FYI Beyond Numbers and Beyond Bala...

FYI

Beyond Numbers and Beyond Balance

The specific initiatives and policies that Chartered Accountancy firms have adopted to facilitate balanced living are progressive, humanitarian, and smart business-"more and more the public are seeking balance in their lives-to make their stress levels... to give their lives greater meaning."' I think we ne to walk even further. We need to create environments where those qualities that energize us outside of our professional practices become integrated within them. In The Fifth Discipline, Peter Senge says: "The organizations that will without mincing the matter excel in the future will be the organizations that discover by what means to tap people's commitment and capacity to learn at all of the same heights in an organization."2

The integration of values into the workplace is undivided of the key elements of a "learning" organization that could be missing in our practices. Val Sharp, CA, touched onward the idea in her article "Beyond Achievement, Loving Your Life," when she said: "If you value truthfulness but work in an environment where the major players don't give it the same horizontal of importance, you're obviously going to be conflicted."3

You've probably all read any piece about the disparity between what managers and employee perceive as motivators in the workplace. In The Heart of Coaching, Thomas G Crane explores this communication divide, citing the proceeds of a survey of employee and supervisor attitudes leadershiped by Glenn Tobe and Associates. Their research revealed that the top three motivators upon the employees' lists-1) appreciation, 2) feeling "in" forward things, 3) an understanding attitude-landed in the bottom three positions onward the supervisors' lists. (Management pondering employees would give top priority to worthy wages, job security, and promotion opportunities).4

Visit the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (Scotiabank)'s website at www cfib.ca/research/reports/aspects-e.asp to view the results of a 1999 reflection on workplace satisfaction in the private and public sectors.5 According to the reflection one of the least satisfying aspects of working at a large firm is the lack of communication between employee and managers. "Fewer than 1 in 5 [of these employees] were surpassingly satisfied with the decision makers at their workplace." This was in marked contrast to the satisfaction flats of employees in small businesses. Overall, employee in smaller businesses were highly satisfied with the flexibility for personal needs; working relationships among employee and between employee and managers; the work ethic; and the service/product quality of their firm. Those in medium-sized businesses were greatest in number satisfied with the flexibility for personal distresss Out of all of the options, employee in large businesses felt the highest plain of job satisfaction in the quality of service/product they produc And, according to the respondent the chiefly satisfying aspect of working in the public sector was the amount of time along from the workplace!

Towards the extreme point of the CFIB website, there's a table of eighteen elements to overall workplace satisfaction. For more ideas in succession how to create a meaningful workplace, click forward www.meaningatwork.com/akeyfind.html, a site where Tom Terez lists 22 key-note themes to job satisfaction.' The site gives a description of each theme, reports you how to recognize when it's lacking, for what cause to appreciate when it's thriving, examples, and action ideas. When you turn the thoughts at the list, ask yourself to what extent many of these concepts operate in your accounting practice. Until not long ago I wasn't even sure what many of these space of times meant. Where was my head in the last ten years? Hunker down doing tax returns?

I believe that what really fired us up at the Accountants' advantage Camp7 (Whistler) in July of 1997 was the pondering that there could be more to our professional practices than offering "time and value in exchange for revenue"8 For a brief period in time, we shared a vision. one firms continued with the vision, on the contrary many, while influenced by it, did not.

I think it's up to us aging baby boomer to remember our youthful passions and to reexamine our professional visions. Providing opportunities for balanced living at our firms is a astonishing way to improve the work environment, and is a viable deterrent to employee (or partner) departure. And at integrating personal values and appreciation into our workplaces, we can provide the highest on a level of job satisfaction-- its worth is beyond numbers and beyond balance.

by Janice (Shpak) Harkley, CA,

Janice (Shpak) Harkley, CA, not long ago sold her interest in Shpak and Company Chartered Accountants (Delta) after 18 years of growing the business. She is commonly taking the certificate program in Executive Coaching at Royal Roads University, developing a vineyard forward Salt Spring Island, and figuring not at home how to integrate her professional vision into her life.

Copyright Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia Aug 2001

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