Change Your Mindset

“Learning how to listen effectively is a critical part of communication and building stronger connections.” Peter Margaritis

 Being an active listener creates many advantages in life and work. However, mastering the art of active listening is easier said than done. Active listeners pay attention to what others are saying without thinking about how they will respond or how the conversation might affect them. They listen to a big difference in what the other person is saying – not what they hear.

We can all become more active listeners. Here are three essential tips to consider as you work toward becoming a more active listener – and communicator!

Listening = Communication

Communication is an essential part of any relationship, whether personal or professional, so learning how to listen effectively is a critical part of communication and building stronger connections. Without communication, there would be no relationships.

Active listening skills are learned, not innate

The keys to becoming a great listener are awareness and practice. A common mistake in conversations is getting caught up in what we want to say – instead of listening to what the other person is saying. So instead of just waiting for your turn to speak, spend more time actively listening. Then respond when you've genuinely heard what's being said.

There's no easy shortcut to learning active listening skills. However, what you can do right away is to PAUSE in a conversation and consider what the other person is expressing with thoughts and ideas. Respond by asking questions. Let them talk. Make eye contact. Repeat what you think you heard and get their affirmation that you listened to what they said – not what you wanted to hear. The more you practice these skills professionally and personally during your conversations, the better you'll get at them!

When you're in conversation with someone, your natural tendency might be to formulate your response while they're still talking. So instead of making any judgment or addition based on your assumptions, focus solely on listening and learning as much as possible from what they are saying. In other words, don't give advice when someone hasn't asked for it! Instead, show that you want to understand their perspective and feelings before proposing anything.

Seek Ways to Practice Every Day

Developing active listening skills is easier said than done, but as with most skills, constant practice will pay off greatly. One way to begin your daily routine is to jot down three things you heard that made sense and one thing you listened to that didn't make sense—keep these notes in your phone or on a whiteboard at work. Then, as you go through your day, take note of what you hear that doesn't seem to be making sense; then do some follow-up research. Wash – Rinse - Repeat!

Each day, take time out of your schedule to reflect on how you interacted with other people. In addition to building quality communication skills that will become practical tools for handling any situation, active listening can also help develop effective team dynamics at work and help create more meaningful professional relationships outside of work.

We all need to become more active listeners!

To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit: petermargaritis.com

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“If you are leveraging collective intelligence, respecting diversity, and inviting dissenting ideas, you are going to uncover the unknown unknowns more quickly and likely come up with better results.” Rod Collins

My guest today is Rod Collins. Rod is a leading expert on digital transformation and the future of business. He's the host of the Thinking Differently podcast on the C suite Radio Network, where he explores how technological innovations continue to transform the rules of how successful businesses work. Rod is a regular blog contributor on Substack and the author of Wiki Management, a revolutionary new model for a rapidly changing and collaborative world, highlighting the innovative tools and practices used by a new breed of business leaders to sustain extraordinary performance in a world reshaped by digital disruption.

Rod is a former Chief Operating Executive of the Blue Cross Blue Shield federal employee program, one of the nation's largest and most successful business alliances. Under his leadership, the business experienced the most significant five-year growth period in a 60-year history.

Today, our conversation centers around the concept of self-managed distributed network corporate structures versus the traditional hierarchy of power and control corporate structure.

There are two fundamental ways that organizations can be set up. For the last 150 years, most organizations have followed one model: the centralized, top-down Command and Control hierarchy. The self-managed distributed network is the second model practiced by a smaller number of companies that are more adaptive to change.

The form of power that works in the hierarchy is coercive power. In networks, their design principle is nobody smarter than everybody, and so they leverage collective intelligence, and the way things get done is through collective power.

One difference between a self-managed network and a top-down hierarchy is that the individual unit of work is the particular person in order. In contrast, in networks, the unit of work is the team. 

The networks are more likely to grow in rapidly changing times because networks can adapt better. In hierarchies, the basis for strategy is central planning, and once those plans are formulated, they tend to be fixed and compliance enforced. They approach the process through iterative discovery in the network, which is very important in rapidly changing times.

Regarding leadership, the prototype for the leader in the hierarchy is the individual hero who will come in and save the company. In networks, leadership is a team function. The team can maximize its strengths by pulling in the appropriate optimal talent to take the effort forward, which means everyone gets to experience being a leader.

As with all C-Suite leaders, the CEO does not direct the company's activity, but the role of the CEO is to play facilitative training and maintain the unique culture to make sure that this team-based self-management approach is preserved.

To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit: petermargaritis.com

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“Everyone should be involved in developing solutions to customer problems.” Peter Margaritis

The traditional hierarchy organizational structure has been around since the 1950s, and so have many of the strategies developed to make it work well. As time goes on though, some of these strategies are becoming less effective, while others are simply out of date.

 A flat organization is a company that does not operate on strict hierarchies like most traditional businesses. In these companies, decisions are made at the operational level rather than from senior executives who have little contact with employees at work sites.

One thing about flat organizations is that not all companies can be flat because not every business model is suited to a flat structure. However, if your company isn't in a tightly structured industry, using a flatter organization can help you become more agile and responsive to reducing hierarchy-related costs.

