Episode 40

Productivity & Performance Strategies for Accounting Leaders

Chris Croft has an Engineering Degree from Cambridge and an MBA. After a career in manufacturing and then as a university lecturer, he started his own training company in 1995. Since then he has trained over 90K people, and his free email tips are sent to 20K people. He has 10K subscribers and 1m+ views on YouTube.

Chris has trained the top teams of various accountancy firms and while he can’t tell them about accounting, he can help them with management – of both people and time. Shownotes:

  • Why time management and delegation are always an issue for accountants
  • Face to face training is always more effective but often impractical in today’s busy world
  • Seeing time as red, brown and green is a very practical way of managing time – you’ll like these distinctions
  • Networking, while not a direct money generating activity, is important business development and should be respected
  • 5 brilliant ways busy accountants can spend less time on unimportant things
  • How to negotiate your way to an extra 50 hours a year
  • Why accountants find it hard to say ‘no’ and how this eats up a lot of their time
  • Accountants should harness the power of being less fussy or perfectionist to save an extra 5 hours every week
  • How better management of time can make accountants more profitable
  • Why accountants don’t delegate as well as they should, and some practical ways to do it better to save valuable time
  • Tip for busy accountants – if someone can do something 80% as well as you can, you should give it to them
  • Why accounting is like surgery – you’ve got to give others a chance to improve
  • Thoughts on accountability with monitoring and supporting – a brilliant framework for accounting leaders and managers
  • The meaning of life and objective of time management is to enjoy the present and achieve in the future
  • Technology has speeded everything up – it provides tools as well as temptations
  • Tips for dealing with email – the scourge of good productivity for busy accountants
  • Fun online survey to show the ‘six animals’ that signify the efficiency of accounting firms or individual accountants
  • The many benefits of writing things down for maximum productivity and efficiency
  • And much much more…

Chris is featured on www.lynda.com and LinkedIn Learning where he presents highly practical courses on time management, assertiveness, negotiation, problem solving, difficult people, and happiness. It was in the top 10 courses on Linkedin Learning for 2018. In his spare time, Chris plays the sax in a band, has two children and a dog, and is addicted to curry.

Find out more at www.www.chriscroft.com or to contact Chris directly:

Twitter: @chriscroft

Chris on LinkedIn

07966 241750

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About the Podcast

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Accounting Voices Podcast
Accounting Voices helps people in the accounting world stay relevant visible and vocal. Host Rob Brown interprets trends reshaping the profession and gives listeners insight to build authority influence and a stronger voice in firms and markets.

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About your host

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Rob Brown

Rob Brown is the founder and host of the Accounting Voices Podcast, the flagship solo show of the Accounting Voices Network. Each episode offers sharp analysis and commentary on the trends, ideas and people shaping the global accounting profession.

Through this Accounting Voices Podcast, Rob helps accounting firm leaders, decision makers and professionals stay relevant and make sense of disruption in areas like AI, automation, M&A, private equity and soft skills beyond the tech. His perspective blends clarity, insight and curiosity, making complex issues relevant and practical for professionals and decision makers across accounting and finance.

He also leads two monthly panel shows, Accounting M&A and Accounting AI, which bring together senior voices to explore consolidation, strategy and the impact of technology on firms and people.

Rob is the author of the bestselling book Build Your Reputation (Wiley) and a TEDx speaker whose talk The Personal Brand of You has more than 400,000 views. Over his career he has hosted and moderated more than 1,000 conversations with accounting and fintech leaders worldwide.

Based in Nottingham UK, Rob is a stroke survivor living with epilepsy, a black belt in kickboxing, a decent chess player and an average player of four musical instruments.