Latest Events and Programs

  1. Prepare your Practice for Sale - Your 3 Year Plan to Maximise its Value - Wed 30th May - 12.30pm to 1.30pm AEST
  2. Measuring the Right Stuff - What your firm should be focusing on in the new Financial Year.  - Wed 6th June - 12.30pm to 1.30pm AEST
  3. How to develop your coaching and training skills - A webinar for partners, managers and trainers.  - Wed 13th June - 12.30 to 1.30pm AEST
  4. 5 Steps to effectively manage clients expectations in the new Financial Year- Wed 20th June - 12.30pm to 1.30pm AEST
  5. How to make Advisors out of Accountants - The role of active listening and feedback in developing client relationships - Tues 26th June - 12.30pm to 1.30pm AEST
  6. 7 Steps to improve turnaround time through a better focus on Workflow - Wed 27th June - 12.30pm to 1.30pm AEST

New CD-ROM Coaching Programs on PERFORMANCE REVIEW and CONFLICT RESOLUTION for accounting firms. and for accounting firms. Click on the program title for further details.

Are you on the list?

Click here to view a list of just some of the accounting firms that have benefited from our webinars and workshops.

Contact Us

Business Aptitude
PO Box 700
Chatswood, NSW 2057
Australia

tel: 1300 883 789
fax: (02) 9904 8306
email: enquiry@bizaptitude.com.au

WHAT DECISIONS IS YOUR FIRM AVOIDING?

Every accounting firm we've ever worked with has at least one (and usually several) key projects on hold or otherwise bottlenecked simply because the projects required a decision about something, and there was no clarity about what action needed to be taken to move forward about that decision.  Sometimes, procrastination is to blame, other times it's simply lack of available time to sit quietly, collect information and make a logical decision.

Generally, if you can't decide about something, it means that you lack enough information to feel comfortable making a choice. Therefore, the next question should be 'So, what action do you need to take to BEGIN to get the information you need to make that decision?' Nine times out of ten, there's a specific action to take, such as 'talk with Joe about his experience' or 'review the quotes and the cost-benefit of proceeding.'

Every once in a while, thought, the information you need comes from inside - your intuition. You need to sleep on it. But even then, to really clear your head, you need to make a decision about how long you can't sleep on it' until you actually need to make the BIG decision. 1 day, 2 weeks, 3 months? Whatever the answer is, you simply need to park a reminder in a calender or task list to remind yourself that you need to reassess the situation at some stage in the future. In other words, it can be OK not to decide - as long as you work out that next step.

So, what decisions are you avoiding? What information would you like to get? Where could you start to get it? For how long are you OK to not decide? David Allen, author of 'How to get things done' talks about the importance of taking the NEXT STEP, no matter what it is. Often, this is the best way of making progress on a large project without being bogged down with procrastination.

If you find a decision is dragging the chain, consider taking the following steps:
  1. Decide whether the project is important enough for you at this time. It may be that you are not in enough pain at the present time, alternatively there may just be too much else happening.
  2. If the project is not important now, simply park it for review at a later time. Set a task reminder to come back to the task in a month's time.
  3. If the project is important, but you cannot make significant progress now, simply decide on the next step. What can you do now (or delegate now) that will move the project forward.
Achieving great productivity is not all hard work, it's often just a case of completing tasks one action at a time. If time management is truly a challenge for people within your firm - whether the symptoms are procrastination, overwork, lack of systems and procedures or simply a weak approach to task management, consider spending some time focusing on developing your time and task management skills. 

TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR TIME CD-ROM-based program is the only time management program specifically designed for accounting firms. It is a self-paced learning program that can be run as group or individual training sessions in your practice. The program runs over 10 individual modules and includes presentations on Principles of Effective Delegation, Effective Task Management, How to Use Administrative Staff to Create More Capacity, Dealing with Staff and Client Interruptions and How to Manage Client Expectations.

All presentations are accompanied by individual workbooks and supporting documentation. Accounting firms that have used the TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR TIME program provide feedback that it is both practical and relevant to the issues faced by their staff. With over 400 minutes of powerpoint-audio presentation, electronic workbooks and supporting documents, scripts and procedures, TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR TIME will help you create significant additional capacity for fee growth.

SPECIAL OFFER TO 30TH JUNE 2011 - JUST $990 INCLUDING GST. Click here to place your order.

The standard fee for this program is $1,320 including GST. However, until 30th June 2011, we are offering this program for just $990 including GST. For more details of this unique program, CLICK HERE, or email dorothy.crosby@bizaptitude.com.au for more information.

Developed by Business Aptitude, leading Practice Management Consultants and Trainers to Accountants. Website : www.bizaptitude.com.au