Career Advice

Another ladder to climb?

 

You’ve passed your exams and are at the top of one ladder. Now there’s another one to climb, explains Mark Lee.

 

Were you one of the lucky ones who just shot up the qualification ladder or did you make your way up steadily, one rung at a time?

It matters not now you’ve reached the top. But have you thought about what comes next? There’s another ladder to climb of course. The career development ladder.

What should a newly or recently-qualified CTA be thinking about doing to advance their career and to climb that new ladder? Much will depend upon the size of the firm in which you work. I’ll offer some specific ideas in a moment distinguishing those relevant to different size firms.

First though, let me stress that there are two separate but related aspects to consider: technical and personal skills.

 

Technical skills

You probably fall into one of two groups. You may assume that having qualified you’re now made. You just need to keep topping up your knowledge with tax update courses and by reading Taxation magazine each week. Alternatively, you are very much aware of what you still don’t know and of how much more there is to learn despite your qualification.

It is important to be able to admit what you don’t know and avoid creating problems for yourself and for your firm by pretending to know more than you do.

Having qualified, you may also now be in a position to consider developing a specialism. It may be quite wide or it may be narrowly focused. If the latter you may want to consider the likely longevity of such a specialism. In either event you will know the importance of topping up your technical studies and ensuring that you are well placed to apply your knowledge in a commercial client focused environment.

 

Personal skills

It’s all too easy to assume that only technical skills matter or else that the development of personal skills is simply down to common sense; sadly, it’s not all simple. Last year I wrote a detailed paper examining the different ways in which ambitious professionals can enhance their non-technical skills. It covers external courses, internal training, mentoring by senior colleagues and mentoring by an experienced business coach (www.bookmarklee.co.uk/freetax.htm).

This paper followed on from some research I undertook to determine the non-technical skills required to succeed in professional firms. I identified twelve and these are set out in the box on the following page.

They aren’t all important in every firm so, when mentoring, I invariably ask professionals to do two things. You can do this yourself.

The first is to identify which skills are important as regards your role in the firm where you work.

The second is to rate your ability, as regards each of the skills you need to have, on a scale of one to ten.

Now it doesn’t matter whether you are taking responsibility for your own personal development or if your boss has engaged an external mentor to help you accelerate your progress. You can return to the checklist at a later date and track the improvement in your ratings. It’s best to have at least one other person, perhaps your boss, also rate you – much as they may already do more generally as part of the firm’s appraisal process.

An alternative approach is to think about how you want your career to develop and which skills a future employer may consider important. Even the smallest firms need someone who is a good ‘finder’ – able to win new work; a good ‘minder’ – able to keep clients happy and a good ‘binder’ – able to manage themselves and their team (although a one-man band may not have to worry about a ‘team’). There is also a fourth characteristic – ‘grinder’. This is someone who can do the client work, someone who has the necessary technical skills and the relevant experience.

There is no doubt that most qualified CTAs are well covered as regards being a ‘grinder’ – after all, that is the focus of much of their training and of most technical update courses, magazines and web research.

There are numerous business skills courses that cover the other necessary skills you will want to develop. Such impersonal standard courses are fine for some people. They listen attentively, make some notes, are debriefed on their return to the office and then review their progress in implementing new insights on a regular basis. To do otherwise is to waste an opportunity for personal growth and development. Simply stated, without regular follow up and review, much of the course will end up having been a waste of time and money. Within a week or two, any changes you resolved to try out will be forgotten. I cannot over-emphasise the benefit of making notes and reviewing these on a regular basis if you really want to benefit from such continuing professional development. And obtaining feedback from your colleagues, your boss or your mentor is also crucial.

 

Standing out

If you work in a smaller firm everyone will probably know you already. This will rarely be the case if you work in a larger firm. However, now that you have qualified you may want to become better known (for good things!) in the firm. This can be useful if you might later want to move to another department or to be promoted. Often the decision makers will take informal soundings from the least likely of places. In other cases there will be more formal discussions. Either way it will be easier to succeed in your ambitions if you are better known around the firm.

