With the slow economy still making times—and dollars—tight, it might seem counterintuitive for a CPA firm to take its staff to the beach for an annual retreat. But handled correctly, such off-site activities can be effective investments of time and money. Here are some ideas for making the most of a retreat:
Set the right date.
Mid-May
through mid-September is optimum. It’s after tax season, and
activities can be held outside.
Invite the whole office.
Breard
& Associates, a Northridge, Calif.-based CPA firm that’s been
holding annual retreats for 17 years, takes all 13 of its employees
to the meeting, leaving interns at the office to answer phones.
Including everyone costs more but boosts office morale and “buy-in.”
It also allows management to hear fresh ideas from more
perspectives. This format works for firms of as many as 30 people.
Don’t skimp on time.
Breard’s
retreats start on Tuesday evening, enabling participants to be ready
to work Wednesday morning. The events end midday Friday, providing
time for staff members to return home for the weekend.
Don’t skimp on accommodations.
Breard
spent $500 per employee to hold its retreat this year at a
beachfront resort in Oxnard, Calif. The setting helped to build
enthusiasm for the event.
Run the conference with your people. Facilitators
are costly and don’t understand your employees as well as your staff
does. You will accomplish more with staff members leading
presentations and sessions. Make sure you prepare a detailed schedule.
Kick off with a “State of the Union.” Start out
with a talk that focuses on the past year’s accomplishments and sets
a context for a vision of the future.
Break into small discussion groups. Encourage
brainstorming with small group sessions. You can, for example, hold
small conferences on the beach to discuss topics.
Strive for honesty. Have employees participate in
an annual “Good, Bad and Ugly” exercise, where they are encouraged
to submit anonymous comments about the firm, its policies, its
management and one another. The submissions are then discussed.
Conduct a SWOT analysis. After focusing internally
with the “Good, Bad and Ugly” exercise, turn your staff’s attention
outward with a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)
drill, which examines how the firm can better compete.
Include a Management of Accounting Practice (MAP)
session. This enables staff members to benchmark your
firm against similar firms via a national survey such as the AICPA’s
PCPS/TSCPA National MAP Survey (tinyurl.com/6zon4ge), which is
what Breard uses.
Implement results quickly. Once you’re back at the
office, implement new goals as quickly as possible. This will
solidify staff eagerness to repeat the experience. Pick a staff
member to put together a to-do chart of action items from the
retreat. The chart shows the due dates for each item, which
employees are responsible for each item, and any notes that will
help with implementation. The staff member who compiles the chart
then reminds the team about the items once a week. After six weeks,
hold a team meeting to discuss progress.
Do retreats work? They have for Breard, which has implemented numerous improvements, including the establishment of a toll-free phone number, the installation of a massive flat-screen TV to track firm jobs and the introduction of paperless audits.
—By Kevin Breard, CPA, ( kbreard@baicpa.com ) managing partner of Breard & Associates in Northridge, Calif.
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