In The Black

Amanda Eaves CPA

Managers can bring the most intelligent, creative people to their departments, but if the employees aren’t able to work as a team, the department’s productivity will suffer. If your team isn’t firing on all cylinders, it’s important to identify the reasons why … and what you can do to overcome the dysfunction.
The 5 Big Causes
Many teams don’t work well for one reason: “Because they are made up of human beings with varied interests and frailties,” says Patrick Lencioni, author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. “When you put them together and leave them to their own devices, even the most well-intentioned people will usually deviate towards dysfunctional, unproductive behavior.” As a result, small problems left untreated can spiral into ugliness.
Here are the five major causes of team dysfunction that managers must routinely contend with, according to Lencioni, and the strategies to successfully overcome each one:

Dysfunction #1: Absence of trust
This occurs when team members are reluctant to be vulnerable with one another and are unwilling to admit their mistakes or need for help. Without a certain comfort level among team members, trust is impossible.

Manager’s role: Be vulnerable.
• Identify and discuss your strengths and weaknesses. Openly accept that a team member might be more skilled in a particular area than you.
• Spend considerable time in face-to-face meetings and working sessions. The goal is to get team members to open themselves up.

Dysfunction #2: Fear of conflict
Teams that lack trust are incapable of engaging in unfiltered, passionate debate about key issues. This causes situations in which team conflict can easily result in veiled discussions and back channel comments. In a setting where team members don’t openly air their opinions, inferior decisions are the result.

Manager’s role: Demand debate.
• Acknowledge that conflict is required for productive meetings. Stress that conflict must be up front instead of underlying and underground.
• Establish common ground rules for engaging in conflict.
• Understand individual team member’s natural conflict styles.

Dysfunction #3: Lack of commitment
Without conflict, it is difficult for team members to commit to decisions. This creates an environment where ambiguity prevails. Lack of direction and commitment can make employees, particularly star employees, disgruntled.
Manager’s role: Force clarity and closure.
• Review commitments at the end of each meeting to ensure all team members are aligned.
• Adopt a “disagree and commit” mentality—make sure all team members are committed, regardless of initial disagreements.

Dysfunction #4: Avoidance of accountability
When teams don’t commit to a clear plan of action, even the most focused and driven individuals hesitate to call their peers on actions and behaviors that may seem counterproductive to the overall good of the team.

Manager’s role: Confront difficult issues.
• Explicitly communicate goals and standards of behavior.
• Regularly discuss performance versus goals and standards.

Dysfunction #5: Inattention to results
Team members naturally tend to put their own needs (ego, career development, recognition, etc.) ahead of the collective team goals when individuals aren’t held accountable. If a team has lost sight of the need for achievement, the business ultimately suffers.

Manager’s role: Focus on collective outcomes.
• Keep the team focused on tangible group goals.
• Reward individuals based on team goals and collective success.
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Teamwork traps: Groupthink and deadlocks
Groupthink occurs when everyone is always on the same page. It may feel comfortable, but in such a predictable, low-demand atmosphere, there’s no creativity and nothing challenging the team’s assumptions.

To help break your team out of this rut:
• Solicit ideas and opinions in reverse order of rank/seniority during meetings. Asking rookies first frees them up from the pressure to automatically side with the senior members.
• Occasionally invite employees from other parts of the organization to team meetings to share perspectives.
• Send team members out into the field to collect feedback and seek new ideas from customers.

At the opposite end of the spectrum is when team members refuse to agree on anything, resulting in deadlocks.
What to do: Have each side debate from the other side’s point of view. They might end up being more sympathetic with the opposing side’s view after they’ve researched and argued its merits for themselves. Next, point out common ground (there’s always something!), and then look for a possible alternative.
” This information is proudly provided by Business Management Daily.com: http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/29865/team-dysfunction-why-it-happens-and-how-to-fix-it “

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Troylynn Robichaux, CPA, CIA

The accounting industry has long been an advocate for whistleblowing policies. Procedures such as anonymous call centers are thought to be an effective means of detecting and preventing fraud.  In addition, recent governmental regulations instituted by the SEC, including the Subtitle B, under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act give actual monetary incentives that result from SEC enforcement.  The program allows persons who provide information which leads to a successful SEC enforcement to receive 10% – 30% of the monetary sanctions over $1 million.^[112]:79 One would assume that emphasizing, both in the private and governmental sectors, mechanisms to encourage reporting of potential fraud matters would result in more effective fraud findings.  However, there has been some recent evidence questioning whether such policies and procedures are deemed credible and effective by the very individuals that oversee them.

