Insights from ENGAGE: CPAs get a crash course in communication

Lauren Aldrich, CPA, didn’t start talking until she was 18 months old.

“My parents were so worried,” she said. “Then all of a sudden I started talking, and I wouldn’t shut up.”

So began a yo-yo of a childhood in terms of communication styles for Aldrich, who evolved from a bossy youngster to a bashful teen, all before evolving into an effective leader in finance.

“As we grow in our career and gain knowledge, we find our voice,” she said.

Leaning on her personal ups and downs, Aldrich, a senior finance manager for software developer JMP, had plenty to say about how CPAs can improve their communication during her session Tuesday at AICPA & CIMA ENGAGE 25 titled, “What’s the Point in Communication?”

Or, more accurately, Aldrich had just the right amount to say.

“Sometimes we do a lot of talking and not as much listening,” she told attendees to her session. “In reality, we should be listening more.”

The power of listening ranked among the top lessons that Aldrich hoped attendees would take home with them from Las Vegas.

Meeting the communication challenge

“Do you ever leave a meeting and wonder why it even happened?” Aldrich asked the audience. “The ‘why’ should drive everything else.”

To ensure that attendees don’t host such a meeting anytime soon, Aldrich encouraged them to think about an upcoming meeting and frame their intended approach to it by clearly defining the purpose behind it.

With that purpose in mind, identify the appropriate audience, gather the appropriate information, and calculate the appropriate amount of information to share.

“It shouldn’t take you 15 minutes to engage the room,” Aldrich said. “When you’re able to get to the point quickly, it makes others more productive and instills confidence in your abilities.”

Finally, practice the delivery of information to the point of mastery — but also prepare for the possibility of unexpected developments along the way.

“Don’t respond to a question with a blank stare and say, ‘I didn’t prepare for that,’” Aldrich said. “Instead, encourage your audience to tell you more and be happy to discuss it further.

“It’s hard to be caught off guard if you go into it expecting disruption.”

Communication is about more than meetings

Properly preparing for meaningful meetings is paramount in the business world, but sometimes the key to taking care of business is meeting your audience where it is.

Team meetings are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to types of communication that CPAs deploy. Meetings can be in person or virtual, and email, texts, and even good old phone calls remain common ways to connect.

Picking the right form of communication is crucial — and sometimes the right choice is right in front of your face.

“When I was an auditor, we had a client that no one liked working with. They said he just never responded, or he was very gruff if he did,” said Aldrich, who eventually found herself heading up communications with the client. “I started walking across and talking through things with him, just engaging in conversation.

“I found him to be very polite. He would talk, he would smile, he would give me good answers.”

Where was the disconnect with others on Aldrich’s team?

“Come to find out, the people before me had just been sending emails with lists of questions or numbers, saying, ‘Can you look at this and get it back to me?’

“He saw that as a lack of effort, so a lot of times he just didn’t respond. But because I took the time to go and sit with him and to communicate with him in a way that he best understood and felt heard, I was able to get a lot more from him.”

The value of saying less

“Communication is not throwing more and more information at others until they agree with us. There is a sharing — an exchange — that takes place,” Aldrich said. “And communication is more than the words you are speaking. Communication is body language, facial expression, listening.”

Aldrich wrapped up her session by sharing five parting thoughts, among them, “Talk less, listen more.”

The other four didn’t include the word “listen,” but in every case, it was implied:

• Get to know others.
• Lead with questions.
• Be genuine.
• Get to the point quickly.

“You speak volumes when you listen,” she said.

— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Bryan Strickland at Bryan.Strickland@aicpa-cima.com.