Episode 54: Reviewing the Way We Do Reviews
In Episode 54, Sam follows on from previous episodes by reviewing the way we do reviews in our industry. This episode follows on from Episodes 51 - 53 about the way we plan for, engage and retain staff in our businesses, so if you haven’t listened to the previous episodes go and do that first.
Sam explores why we need to rethink some of the everyday processes around our job reviews and the different kinds of reviews we have to do, as well as some of the ways reviews are approached in our industry.
Sam then covers how to reduce the amount of time and energy reviews are taking up and why thinking outside the box can help in making the review process more efficient.
She then discusses the importance of trust with staff in the review stage, how to know if you’re spending too much time on reviews and what to do with that extra time you’ve created by the efficiency of the review stage (hint: it’s to do with staff development and mentoring!)
Listen to an excerpt
What we cover in this episode
Why we need to rethink some of the everyday processes around our job reviews
Some of the ways our industry approaches the review stage of jobs
The different kinds of reviews that we have to do in the course of our work
Reducing the amount of time and energy reviews are taking up
Why we must think outside the box when it comes to making reviews more efficient
The importance of trust with staff in the review stage
Practical ways to get more effective and efficient with reviews
How to know if you’re spending too much time on reviews
What to do with that extra time created by the efficiency (hint: staff development and mentoring!)
Quotes
“How can you get other people more involved in the jobs and get the jobs further along the way so maybe you don't have to spend so much time in review? [One way] is to actually teach other people to do it.”
“At some point or another we have to have an element trust with our staff…what I really want everyone to think about when you're doing reviews at this point is how many times do you actually have to make changes? If that's once every 20 times or something like that, is it actually worthwhile and efficient to go and check every single one? Have those changes actually fundamentally changed either the tax result or the financial statements result? Because sometimes a lot of stuff goes back and doesn't actually change the materiality of the financial statements and tax returns.”
“There's all sorts of things that you can think about outside the box to make review time a lot shorter. So can you spend time training and developing [yourself] or training [staff] or actually developing clients to where you want to actually be?”
“If you are finding yourself spending more than 5% to 10% of the budgeted hours on a job on review, you really need to have a look at: Have I developed my staff enough? Am I really doing the job? Or alternatively, am I actually spending way too much time being a little bit more micro? Be really honest with yourself here.”
“Again, it's taking time to make time here, and it's about prioritising our time too. Sometimes it's not about how much time we have, it's actually how we're using it.”
“If you want to grow your business, and you want to create time and get off the hamster wheel yourself, this is a really good place to start [making more efficient], one of the things that you do every day: reviewing.”
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