Studies including the “The Effects of Reputation Threat and Whistleblowing Report Source on Chief Audit Executives’ Investigation Decisions,” (Guthrie 2008) and, “Effects of Anonymous Whistleblowing and Perceived Reputation Threats on Investigations of Whistleblowing Allegations by Audit Committee Members” (Hunton and Rose, 2010) summarizes chief audit executives and audit committee members’ perceptions and responses to whistleblowing reports.  It was determined that audit executives and audit committee members consider anonymous whistleblowing reports to be less credible than non-anonymous reports. The audit executives responded, however, that they are not influenced by whether the report is anonymous or not when deciding to investigate the report. The audit executives use this approach, despite that it may not be very effective.  According to the Gulthrie study, of the forty-two audit executives participating in the study, they indicated that 65.8 percent of all reports were anonymous. However, they found only 28.1 percent of these anonymous reports to be valid and believed that 34 percent were actually valid. In contrast, the report on audit committee members’ responses to whistleblowing allegations by Hunton and Rose found that audit committee members tend to focus more of their efforts on non-anonymous reports. This leads to the question: are anonymous whistleblowing reports taken seriously?

Another interesting aspect of whistleblowing procedures is that the callers sometimes do not have the purist of intentions.  Specifically, many audit executives found instances of calls referencing personnel-related issues and using the hotlines for personal gain. This likely further influences the approach to anonymous versus non-anonymous reports.

Some may believe that the audit executives may be more effective in following-up with allegations of fraud as they tend to follow-up on more reports than the audit committee members. I believe, however, that with limited resources, the approach of the audit executives surveyed makes more sense because the credibility of anonymous reports is often questionable. However, anonymous reports should not be ignored.  A balanced approach, considering the assessed risk of the area in question and other background information (such as grievances among employees), could help focus the efforts of those charged with whistleblowing follow-up.

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Amanda Eaves CPA

“Multitasking hurts in terms of speed, accuracy, quality of output, and energy consumption.  In essence, when you’re multitasking, you’re dimming your bulb, de-powering your brain. You’re so much better off single-tasking. Unless, of course, low-power processing is what you’re after.”  This was taken from a blog post by Joanne Cantor, Ph.D, Professor Emerita at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Her blog also displays The Stroop Test which illustrates the difficulty of multi-tasking. Check it out if you don’t believe that multitasking is a drain on your brain.

As a partner in a CPA firm, a mother of a 9 year old daughter and 7 year old son, a wife, a teacher’s helper, a sister, a daughter and a perfectionist…. I have always valued multi-tasking ability. I could get the family going for the day, drive 2 hours a day to and from the office, coach staff, meet with an important client, deliver financial statements, handle a couple of requests from colleagues for help, stay current on the industry, answer 50 emails, schedule necessary appointments for the kids, be home for the kids in the afternoon, cook dinner, possibly grocery shop, help with homework, pay bills, laundry and clean the house and tuck the kids in bed all in one day and I was proud of it!

I treated everything that I did as highly important and somehow managed to get them done well.  At least I thought I did…. I felt that being able to do several things simultaneously had served me well.

I should have been spending most of my energy on the most important things, and little on the least, or maybe cut them out entirely.  I certainly don’t want to do the most important things with a “dim” bulb, or at “low-power” processing.

I have never been much of a planner and I took each day as it came. I always remembered the important things that needed to be done and somehow got them done at the right time with “ease” …and OK, with the occasional mini-melt down.

I’m not sure why it happened… age, or maybe the abuse of my talent, but recently that “internal” to do list and the octopus brain I had acquired flew the coop!  (Well, not the actual brain, thank God, but the multi-tentacle part.)

Now what? Not sure, but here are some ideas I am exploring to stay on track. If you are like me and need some order and focus to your work day, maybe this will help you as well.

1.       Plan the day

a.      Make a daily to-do list with no more than 3 important things that need to be accomplished first that day.  Not only does this give you a road map for the day, but you will get a rush from checking off the items you have completed!

-      Keep the list in sight at all times during the day.

-      If you find your mind wandering or are distracted by a question or phone call, look back at your list and get back on track.

-      When unexpected things arise that must be put on the front burner, complete the more urgent and come back to your list.

-      Don’t take on “off list” minor commitments just because you can do them quickly.

Jonathan Fields, attorney turned lifestyle-entrepreneur, speaker and author,  said “I added up the time and energy it took to honor any 10 minor commitments, it equaled the time and energy needed to honor one big, fat honking commitment…THAT I DIDN’T MAKE because I’d already committed to the itty-bitty ones.”

-     Review your to do list with your supervisor to avoid unnecessary stress brought on by miscommunications.

