Industry: Professional services

Services used: People management development programme

Company

Prime Accountants Group is an independent firm of chartered accountants, forensic accountants, business and financial advisors. They simplify business for their clients, allowing them to spend more time doing what they do best. They have 84 employees based across three locations in the Midlands, UK. Prime Accountants have a long established reputation and client base, and have grown significantly over the past decade though acquisitions.

Challenge

Many of the managers at Prime Accountants hadn’t had any formal management development training and had been promoted into their positions after being good at their technical roles. Like many professions, in accounting there is a strong focus on developing the technical skills and understanding key legislation in people’s early careers. The skills and behaviours needed to manage people often develops through experience, learning over time.  To support them to continue to provide excellent client experience and work in an impactful and effective way the directors at Prime Accountants wanted to invest in the development of their managers. They wanted to build their confidence and approach to having great development/performance conversations and strengthen their ability to be more commercial and strategic. Helping them to be brilliant people managers quicker!

 

Solution

Prime Accountants didn’t want an ‘off the shelf’ programme for their managers’ development. They were looking for something tailored to the values that Prime Accountants strongly believe in and would have significant impact for the type of work and challenges the team experiences.

 

CAPE worked closely with Prime Accountants to identify the key business outcomes they were looking to achieve from developing their managers. This led to the creation of a set of priority management behaviours, skills and actions that aligned with the business outcomes.

CAPE then developed a bespoke programme that included a blend of learning interventions and a very practical focus:

• Six in-person workshops that combined real life work challenges with management tools and techniques.
• CAPE surgeries for managers to bring real people management challenges and opportunities to for peer support and coaching.
• 1-2-1 coaching sessions to explore their own specific management development priorities.
• Collaboration on a business project that focused on a key area of business improvement with ideas from the final presentations being taken forward as business actions.
• Online self-directed content to provide theory and ‘dive deeper’ information on key management / leadership challenge areas.
• A foundation of key conversation skills to enable managers to support and challenge their teams.

Results

 

"Highlights from participant feedback include:

 -          Enhanced managerial confidence in addressing difficult conversations.

-          Fostering cross-departmental dialogue and breaking down silos.

-          Improved team cohesion and collaboration.

-          Enhanced adaptability to change and delegation proficiency.

-          Cultivation of resilience and empowerment of team members to lead.

The team's feedback on the program reveals a big boost in confidence and feeling like a real part of Prime. They feel more valued now, not just like extras on the side lines. They are also getting better at rolling with changes, even though they know they still have more to learn in that department. They stress how important it is for managers to be confident because it makes everyone else feel more secure and makes the manager more effective company-wide.

They also realised that they are problem solvers, and they have been discussing their approach to problem-solving and communication. Additionally, they are growing more confident in addressing enquiries from individuals they do not directly supervise, showcasing their development as managers across various departments within the company.

 As we embark on our second cohort in 2024, we are poised to build upon these successes and further cultivate a collaborative and resilient business environment." Morgan Davies, Director.

Participant quotes:

“Much more confident in my role and position at Prime. I feel 'part of the team' more, rather than just a bit-part. Also, I'm able to embrace change better than before, but further development is required. A confident manager exudes surety to others and that makes them feel more comfortable and willing to follow the manager's lead. As a result, the manager is more effective and their impact is felt company-wide.”

“In approaching a problem with a staff member from my individual coaching I have instead of them feeling that I am telling them off I have reversed it so as to show how the problem is holding them back in their own progression and given them suggestions as to how they can help themselves.”

“I am confident to answer peoples questions even if they are not who I manage. I am at a manager level and I am able to portray that across other departments of the firm.”

Key impact and effectiveness themes from participants:

• Team are now empowered to better themselves and take more ownership
• More challenge to the team and delegation of the right things
• Improvement in outputs
• Able to have difficult conversations more readily
• Better thinking by team by asking the right questions

 Key impact and effectiveness themes from sponsors:

• More accountability by team
• Confidence in ownership and follow through of manager – alleviates pressure on the directors
• Wider view of the firm and the challenges
• More willing to deal with issues
• Improvement in billing targets

 

  

Programme participant feedback

 

 In 2024 a second cohort of managers are taking part in the programme to ensure that all managers have the opportunity to develop their confidence and impact.