Growth Fundamentals Q&A

“Coaching you to do the things you won’t do on your own...”

Growth Fundamentals Common Questions & Answers...

The Growth Fundamentals Framework

• 9 Growth Stages • 7 Areas of Growth Focus • 5 Layers of Complexity • 9 Growth Aspects

Q: Why should I attend?

A: If you’re considering this programme then you’re an experienced, senior level accountant. This means you’re already time poor and under incredible loads in terms of mental drain. Despite this, you’re increasingly aware of the need to change how you engage with your clients but frankly, need to learn HOW as quickly as possible. Mike’s 15 years experience and advanced understanding of personality types has led to the development of a programme that DRAMATICALLY reduces the time taken to become an effective consultant. By attending the Programme you’ll gain access to this amazing business Framework! Learn what templates to use with your clients and when; Learn What to Say & How to Say it, so you can...

• Grow massive consultancy fee income. • Secure exciting engagements from new and existing clients. • Increase your business knowledge & your confidence! • Become known in your area as the ‘go-to-business-expert’. • Gain more referrals from the Bankers and Lawyers in your area. • Build a solid business that attracts quality staff. • Gain satisfaction from watching your client’s business grow, knowing you’re a critical part of it. • Enjoy the Security, Confidence, Excitement & Feelings of Contribution by becoming the very best

‘Strategic Accountant’ you can be!

Q: What is the Programme About?

A: The Accountant’s career path can be explained by this graphic... The Key Concept behind the Growth Fundamentals Programme is to provide the Coaching & the Templates to assist Accountants to become Fantastic Business Facilitators. The 4 Main Principles covered in the programme are; 1. Learn to use frameworks (concept patterns) to speed up your rate of learning, increase your ability to

remember complex theories, help you develop/package your own IP and make things easier for your clients to understand.

2. Build your Facilitation Skills & Business Knowledge so you position in your market as the ‘go-to-person’ for business growth.

3. Learn Modern Psychology as it relates to Sales, Marketing & Personality Types so you can have greater influence over the decisions of those you work with.

4. Build & Rehearse a powerful client ‘on-boarding’ process.

The Growth Fundamentals Programme Structure consists of 12 modules, over 2 (3 day) face to face coaching workshops, supported by pre-course, mid-course and post-course assignments. On-line resource provides the Growth Fundamentals Framework & 78 Templates. The programme is rated as ‘Medium-High’ Intensity and is suited to Directors/Partners, Associates or Senior Managers with well developed financial reporting skills.

Q: What’s included in the on-line resource that I wouldn’t expect?

A: All the fundamental business concepts needed to grow your client’s business are in the framework; they cover topics such as Marketing & Market Drivers, Best Financial use of Assets and Strategic Planning but here’s a few you may not have expected...

• Strategic Scenario Planning • Sales basics for SME owners • Making Quality Decisions • Circles of Causality • Knowledge Bank Frameworks • Process Improvement & Systems Thinking Fundamentals • Formal Risk Management Theory • Understanding Employee Motivation • Incentive Programme Fundamentals • Exploring Leadership Styles • Delegation Tips • Governance Fundamentals • Volatility Analysis • Succession Planning Frameworks

Q: How could this benefit my PRACTICE? A: The Growth Fundamentals Programme is a series of workshops and on-line resource designed to increase the fee income of accounting firms.

Many accounting firms are struggling with some or all of the following issues;

A. Can’t push consultancy or ‘soft skill-project’ work down as their team don’t have the skills to deliver. (This ‘chokes’ the directors from cultivating new opportunities)

B. There’s ‘no-new-people coming up’ which results in Succession issues further ahead. C. Directors are noticing that the client base is looking a lot like a ‘subscription model’; work mix is linear

and too compliance based but being made harder by an increasing amount of clients on a ‘software plan’ service offer.

D. Need to increase revenue but don’t know how to sell. E. Lacking Confidence, Focus and Motivation to deal with rapid changes in personal and business lives. F. Lack of personal brand in a crowded market place. (struggling to get ‘noticed’ against software

providers)

G. Team culture is not ‘fully aligned’, people acting out of fear instead of harmony.

Modern management practices are increasing their review of systems and process in the workplace, with the leading thinkers realising that the focus needs to be on Complex Adaptive Systems rather than Complicated (linear) Systems. The resultant Strategy?

:Skills solves problems: (Something I’ve been preaching for the past 15 years by the way).

