Today we have a guest blogger. I am pleased to introduce Russell Cullingworth of the Centre of Excellence for Young Adults. Plus has had the pleasure of working with Russell for many years. It is critical for todays organizations to not only address the technical and business intelligence aspects of the Company but also the emotional intelligence. To help us understand how this looks, Russell has the following article to help us understand how we can improve the emotional intelligence in our organizations.
It is critical for todays organizations to not only address the technical and business intelligence aspects of the Company but also the emotional intelligence. To help us understand how this looks Russell has the following article to help us understand how we can improve the emotional intelligence in our organizations Russell has put together the following article.
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usan Anderson sat alone at her desk working quietly as she created the month-end journals. Today was a typical work day, one that suited her just fine – no meetings, no interruptions and in fact, Susan hadn’t seen or spoken to anyone in the four hours she had been in the office. Today was even better because her boss was out of the office all day. The only thing that would make today better would be to close the door between her accounting space and the rest of the office. She could work so much better without the noises and voices that carried in from outside her office sanctuary.
Susan’s work was meticulous and she prided herself on her filing and documentation behind every entry. She had completed her CA many years ago and followed up with an MBA. With 20 years experience in accounting, she was fully competent in all the technical aspects of accounting, and loved the accuracy and systematic approach to problems. Despite her qualifications and experience, her career had not progressed, and she realized that, unless something changed, she would probably never reach executive level and would continue earning a modest salary in the position of Senior Accountant with a small company.
Modern research has shown the importance of interpersonal, or “soft skills” in determining an individual’s value to and success in the workplace. Without the skills of interacting with others, building rapport and personal connections, it is very difficult for an accountant to achieve success and recognition amongst the team.
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Swiss Psychologist Dr. Carl Jung is the founder of modern day analytical psychology. At its most basic level, analytical psychology recognizes that all human beings can be categorized into two main attitude types – introversion or extraversion - and two main decision making functions – thinking and feeling – resulting in the four basic psychological types. |
The Accounting Department is a central hub through which every dollar in the organization flows. The challenge for every accountant in management is the reliance on other managers in order to get your work done successfully. Consider working with a diverse management team on whom you depend for departmental budgets, monthly variance notes and forecasts. The best way to work with this team is to recognize the unique style and needs of each manager, and determine how to adapt to each one and their needs in order to get what you want from them. This ability to recognize how others are different, and to adapt and connect in order to influence, is widely recognized as one of the most crucial leadership skills.
Understanding the basic psychological types can help to identify the teams’ needs, what drives each of them and how to make it easy for them to respond to your needs. While many people may be familiar with psychological types and perhaps their own personal type, most do not understand how to identify others and what this means in terms of adapting, connecting and influencing others.
Let’s look at the basic personality types that may exist on the team, and strategies to use with each. These types are based on the psychology of Dr. Carl Jung. The terms “Fiery Red”, “Sunshine Yellow”, “Earth Green” and “Cool Blue” are taken from the Insights Discovery Learning and Development Program.
The first basic type is those individuals that lead with “Fiery Red” (Carl Jung’s Extroverted Thinking) - action oriented individuals who has little time for process or procedure, as long as their work gets done and they bring in the cash. Known to be direct and fairly abrupt, they may think that your requirements are a bureaucratic waste of time and are holding them back from getting the “real work” done.
Fiery Red Strategy: ”Just give it to me in a nutshell.” In order to connect and influence those who lead with Fiery Red, provide brief instructions and requirements – as little as possible without letting them off the hook. Typically their variance notes will be very brief and may lack sufficient detail. Don’t let them dominate your conversations - you may need to step up your assertiveness to get them to knuckle down and do it properly. Being comfortable with conflict and challenges, they will respect you for standing up to them.
Next, we have those that lead with “Sunshine Yellow” (Extraverted Feeling) - sometimes called the Jazz Band, they love people and the human interaction. Typically, these chatty and friendly people tend to struggle with detail and focusing for long periods of time, and are easily distracted. They may find a visit to the dentist more appealing than a detailed budgeting session with the accountant.
Sunshine Yellow Strategy: “Accounting can be fun!” Do whatever you can to make accounting a fun event. Make a game out of it, or add in some funny pictures or jokes. Step up your friendly personality and sit with them while they talk through their results. Make it a bit of a social event for them - They will love you for it.
Our third basic type leads with “Earth Green” (Introverted Feeling) – these affectionate and caring individuals are drawn to warm and trusting interactions with others. With an introverted focus, they have the ability to think deeply and concentrate for long periods of time, but numbers take second place to people.
Earth Green Strategy: “A little kindness goes a long way.” Allow these individuals plenty of time to think through their responses and don’t put too much pressure on them. A personal touch, meeting with them and walking through your requirements, will really help them to connect with your needs and understand how they can support you.
Finally, those that lead with “Cool Blue” (Introverted Thinking) may be your star colleagues – with a preference for detail, process and systems, they just “get it”. If they are not accountants, they may wish they were as they admire the perfect balance of the double entry system. You may find them overwhelming you with too much detail and requests for more information such as detailed general ledger printouts. In the worst cases, they may be nit-picking about small amounts and will pick through your entries with a fine-tooth comb.
Cool Blue Strategy: “Too much detail is not a good thing.” While providing them with the detail that they need, help them to understand that too much detail may create unnecessary work. Allow them time to process the information and ask as many questions as they need to. If anyone is likely to catch your mistakes, it is them. Be aware that they may become critical about errors, formatting or missing data; this is not personal so beware of defensiveness. Thank them for their astuteness and attention to detail and use it to sharpen your skills and those of your team.
In order to grow and succeed in her work, Susan Anderson needs to learn to value and accept the strengths and personalities of others, and how to step outside of her introverted nature to build and nurture strong relationships with her colleagues.
Being a successful accounting manager and ultimately becoming a leader in your organization will require you to step outside of your comfort zone in order to adapt, connect and build rapport with management, peers and colleagues in the organization, as well as with key external stakeholders. Learning to identify type and specific preferences, drivers and behaviours will become your greatest asset in nurturing and developing these key relationships. These important skills will give you the power to influence others to help meet your needs and they will become contributors to your story of success.
About Russell Cullingworth, BCompt, MBA
Russell is founder, speaker, facilitator and coach at the Centre of Excellence for Young Adults (CEYA), conducting soft skills training for progressive organizations. Russell is a conference speaker at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of BC (ICABC) and offers a number of PD Sessions through ICABC.
He is also a conference speaker for the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of BC (APEGBC).
He received his accounting training in South Africa, completing articles with Price Waterhouse in 1991 and becoming a Certified Financial Accountant (CFA). He immigrated to Canada in 1996 and completed the Executive MBA Program at Simon Fraser University in 1999. Russell’s career experience includes Controller at CGA-Canada and Director, Finance and Facilities at Canuck Place Children’s Hospice and over five years consulting on Accounting Systems Implementations with clients such as Vancity, HSBC and the PHS Community Services Society.
