1. To develop their human resources to improve engagement and retention
   
2. A cost-effective way to meet their professional body's Continued Professional Development expectations 
   
3. To develop the soft skills that will serve them best in future
   
4. To increase their average client spend
   
5. To deliver more advisory services in the near future
   
6. To scale their firm in a sustainable way
   

The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled. - Plutarch

Why does building capability matter for my firm?

Building your capability and that of your team members allows you to differentiate your firm from others and develop a new recurring revenue stream.

Skills of today's accountant

1. Be a good accountant. 
   
2. Have the ability to numerate.
   
3. Have rounded tax knowledge.
   
4. Be commercial (have the ability to speak wider than the numbers).
   
5. Be a good communicator.
   
6. Have sales skills.
   
7. Have empathy.
   

The first three skills are the recruitment filters accountants have traditionally adopted. Today, accountants need to be good with numbers and have a good understanding of accounting, but brilliance is not essential - it’s simply a matter of knowing what you don’t know.

The remaining four skills are generally not taught at university or at traditional tax and compliance courses. These skills are your greatest opportunity to differentiate from other firms - to delight and grow your client base.

Build your team's skills

Identify your skills gaps  

Ask your accounting team to brainstorm what the above seven traits mean and then assess themselves (giving a score out of 10) against the traits to identify where they would benefit from building capability.  

We have a range of reflection and self-assessment resources to help your team, whatever their role, become more aware of where they'd like to grow their capability. See the below documents:

1. The Job Performance Wheel  An eight-spoke wheel where team members (or their leaders) can assess strengths and weaknesses.
   
2. The Leader's Wheel  Another eight-spoke assessment wheel with a leader's focus.
   
3. Team Member Reflection Questionnaire.  Take it a step further and ask your team some deeper reflection questions to understand where they'd like to grow their capability personally and professionally.
   
   

Make a plan

Consider the areas where your team would like to stretch their skills in combination with the services you want to deliver and make a plan that engages everyone in learning and developing. 

Mindsets

The Mindset article article contains key mindset images to implement and use within your firm and with clients.

1. Mindset cards are a visual expression of a model, theory or principle
2. Click a Mindset title to download a copy
   
3. Practice drawing mindsets on a flipchart in order to demonstrate to clients during meetings or workshops
   

You never really know something until you can teach it to someone else. - John C Maxwell

The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership. - Harvey S Firestone