2.      Manage email, instead of letting it manage you!

a.      Turn off your new email notification system or close it entirely and only open it to check mail at 2 set times per day, perhaps after lunch and at the end of the day.  If you have always answered emails immediately let your clients and colleagues know of your plans so that they will realize that this is not intentional laziness.

b.      Do not check your email first thing in the morning.  I have heard this time and time again, but always opened Outlook immediately upon starting my computer in the morning.  Doing so has a way of overriding your previously prepared to-do list with other requests.

c.       Unsubscribe to the many email newsletters you receive but don’t need or want to read.  Many of the newsletters that I receive have the same news in them. These not only clutter your brain if you try to read them all or even go through and delete the irrelevant or duplicate ones, but they also cause unnecessary use of space on your company’s network. Pick out the really good ones, and read them religiously.

d.      If you have something so urgent that checking email during the day would be a major distraction, use your out of office assistant to notify senders that you will not be returning emails until the following day.

e.      Set up rules to file emails as you receive them.

3.      Working environment

a.      Experiment with classical music or Beta wave music at work. It may help you maintain focus and concentration. Songs with lyrics tend to distract more than help. Keep the volume low so as not to disturb your neighbors.

b.      Clean off your desk and de clutter, other magazines, books, and anything that may seem more interesting to you and tempt you to move off track. Perhaps some of those magazines you receive could be viewed online and you can cancel the paper subscription?

c.       Place your computer monitors so that you sit with your back or side to the door. People will be less likely to stop by to chat if you are not facing them. Also, partially closing your door is an unspoken way of saying that I am busy and need my focus time, only interrupt me if it is urgent.

4.      Handle job assignments without over-promising and compromising your work.

a.      When you are booked solid, say no!  Zenhabits smile, breathe & go slowly offers 7 Simple Ways To Say “No”.

b.      Set clear boundaries on how much work you can handle and communicate this with those who need to know.

5.      Listen to your body. The human brain and nervous system have a keen way of alerting us when we need to slow down or risk a melt-down.

6.      Last but not least, my nemesis….I must exercise! Exercise increases the blood’s oxygen-carrying capacity and increases blood circulation and the oxygen and glucose that reaches the brain resulting in better cognitive abilities and may offset some of the aging effects on the brain.

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Amanda Eaves CPA

Louis Nizer said, “When a man points a finger at someone else, he should remember that four of his fingers are pointing at himself.” It seems to be human nature to find fault with others when things go awry.  I guess this is the easiest thing to do.  The harder thing is to look in the mirror and confront ourselves.

First, be accountable to yourself. If we are not accountable to ourselves, we cannot truly be accountable to others.  A good example would be the increasing health problems that we face today. If we took care of our bodies in the time that we spend moaning about healthcare costs, we just might fix the problem.  My excuse for missing my early morning gym appointment is usually related to a need at home or at the office….yes, of course, it is always someone else’s fault if I don’t make it… However, I have no problem making it to a scheduled 6am appointment with my kid’s teacher or with my client.  We should treat commitment to ourselves the same way that treat commitments to our clients

We are not only accountable for our actions, but for our lack of action. Another easy way out is to stand by and say nothing when the tough decisions are made or to ignore something needing improvement because that may not be “our responsibility”.  Sometimes it is the little things we ignore like the paper jam we created in the printer, but are too lazy to let someone know about.  But more importantly, a problem we see in our profession is the lack of having critical conversations in a timely manner. We need to step away from our comfort zones and have the difficult conversations with the right people at the right times.  In her blog, Convergence Coaching Inspired Idea, Jen Wilson asks us to consider performance reviews.  “Telling someone what they are doing well, what they need to improve, what they should stop doing or what they should start doing allows them to course correct and get better.  Not telling them, to quote my partner, Tamera, is ‘like allowing someone to go through a whole meal with a piece of spinach in their teeth and not realize it until later’.”

We see this at all levels within organizations today. Bryan Shelton writes on WebCPA:  “Stepping up is hard. Often times, I have seen people more willing to risk their lives than they are to risk their pride. I do not suggest this because it is an easy thing to do; I suggest it because of the serious consequences that will occur if firms don’t. Firms with a lack of leadership and vision will not make it.”

Don’t be a victim.  Russell Bishop of the Huffington Posts’s recent post offered “The CPA Approach to Accountability”. He asks us to “consider this question: What if everything were a result of something you had Created, Promoted or Allowed? If that were true, how much power would that suggest that you have over your own life, over your ability to create life exactly as you might like it, over your ability to change just about any circumstance?” Rather than floating through life as it happens to you, be a change agent for your own life.

I’ll close this post with a definition of Accountability from The Alternatives to Domestic Aggression organization.  Accountability is “Actions toward or involving others that reflect the integrity of the person you want to be.”

Who do you chose to be?

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