Accountants have been too fixated on process improvement (internal) and distracted from the process of developing the soft skills of their team. The Growth Fundamentals Programme aims to provide the mind-set, skill-set, resource and actions necessary to allow accounting firms to adapt to the new business environment.

Q: Can you tell me a bit more about the Course Design?

A: The Growth Fundamentals Programme is a series of workshops supported by an on-line resource, aimed at coaching accountants to be more engaged in the ‘Strategic Arena’ with their clients. The Programme is delivered by way of strategic alliance between CAANZ and MikeBarnesCoach.com

• The Growth Fundamentals Framework is unique to MikeBarnesCoach.com and was built in direct response to accountants that were struggling to engage on a ‘strategic level’ with their clients. The framework (in it’s simplest form) could best be described as “a collaborative/facilitative model that aligns the expectations, orientation, knowledge base and future actions of the consultant and client.”

• The Programme workshops will be made available in 2 centres within New Zealand and 6 centres within Australia. Each workshop group will be limited to just 6 firms (each allowed 2 attendees) and will be coached over 2 x 3 day workshops. (generally 1 mth apart)

• The Growth Fundamentals Framework is an adaptive model; allowing for style/interpretation differences and encouraging of the consultant to further ‘package their thoughts’ around the existing framework. This makes the learning faster, more effective and more enduring in terms of positive change.

• The on-line resource contains a variety of tools/templates and models and whilst ‘a work in progress’ (due to it’s very nature of being adaptive) is based on the ‘less is more’ principle. Experience has shown that vast resource kits can often create feelings of overwhelm and disengagement.

• The man that built the framework will deliver the coaching.

Growth Fundamentals Framework. ©MikeBarnesCoach 2015

Workshop Design: ©MikeBarnesCoach 2015

Q: How will this help my Clients?

A: The framework makes it easy for clients to decide to act.

• Clients identify ‘where they sit’ on the curve and together with the consultant begin the process of building an action plan. Building the action plan is easy as the consultant simply identifies the fundamentals ‘below and one step above’ that are not being executed well within the business at present. The framework makes everything collaborative and transparent!

• Clients feel empowered as they learn the business concepts that are relevant to their industry. This ‘new theory’ gives them something to associate their personal experience to; they can feel confident in ‘what they know, why it matters and what they need to perfect next’.

• Additionally, Clients enjoy learning and understanding the ‘language’ of their consultant. The common language and framework makes it easier for clients to grow their understanding which only affirms to further develop trust, confidence, understanding and common objectives between client and consultant.

Q: What are the Advantages for Me?

A: The selling is made easy; there’s no pressure as the framework is collaborative.

• Clients identify where they ‘sit on the curve’ and they choose where they want to get to in future. The consultant then leads them through a questionnaire to determine ‘what’s missing from their business’ and recommends a plan of action going forward.

• The framework is Adaptive, not Prescriptive; this allows for the consultant to ‘bring their own style’ to the engagement and incorporate all that they already know (and are comfortable with) in terms of working with their clients. (This also makes learning the framework much easier)

• A ‘less is more’ on-line resource provides all the tools and models necessary to ensure the fundamentals are being practised within the client’s business but better than this, the framework encourages each consultant to develop their own resource based on their past experiences. (in future, each attendee of the growth fundamentals workshop should end up with a different <personalised> resource as they tailor the resource to suit themselves)

• The coaching workshops focus on skills; rather than ‘being told what to do’ the attendees will experience a demonstration and then practice the concept ‘there and then’. HOW the consultant delivers the tools is the focus... Personal (transferable) skills is the name of the game!

• The workshops are limited to 6 firms per region, each attendee has a ‘buddy’ from their place of work (meaning a max of 12 per workshop) so the result is a personalised, interactive and fun learning environment. (You’re learning from the guy who built the framework, not one of his staff...)

Q: I’m interested in the Workshop Design Theory; tell me more...

Mind Sets

• Our daily lives are a combination of observation and appropriation. We learn by ‘associating to the self ’ so it should come as no surprise that the framework for any learning is a vitally critical component. The learning framework provides context and thereby accelerates the learning via the ‘schema’ already established within us.

• Attendees must be encouraged to explore their own past experiences and ‘link’ new information to what they already know, in order that they can utilise a mixture of theory and practical experience when consulting to their clients. This is the role of the framework; to make the exploration of new material and the collection (packaging) of past learnings easier for both the attendee and the coach.

