With the new year here it’s time to move forward, look at things differently and perhaps even head down a new path in your firm. Moving on and hopefully away from COVID-19 is the season of new opportunity, so now is the time to refresh your workplace habits to create your own “new beginning.” Remember, you don’t need to make drastic decisions to start over.

Why not consider adopting these business practices to refresh your routine and open new doors:

Assess Your Leadership Skills:
At Smithink, we believe and teach accounting professionals that everyone can be considered a leader regardless of their job position. So, take a moment at the beginning of each day to remember that you are a leader, and your actions should reflect your personal values, as well as those of your firm. Empower yourself to find new opportunities to further develop your leadership skills. Maybe volunteer to take on ownership of a new project, mentor a new employee, evaluate your personal career goals, and create new paths to achieve them.

Practice an Environment of Gratitude:
Take a positive attitude, and share it with your team. Providing genuine care for your people is one key to engage employees, and as we have seen, it can directly translate into employees providing a high level of care for your clients. Find new ways to appreciate the work that your employees, peers, and leaders are contributing to the organisation. This new level of care can result in a happier, more engaged workforce.

Be Curious About Your Surroundings:
Curiosity will lead you down new paths, so now is a great time to be more curious about your surroundings. Take the change in scenery as an opportunity to brainstorm and think outside of the box. Think about moving your weekly meetings to other venues. Innovation stems from new stimuli. Be curious about other firms and companies. What are their business challenges and how have they solved them? You just might be surprised to discover a solution that could apply to your firm.

Celebrate Success:
We all work hard and too often do not have the time to celebrate success. Maybe providing team incentives could be an option. I know of a firm that provides lunch at the local hotel if the team meets budget and if they exceed it by nominated percentages the quality of the lunch and restaurant moves upwards. It is a great way to get the team focussed on common goals and be rewarded for their efforts.

To learn more about leadership, innovation and management come to our Young Guns Workshop at the Hilton Hotel Surfers Paradise on 10-11 2022. For more information and to register you and your team click here. Earlybird pricing is available until 10 September.