After almost a decade in business, Chartered Accountants Jeremy Winstone and Neil France, had doubled the size of their Christchurch-based practice. However, they felt the firm’s direction was “drifting, rather than being intentional.”

“We kept bumping up against the same restricting factors, like being ‘too busy’,” says Winstone.  “There were also some things we disagreed on and, although no one was right or wrong, the difference of opinion meant we didn’t change anything because we weren’t properly aligned.”

The firm was testing out broadening its offer to provide business advisory services and saw the significant improvements clients were making. When Dan Larsen joined the board as a director, he reached out to The GAP who suggested they join an accountability group.

The idea was to create external pressure to hold Winstone and France to account. John Schol of Malloch McClean brings together groups of likeminded owners of non-competing accounting businesses to meet quarterly, share knowledge and drive improvements.

“Having accountability and some hurt — which is simply paying for the sessions and picking up the dinner and drinks tab if you didn’t kick your goals — made us carve out time to work on the business,” says Winstone. “And the better our business becomes; the more ability we have to support clients”.

A facilitated strategic planning session was crucial for alignment and direction:

“Much of our time was spent nutting out: what do we stand for? What do we want out of work? What do clients come to us for? What do we want our team members to be like?

“We re-confirmed that amongst the three of us and our wider team - who are all at different career stages and with differing skill sets – we still had a lot in common. Genuine time clarifying core values and purpose made discussions about budgets, KPIs and growth significantly more effective.

“Now, we’ve got actionable plans covering quarterly, annual and 5-year goals that are easy to refer to without being draconian and detailed. The strategic plan is a key reference point for director meetings, and quarterly accountability meetings ensure we keep focus and momentum.

“Could we have done it ourselves? Possibly, but the outcomes wouldn’t have been as effective and it’s too easy to back-off from change. Having been through the facilitated strategy session and quarterly meetings with external accountability, we won’t go back to self-delivery”.