Last April I posted an item on my blog ‘How can you stand out from the rest of the pack?’ (http://bookmarklee.wordpress.com/page/8/), quoting some research undertaken by a professional services guru, David Maister. He highlighted six qualities that were both the most sought after and the scarcest resources. I’m sure this remains true today and applies just as much to tax professionals. Maister’s six key qualities are:

·        Energy.

·        Excitement.

·        Enthusiasm.

·        Determination.

·        Passion.

·        Ambition.

 

First impressions

It’s now over 20 years since I first had to make an impression in a large firm of accountants that I had joined in the hope of ‘making partner’. After some time, I realised that hard work alone was going to be insufficient; office politics would also have an influence. The more partners in the firm who knew of me and thought well of me the greater would be my chance of progression.

Of course, being well known of itself is not sufficient. What matters is your reputation, the level of trust and confidence that your colleagues have and the extent to which you are liked/disliked. This is the same both inside and outside of a professional firm. And effective networking skills can help contribute to that reputation. Equally, in due course, when there is an opportunity for career advancement the better known and more highly regarded candidate is likely to have a head start.

 

Networking

‘Networking’ is one of the twelve key business skills I highlighted earlier. It is also one of the most misunderstood skills. It doesn’t mean ‘netselling’, ‘notworking’, or ‘partying’.

It comes as a surprise to many people to learn that the best networkers are those who listen more than they talk and who are genuinely interested in other people. It is generally counter-productive to focus on trying to ‘sell’ anything (even yourself) when you are networking. It’s also a ‘long game’ such that the earlier you develop your skills here the better. In this context I will gladly send a copy of my summary notes on ‘networking for ambitious tax professionals’ to anyone who asks.

In the context of this article, let me stress that it is as important to network within your firm as it is to do so with contacts and prospective clients.

 

Advice

So congratulations on having passed your exams, but what’s next then? Talk to your partners or to whomever you report and find out what resources are available as regards your continuing professional development. But don’t expect to be spoon-fed and don’t limit yourself to technical skills. These are rarely enough to succeed in a professional environment.

In due course you may decide that you want more support than is normally available in your firm – eg, an external mentor. This is a facility often limited only to those who are being accelerated towards partnership. In any event, if you can show that your objectives are to enhance your skills so that you will be of maximum value to the firm, your enthusiasm will often be encouraged. And if it isn’t? The time may come when you need to consider whether your career ladder is leaning on the right wall!

Mark Lee FCA CTA(Fellow) is the founder of TaxAdviceNetwork.co.uk and a past chairman of the ICAEW Tax Faculty. Through his BookMarkLee consultancy he acts as a mentor and business coach for accountants and tax advisers. He also writes a regular blog for ambitious professionals and speaks on tax business development issues and networking skills. He can be contacted on 0845 003 8780 or by email: .

You can download Mark’s free checklist and guide to key business skills for ambitious tax professionals: www.BookMarkLee.co.uk/freetax.htm.

 

Box: Key business skills for tax professionals

Finding

·        Networking – meeting new people and generating work through those you meet.

·        Speaking in public – being confident and clear whether talking to small or large gatherings.

·        Pitching – asking for work or responding to invitations to tender.

·        Closing – gaining new work on acceptable terms.

 

Minding

·        Becoming a trusted adviser – understanding how to manage clients so as to encourage the right sort of referrals.

·        Handling tough clients – managing difficult relationships profitably.

·        Commercial billing – recognising the need to evidence value from the client’s perspective and appreciating the commercial value of our time.

·        Developing clients – identifying opportunities to encourage clients to instruct the firm regarding additional profitable services.

 

Binding

·        Managing teams – building trust, confidence and leadership potential.

·        Motivating staff – understanding common differences in behaviours, preferences and motivators.

·        Delegating – recognising the key elements of effective delegation and what can be delegated to increase efficiency.

·        Self/time management – avoiding common traps and keeping an effective work/life balance.