#117 October 18th, 2023
Blake Carroll, CPA
PwC People Team - Manager | Helping Aspiring CPAs Navigate the CPA Exam with Confidence
How much do businesses focus on the customer experience versus the employee experience? Those two things do not have to be mutually exclusive or in opposition to each other. Commonly, the customers will get the bulk of the attention, and unfortunately there are times it is to the detriment of the employees. But it does not have to be that way, and ironically a lot of times the customer experience will actually be greatly improved as a byproduct of an improved employee experience. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of your customers. So how can businesses accomplish that? A very important foundation is a feeling of trust between employees and the company, and trust must flow in both directions. When employees know that their leaders trust them, they feel more empowered to speak their minds which leads to more sharing of ideas as well as identifying areas for improvement. l
Leaders have to be humble and accept responsibility and accountability for the employee experience and where it has come up short and can be improved. Employees need to feel like their voice matters and will be listened to. There needs to be alignment between the company’s values, it’s goals, and the metrics that define success along the path to those goals. The resulting effects are that employees are connected to the company’s mission and also aware of how they contribute to it. There is a greater sense of purpose and motivation that makes employees work harder and be more engaged. People want to feel like the work they are doing has an impact and makes a difference. Conversely, if there is incongruency in these areas than employees may become cynical and jaded and be more likely to leave. Companies must also make sure to recognize and reward the behavior they want to see. It is very helpful when employees have concrete examples about what the right thing to do is, and this is another good source of motivation too. Lastly, employees need high-quality and helpful tools to use in their actual day to day work. It’s very frustrating when technology tools are more of a hindrance and actually slow down work rather than making it easier or better. The sheer volume of tools and applications many employees have to use is also a common issue. Be sure to get employee feedback on how you can improve your technology, and then actually follow through on those ideas. Overall the employee experience helps drive the customer experience, and it is an incredibly worthwhile investment. ?
Journalist Sonia Singh gives her personal blueprint for being a top performer without having to sacrifice your well being outside of work. The first step is recognizing that most of the time your harshest judge and critic will actually be yourself, especially in moments of struggle or failure. When you encounter that, you need to practice self compassion. You can be honest about what you need to do better without unproductively berating yourself. You also must take care of your physical and mental well being because if those are in a bad state there is no way you can perform at your top capacity. The author also visualized the future moments of success and reaching goals so that she became familiar with what it would feel like and motivated to pursue that. But you do need to make sure those goals you’re going after are realistic and that you have a concrete plan to get you there, consisting of smaller steps and milestones along the way. The author also advocates for developing a mindset that acknowledges negative thoughts and challenges will pop up but we each have the power to reframe them in a more beneficial and helpful way.
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If you struggle with procrastination, have you ever taken a step back to question what is the underlying cause of it? If you’re actually afraid of failing at the project then it is likely you will never even start in the first place because you think if I don’t start then I can’t fail. So then we must question how bad would failure actually be? And would people really pay that much attention to you failing? People also procrastinate because they think if you can’t do something perfect then it is not worth doing it at all. But how unrealistic is that? Perfection is just not achievable at most things. You have to establish a standard for yourself of what is good enough. Comparison is also likely to lead to procrastination because we will feel like we are not as good as other people. so what is the point of trying? Sometimes you simply don’t care that much about whatever the task is, especially if you’re doing it out of obligation as opposed to your choice. If you have simply too many options to choose from you can easily get bogged down flip flopping and never actually act on any choice. If the aggregate amount of everything you need to work on is scary or intimidating it’s easy to think there’s no point so why even start because you’ll never be able to get it all done. You have to break the mountain of tasks down into smaller, more manageable chunks so you’re making a little bit of progress each day. You also can set smaller deadlines along the way that will keep you on track to that ultimate final deadline. Write down your goals and get specific so that you have that constant visible reminder of what you’re trying to achieve, and what is being held off by you procrastinating.?
CPA tip of the week: Every person who has had the goal of passing the CPA exam has experienced the fear of failure. It can be really difficult to get rid of that feeling, so what if we try to work on the other side be redefining what it means to "fail?"Are you defining failure as having to retake a section? Most people have to do that, and for more than one section.Are you defining failure as really struggling with a certain topic or chapter? I guarantee we've all been there.Are you defining failure as getting below a 90 because you're stuck on the letter grading scale from school? You only need a 75 to pass.The ONLY way to truly fail is to quit, give up, and stop trying. If you commit to sticking with this goal, no matter what happens, it is just a matter of time before you get there. By changing what it means to fail, you make it much easier to not let that fear hold you back and keep you stuck.