Congratulations, your hard work has paid off, and you’re about to start your first accounting leadership role. Leadership positions offer a range of exciting opportunities to financial professionals, from chances to learn new skills, to the ability to enhance your professional brand.
However, as lucrative and fulfilling as leadership positions can be, they also come with various unique challenges to address. You’ll need to learn how to effectively communicate with, guide, and motivate your team, to achieve essential business results. Additionally, you’ll be facing increased pressure from business leaders and executives to prove your value.
Becoming an excellent leader means more than just telling people what to do. Fortunately, there are ways you can prepare yourself and your team for success.
1. Create a Collaborative Culture
As a leader in your company, you’ll play a big part in establishing a healthy, productive culture. It’s up to you to ensure your team members feel supported and engaged at work. Investing in an inclusive and collaborative culture can help to boost team productivity, and even make your business more attractive to new sources of talent.
Start by assessing the values and vision of your business, so you know what kind of characteristics and traits you should be demonstrating to staff on a day-to-day basis. Focus on creating an ethical workplace, where everyone feels comfortable sharing their input and feedback.
Where possible, it may be helpful to invest in team-building exercises which bring staff members closer together, help them to avoid conflicts, and strengthen communication. Even regular group video meetings can make a huge difference to in-office relationships.
2. Adopt a Growth Mindset
Just because you’re moving into a leadership position doesn’t mean you should give up on expanding your skills, opportunities, and abilities. The best managers and supervisors are committed to staying on top of industry trends and improving themselves as much as possible.
Adopting a growth mindset is an excellent way to ensure you continue progressing and becoming more effective in your role. Don’t try to ignore your mistakes or pass the blame onto someone else. Learn from the issues you encounter and use them to develop your leadership style.
Be open to new ideas and perspectives and encourage your team members to provide their insights on how effectively you’re leading the group. Most importantly, invest in ongoing education, ensuring you stay up to date with changes in the accountancy space, new technologies, and evolving regulations. This will help you to guide your team members towards growth too.
3. Invest in Your Team
As a leader in your accountancy or financial firm, you’ll be responsible for ensuring not just your own success, but the accomplishments of your team members too. The best business leaders invest in their teams, constantly finding ways to help employees grow and thrive.
Look into training opportunities and courses which might help your employees to perform more effectively in their roles. Ask them to share their feedback about problems they might encounter in their day-to-day tasks, so you can come up with collaborative solutions together.
Host meetings with your employees so you can get to know their personal targets, and assist them in developing strategies for success. These meetings will give you an excellent opportunity to learn more about what motivates and engages your financial experts. Plus, they could provide you with an opportunity to see the early signs of burnout and disengagement.
Ask questions like:
- Which tasks do you consider the most challenging?
- What are your top priorities in your career?
- What motivates you to complete your work to the highest standard?
- How do you define success in your career?
- What’s your biggest concern related to work going forward?
4. Strengthen your Communication Skills
Excellent communication skills are one of the most important things any manager can cultivate. Clear, consistent communication ensures every member of your team stays on the same page and can access the support they need with difficult tasks.
Start by ensuring you’re clear with your employees about the expectations you have as a manager and let them know how their performance will be evaluated. Explore a range of communication methods to ensure you can keep your team up to date and maintain a transparent leadership style. Open and honest communication helps to develop trust between teams.
It’s also helpful to have a strategy in place for regularly recognising and rewarding your staff. Around 75% of employees who say they receive regular recognition are more satisfied with their jobs.
Additionally, remember good communication is about more than saying the right words, you also need to be willing to listen to your employees. Ensure your team members feel comfortable coming to you with their complaints and concerns and respond to feedback appropriately.
5. Be Prepared for Change
Change is one of the most consistent aspects of life for an accounting leader. In the financial sector, rules and guidelines can change rapidly, leading to new challenges for teams to overcome. Your team members will turn to you to guide them through disruptive periods.
Each new evolution in the accounting sector may require you to invest in training for both yourself and your teams. You may also need to be prepared to deal with issues and conflicts among your staff. With that in mind, think about how you can approach team members with guidance and support when they’re dealing with a difficult transitional period.
One of the best ways to facilitate successful change in your organisation is to lead by example. Learn how to use new technologies and software so you can provide guidance to your team. Commit to attending seminars and industry events so you can plan for upcoming evolutions.
Become an Incredible Accounting Leader
A promotion to a leadership position in the accounting industry brings a number of opportunities and challenges. Committing to constantly developing your skills as a leader and helping your team grow will show your employer you have what it takes to drive the company towards growth.
Thanks,
Rachel
P.S. Remember, if you need help seeking out a new leadership position, you can always turn to a dedicated accounting recruitment professional like Rebus Financial Recruitment to discover new roles and opportunities.
