we can reduce or eliminate overtime but still be able to get our work done. We knew it could happen if everyone wanted to accomplish it.”
Results
The firm cut overtime by 25% during the first busy season and delivered all the work.
“Have we eliminated overtime completely? Absolutely not but we have drastically reduced overtime during our busiest seasons and eliminated it outside of those seasons. This past busy season we probably asked more from the staff than ever, yet they averaged 45 hours.”
Keys to success
“Have a willingness to say, “The way we are doing it can be done differently.” It’s an acknowledgment that overtime is not the only way work can be done.”
“Recognize that once you get to 50 hours, your effectiveness drops significantly.”
“Decide your business model will function differently.”
“Involve all your staff in the whole process. Not just from their perspective of what they think needs to be corrected most but understanding everyone’s perspective. The sum of the parts has to be adjusted for it to be most effective.”
“Rather than an operational project, recognize that employee engagement is the key to achieving success.”
People first
We value PEOPLE first and foremost – this extends to our clients, our vendors, our community and each other. Not just words on the firm’s website, people are at the heart of Avizo. “This business has always been about people first. We hire great employees. We have great clients. We work with great vendors. We work with and support associations like AICPA, state societies and the community.”
“There are four pillars of our firm andthe profession. PEOPLE in all caps. Planning, processes and technology in small letters because they don’t matter if you don’t do well with the people. They are the ones that can make all those other things work so effectively. It’s about being effective because this is a people profession. More than checklists and getting work out the door, it means invigorating the human element. As advisory services become more significant to the profession the human element takes on even greater significance because consulting and advisory work are all about the conversation. It’s not about the product but the conversation. And we can’t forget that.”
“This business has always been about people first.
Coaching and human connection
“Coaching is still an important part of what we do. Every day, it is our job to help our team members be better than they were the day before. And help them see that there are opportunities in their future. For me, coaching is not telling someone what they should do, it is helping them figure out how to do it. Coaching conversations are not about all bad things, they are about how we help someone constructively improve or be better.”
In this new hybrid and virtual workplace, Dennis reminds us, “This profession is still about human connection. Whether we have a virtual or Zoom call instead of sitting down in person, there is still a need for human connection. You really have to be intentional with these coaching opportunities when people are not there in the office. This means being purposeful and constructively frank. We have to challenge one another. We have to ask questions.”
“Beyond that, the way that you maintain connection is an active effort. It starts with the leaders. Encouraging their staff to be active in communicating. Every interaction with a member of your team is a coaching opportunity.”
“Coaching is still an important part of what we do. Every day, it is our job to help them be better than they were the day before. And help them see that there are opportunities in their future.”
Full circle
"There is an amazing group of young people that are now saying “Why do I have to do it that way?” I love that challenge. That means they are thinking about the future.” Young people will help us evolve the profession if we let them and if we listen to them. “We have to teach them how the business has operated, how it’s trying to operate now and give them the freedom to have an influence on it. Give them to opportunity to be innovative, creative and suggest ideas.”
“There is an amazing group of young people that are now saying “Why do I have to do it that way?” I love that challenge.”
Want to know more?
Be on the lookout for part two of this insider’s look with Dennis Sherrin in the next issue of Transform your firm. Transform Your future. Discover how his firm is teaming up with offshore talent to fill staffing shortages and how that is creating new opportunities and enabling younger staff to prepare for new advisory roles earlier in their careers.
In the meantime, check out the new PCPS Transforming Your Business Model resource. Additionally, have you visited the new PCPS Talent Trend Toolkit? From coaching and communicating to providing feedback and more, you will find all sorts of leadership resources to help your team be more successful in a hybrid and remote environment.