Lyness Accountancy
Background
Size: 9 people
Sector: Financial Services
Location: Birmingham
Status: First achieved Investors in People recognition in 2003; working with Work Life Balance Model since 2004; awarded Champion Status in 2005
Overall impact
“Being an Investors in People Champion is a great way to grow. Because of the significant impact it has had on our organisation, we are passionate about taking best practice out to other like-minded firms.”
Sue Lyness, Operations Director, Lyness Accountancy
The organisation
Set up in 1993, Lyness Accountancy took the typical owner manager route of one man, one phone, an office and no clients. The man, Roy Lyness, gradually built up the business until he was working up to 20 hours a day in tax season. Roy also believed that he was the only man his clients really wanted to talk to and, not surprisingly, found himself in danger of burning out.
Fortunately four years ago he was introduced to the business ideas of the renowned business guru, Michael Gerber. Roy began to completely re-engineer the Practice and put into place systems that would impart his knowledge to the team and enable him to take a much more strategic focus.
Today Lyness Accountancy is an award-winning owner-managed business. It achieved the Investors in People Standard in 2003 and was awarded the prestigious Champion Status in 2005.
The challenge
Lyness had developed a great team and was achieving some spectacular results, but could never really identify the right time to go for the Investors in People Standard.
“We really wanted to make sure we were doing things right as well as identify any areas for improvement,” says Sue Lyness, Operations Director. “We considered it for 18 months before saying to ourselves we should just get on with it. Apart from anything else outside recognition of our efforts was important for the team.”
The team felt focus was needed on what was actually being done. There was consensus that many of the processes were happening but not in any structured way. This led to the problem that no-one was really sure if it was being done effectively. Any vision apparently in place for the business tended to get lost in the day-to-day activities.
The strategy
Having chosen to adopt the Investors in People framework, the first step was to set up a formal structure for the development of staff. This in turn would identify potential skills gaps; Lyness could then put a strategy in place to plug those gaps.
“We introduced a monthly measuring tool called the ‘One Page Plan’. This highlights the things we must get absolutely right in our business to keep on track and be successful,” says Sue.
The plan monitors the business’s critical success factors, a combination of quantitative and qualitative factors that compares actual results to forecasts month on month. It is then used to take corrective action immediately before the business suffers from any consequent downturn.
“We’ve been using the One Page Plan for two to three years now. Each Friday everyone fills in their own form and rates how they feel their week maps against the factors. We use a combined numerical/words rating system. For example, my one could be completely different to someone else’s but if we then combine that with words such as ‘really brassed off’ and make ten a ‘shouting from the roof tops’, we get a much more consistent response. We initially started this on a monthly basis but find weekly better as people’s recollection tends to fade after a week or so.”
The company also formalised its weekly internal training, monthly group team meetings and quarterly individual coaching sessions and focused them to inspire enthusiasm. It also added annual strategic Away Days and quarterly half day sessions. Its monthly Board meetings are also now focused on strategy and planning.
“We already had bonuses in place but more recently we reviewed them to include monthly, quarterly and annual bonuses based on group performance, explains Sue. “This was related to staff input and has really upped motivation.”
Another recent innovation is the introduction of a monthly prize draw for team members based on how they have ‘wowed’ their clients during the month.
“Reward is a key theme for us,” explains Sue. “Any team member who receives an unsolicited client compliment receives formal recognition at the team meeting and they get a ‘reward’. To make it more special though, we individualise them as different rewards are different motivators. For some cash is king, for others it’s time off and then there are those who simply need extra confidence.
“Each team member has a training budget they can use for any type of training,” adds Sue. “It doesn’t have to be used just for professional development. Personal development in any field, for instance learning to drive, running a marathon or learning a foreign language are all areas where we have contributed.”
Sue has a close relationship with all team members and communicates regularly. She has noticed how matters outside of the workplace often reflect in the happiness measurement. To this end the organisation recognises the family needs of the team and supports the care of elderly parents for all team members. Everyone is given a day off on their birthday.
On the numbers front, Lyness now monitors and reviews its results much more closely and quickly changes what is not working. Such areas are highlighted by looking at their action plans.
“We have an action plan from the original assessment and an action plan from the revised Standard that we are working towards to ensure continuous development and improvement,” says Sue.
Sharing best practice is also at the heart of the organisation. Lyness hosts monthly workshops for local entrepreneurs. Now in its third year, its prime ethos is to present best practice based on a business building topic. At the next meeting a monthly champion is formally recognised for implementing best practice from the last meeting.
Results
“Our organisation believes ‘what you can measure you can manage,’” says Sue. “All individuals are now aware of their individual targets and we have seen real motivation kick in when the targets have been reached.”
Lyness evaluates the impact of learning and development through monthly KPIs including team happiness and sickness levels. Team happiness features on its ‘One Page Plan’ and has a knock on effect to other areas such as sickness levels. As a small company Lyness cannot carry much sickness so it offers people BUPA cover after six months. This means staff do not have to wait for physiotherapy after an operation or can have a routine operation at the weekend for example.
“The impact of this is that staff really have a give and take attitude and they want to support their team,” explains Sue. “We passionately believe a well-trained and happy workforce reward you many fold. Our performance certainly substantiates our beliefs and it’s very difficult to argue with actual results.”
Lyness was the fourth company in the Black Country to achieve Investors in People recognition in Work Life Balance and it is part of the embedded culture.
Sue says: “We managed to recruit a much sought-after fully qualified accountant who said that our Investors in People recognition and work life balance ethos had a direct impact on his decision to join us.”
Lyness has achieved further external recognition; the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) has awarded the business its prestigious Quality & Assurance Kitemark. “Good practice from the Investors in People assessment goes hand in hand with the Kitemark and it gives clients peace of mind that its ‘housekeeping’ is of the best possible standard. This ultimately suggests our service follows suit,” says Sue. “This has created more opportunities to work with top quality clients and, perhaps more importantly, retain them.
“For many it could be thought that a small business should not get involved in so much planning. We would say quite the opposite. It is vital for all sizes of organisations to have this planning discipline. We say it is the way to growth and solid organisational foundations,” adds Sue.
All team members attend internal and external monthly training sessions. They are encouraged to report what they have learned and pick out up to five areas of best practice that can be implemented within the organisation. “The ripple effect here is quite amazing,” continues Sue. “And because the individual team member is responsible for best practice implementation it involves the whole team.
“The benefits menu has also worked well. If someone is able to have what they really want, not what the business owner thinks they want, they feel valued and appreciate that choice. It has produced a happy and productive team.”
“Our clients also value the fact we take care of the team,” says Sue. “After all they are the people who service their requirements. Customers want to deal with a settled team and all of that is directly linked to the culture of our organisation.
Further recognition of Lyness’s Achievements came when it was awarded Champion status in 2005. “Being an Investors in People Champion is a great way to grow,” concludes Sue. “Because of the significant impact Investors in People has had on our organisation, we are passionate about taking best practice out to other like-minded firms."