Runs on PeopleAccountancy and professional services
Firms that run on partners, managers and trainees, and on busy seasons that test all of them.
The nine dimensions, in your world
What weak looks like here. Each one links to its playbooks.
Product and Operations
OutcomesDeadlines are met, but clients can't say what the firm did for their business.ReliabilityYear-end only lands because a manager works every January weekend.MeasuresUtilisation is tracked closely while write-offs quietly grow.Playbooks, in your terms
Trainee 1:1s become a review of chargeable hours. Put the timesheet aside and ask what they'd bet goes wrong in busy season.The 1:1 playbookPeople · Trust→One senior manager holds every relationship with your biggest client.People debtPeople · Capability→A file-review checklist that grows after every regulator visit and never shrinks.Process is an agreementProcess · Agreements→A partner promises a client a fast turnaround in busy season. Show the team's deadlines before anyone agrees.How to say noProcess · Clarity→The manager who works every January weekend to rescue the tax returns.Stability without heroesProduct and Operations · Reliability→Telling a strong trainee they won't make manager this year.Runbooks for humansPeople · Trust→Picking which service line to build when one partner's client is the loudest.Prioritisation that survives the loudest voiceProduct and Operations · Outcomes→Partners want billable hours; the firm needs time for systems, training and quality. A fixed split ends the annual fight.Ending the engineering vs product tug of warProcess · Cadence→"Trusted adviser to growing businesses" means something specific to the trainee preparing management accounts: the client reads them to make decisions.From vision to the graduate's first dayProcess · Clarity→Utilisation targets drive juniors to log hours, not value. Pair utilisation with write-offs and the picture changes.Using data to make decisionsProduct and Operations · Measures→A manager everyone loves whose engagements always overrun. That's leading without managing.Good manager, good leader: how to know you're bothProduct and Operations · Measures→A newly promoted manager still reviews every file personally because it's faster than coaching the trainee.You've been promoted. You're a beginner again.People · Capability→The partner who rewrites every report trains managers to stop thinking about the client.Multiply, don't diminishPeople · Capability→A manager who saved a client relationship should make sure the partner who owns the client hears it.Getting noticed, without the networking malarkeyPeople · Capability→a busy-season pulse catches burnout in week three, not in the leavers' exit interviews.Surveys that change somethingProduct and Operations · Measures→good teams file on time. Excellent teams tell clients what they should be worried about next year.Good vs excellentProduct and Operations · Outcomes→a post-busy-season reset before the next one starts, with the trainees in the room.How to reset a teamProcess · Cadence→the endless cycle of deadlines. Showing a client's thanks to the team that did the work helps.Groundhog Day: when every week feels the samePeople · Energy→
Industry notes written with people who work in accountancy and professional services are coming. Want to contribute? Get in touch.