• Confidence and focus are essential in order that any endeavour should prove successful. The more ‘familiar’ the context of material the more likely attendees are to allow themselves to be ‘stretched’ in terms of learning challenging skills and concepts. Group size, Coaching style and Content order are all ‘by design’ to create a challenging yet confidence inspiring learning environment.


Skill Sets

• The Growth Fundamentals Programme is skills based learning; this can only be achieved via ‘face to face’ coaching as a critical component in the learning is the application (rehearsal), observation and feedback given to attendees as they learn how to use the templates and models with their clients.

• Whilst the complex theories that support business advisory are explored, its the practical skills of facilitation and selling that are essential in converting the knowledge into repeatable fee engagements. Again, these must be practiced and rehearsed in order that the consultant can have the confidence to apply their newfound knowledge in their marketplace.

• Learning new (lasting) skills takes time. ‘Submersion’ and repetition are excellent supporters of the learning process but despite all the very best accelerated techniques being applied, time is still a critical component. Two 3-day workshops provide the ‘saturation’ that’s required to allow attendees to develop their skills to the level that they may coach others within their organisation in future (and that’s the test of any coaching programme; the ability of the attendees to ‘pass it forward’)


Resource

• All of the learning within the growth fundamentals programme is supported by an on-line arrangement of templates and models.

• The drop-box resource is colour coded for simplicity (green, yellow, orange, red and grey) which aligns with the ‘Layers of Complexity’ identified in the learning framework and includes all the models deemed by me to be ‘fundamental concepts’ for business development.

• Each of the templates relates to the ‘layer of complexity’ previously mentioned and includes sales scripts, invitational emails and tips on preparing seminar presentations etc. At this stage there’s about 78 documents / models / templates that directly relate to the 5 layers fundamentals. This is in turn supported by an additional 50 or so templates / models to aid in the selling and organisation of the consultant.

• The framework directs the involvement of the consultant to elaborate on their own intellectual property and bring their material ‘to life’ with their own tools and models also. All of the material is available in ‘easy to copy and easy to manage’ software and is able to be branded to that of the attendee with ease.


Actions

• The workshops are ‘broken’ into two stages to allow the time for ‘new learnings’ to assimilate in the mind of attendees. This provides them the opportunity to reflect and engage with others in their work environment, with the aim of combining theory and experience when we meet next.

• Follow through will be increased by the clarity of purpose and sound understanding of sales conversions and time requirements. (logistics)

• Pre-course work will deal with the identification of business objectives and logistics planning for their time in the field. Each attendee is expected to be clear in their work-mix targets and new fee objectives prior to attending. (A series of videos and an excel model will guide them in this area; they will be encouraged to discuss these issues with their fellow business partners/employer)

About Mike Barnes:

Mike has been coaching accountants to take consultancy services to their clients since 1999.

Mike regularly consults throughout NZ to increase the leverage within professional

services firms and speaks on a variety of topics, including ‘Closing the Skill Gap’ and ‘What Blocks Professional’s From Selling’.

Mike’s professional experience has been enhanced by his work with some of NZ’s leading accountants and lawyers via his engagements with Deloitte’s, Hayes Knight, Staples Rodway, RSM Prince, and Crown Prosecutors, Marsden Woods Inskip Smith and others.

Mike’s experience in consulting directly to business owners extends to a vast array of industries including construction, architecture, geotechnical engineering, beekeeping, car sales, gym owners, haulage & earthmoving, printing/signwriting, woman's clothing, spinal surgeon and the list goes on...

Mike considers himself a ‘coaching addict’ – “It’s WHO I am, not WHAT I do” explains Mike, “It’s how I’m wired; it’s in every part of my life”.

Mike is a passionate exponent of The Enneagram Personality Profiling System, (He attended in New York at the hands of the ‘masters’ Don Riso & Russ Hudson) which allows Mike to explore the ‘blockages’ that stop people from reaching their own true potential.

“I coach professionals to do the things they won’t do on their own” says Mike, “my greatest sense of self-worth comes from watching others grow and knowing I played a critical part in it”.

Married to the love of his life (Natalie) and so very proud of his 3 kids, Mike still finds time to coach and mentor NZ’s fastest International motocross riders. “It’s an extremely demanding and dangerous sport and the professional riders I work with have everything on the line every time they race. Want to learn how to focus the mind and overcome fear? – you’ve come to the right place…”

Growth Fundamentals Q&A

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