Client Challenge:
A small, successful accounting firm established some ambitious goals for growth. The company owners had always been involved in the service delivery, operations, and management of the company, but realized that if they were going to have the time and energy to spearhead growth initiatives, they would need to remove themselves from those roles.
The owners made clear plans to offer new service lines and market those services, but the piece they missed was filling the vacuum of their operational and management roles within the company. They made some poor hiring decisions to fill the void, and handed out “battlefield promotions” without first establishing a clear plan for accountability or competitive compensation. As part of this process, people often were placed in positions for which they clearly were not qualified, or that they didn’t clearly understand.
Due to the lack of a structured growth strategy, company morale declined rapidly. Those who had received their quick field promotions were frustrated at their inability to perform in ill-defined roles, and the new hires weren’t sure how to assess their opportunities for advancement. No one had an innate trust in the leadership of the firm, and suddenly there was an increase in staff turnover, with the direct result that the firm started losing clients.
The PCG Solution:
Creating goals for growth is important, but when your company is successful to begin with, it is critical that you create a clear plan for growth as well. You also need to include sufficient time and resources to hire and train staff members to assume leadership positions so that the core operation of the company is not compromised.
Pacific Crest Group helped this client develop a comprehensive blueprint for growth, including redefining existing staff roles, and creating new back office systems to make it easier to manage office operations. As part of the process, we revised existing job descriptions and created new job descriptions. We then assessed the capabilities of existing office staff, helped retrain the staff where it was practical, and hired new staff where necessary. The result was better office morale and greater productivity since all the employees had clearly defined roles, were trained to assure success, and had clearly defined objectives.
Where PCG Created Value:
• Developed a growth plan with well-defined steps and metrics for success.
• Helped the client reorganize to accommodate new services and manage growth.
• Developed new systems to help automate back office operations to accommodate growth, and to make it easier for staff to manage back office processes.
• Created new job descriptions to accommodate the growth strategy.
• Assisted with recruiting new staff and training existing staff to accommodate the growth plan.