Most companies have tried experimenting with flat organizational structures, but few have mastered it. Yet some organizations are very successful in doing so. They have implemented policies and protocols that allow them to maintain a happy employee base while producing outstanding results

The last few years have seen an increase in companies pushing towards flatter organizational structures. The 10 elements of a flat organization include

1.      There are no strict hierarchy layers.

2.      Everyone is responsible for what everyone does.

3.      Each employee's opinion matters, regardless of rank or seniority.

4.      Decisions are made as close to customers as possible.

5.      One size fits all. (Is it a good approach?)

6.      Teams across geographies come together regularly if not daily.

7.       Employees can take their leave whenever they want and are encouraged to do so.

8.      Employees are encouraged to use their initiative and not to feel micromanaged.

9.      Employees wear many hats.

10.  Collaboration and teamwork are emphasized within functional areas

Ego and office politics kill successful collaboration but in a flat organization, these hierarchy collaboration killers rarely exist, and if they do, they're immediately addressed. Collaboration is one of the underlying principles in improv leadership.

To achieve a successful partnership, there must be a foundation of respect for the other party. Each party should be trustworthy and supportive of the team. If any of these three foundations are missing, collaboration ceases to exist.

Flat organizational structures are not for every organization, however, your organization can adopt a flattish approach and become nimbler by distributing the power and authority to others to make decisions without your approval. 

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“The type of person that we had to look for to be a virtual CFO is completely different than the type of person that we looked forward to being an accountant.” Jody Grunden

My guest today is Jody Grunden. Jody is the CEO and co-founder of Summit CPA Group, a fully distributed virtual CFO firm. He has authored two books, Digital Dollars, Cents, and Building the Virtual CFO Firm in the Cloud. He won multiple awards, including recognition of Tony's Top Innovative Practitioner by cpa.com. 

In today’s episode, Jody will discuss what he's done to position his organization in a way to compete in the accounting profession uniquely.

Our accounting company was set up to do things differently from other accounting firms. We did the flat fee, which allowed us to get rid of the hourly billing entirely and significantly cut administrative costs. We created a subscription-based billing where our clients got a bill and got the money zapped out of their account every week. We started working remotely in 2013, and the business has evolved with the idea of taking risks and doing things that no other firm has ever done.

The type of person we had to look for to be a virtual CFO is entirely different from what we looked for to be an accountant. Accountants think and act entirely differently where they are risk-averse and very to the books. The personalities for virtual CFOs include risk-taking, the ability to communicate well with people, high EQ, and helping people solve their problems. We developed a program internally to help that client or CFO and educate them on how to communicate their messages.

It took eight years to figure out how to price my products and know that people would pay for them. The key is pricing it right to pay your employees well, have happy employees, and ensure that the customers are satisfied. To have a solid base to give your customers, it takes a lot of trial and error and listening to feedback from clients.

To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit: petermargaritis.com

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Leaders need to remember that all eyes are on them at all times. They are being watched for how they manage pressure and conflict. Leadership in action is setting the fear, panic, negative and reactive emotions aside at the moment and responding with calm and confidence.

When an organization hires you, you become part of that brand. In and out of the office, your actions, words, behavior, and attitude are seen, experienced, and judged by those who follow you. Also, note that your followers can make or break you.

At any gathering, it is an opportunity to network, meet people and create new opportunities and possibilities with other people. But, unfortunately, when we forget this, we send out negative emotions and attitudes, seen from our body language. Body language is a powerful thing both negatively and positively, and it speaks loudly to everyone in the room.

As leaders, it is part of our responsibility to recognize negative attitudes and behaviors and coach the person to do better. Our job is to address these issues and provide suggestions and feedback for improvement.

According to a report by personal power information, the silent signals you portray may be harming your business without even knowing it. Poor body language can damage your business relationships by sending signals that you're not as trustworthy as you claim to be.

Before walking into a meeting in a client's office or the cafeteria at work, thinking about your body language and how you can emote a positive vibe versus igniter one is up to you and the impact you want to make. 

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“Your clients will like you better if you just show that you know them, and you're listening to them more than telling them how much you are an expert.” Tom Wadelton

My guest today is Tom Wadelton. He earned his bachelor's degree in computer technology from Purdue University and an MBA was a finance minor from Indiana University. He's a CPA who's licensed in the state of Indiana. Tom is a member of the association of international certified professional accountants AICPA as well as the Indiana CPA society. He was the chair of the Indiana CPA society in 2019 and began to turn on the AICPA Board of Governors in 2021.

Tom held accounting roles in a Fortune 500 company prior to coming to summit CPA group as a virtual CFO. At summit CPA group, Tom has been advising clients using the concepts developed by the firm and ton of the virtual CFO playbook course. Tom and his wife Cindy live in Indianapolis, Indiana, they have three grown children and two grandchildren.

The biggest continual challenge working as a virtual CFO with clients is not being with the client day to day, and therefore it is hard to know some of the backstories of what things are going on in their businesses. The other challenge has to do with managing time and how to get everything done for the clients.

We have a playbook for other CPA firms that would like to offer virtual CFO services. We have a 15-module course that people can go through where we tell every single thing that we do. The aim is to help all the people who want to continue client-advisor service as well as expand. We also have a one-hour meeting once a week with other CPA firms that can come in and ask questions about how we do things. Many firms want to step into being that advisor role but making that step to do it can be challenging, and so we're trying to help them on how they would get to do that.

The biggest challenges for CPA firms on taking this new revenue model include staffing and lack of technology pieces that aid a consistent process. A lot of it has to do with the fear of action to move since CPAs are usually careful and want to be perfect. However, often we say just do one, and you'll learn so much by just sitting down with a prospective client.

One of the skills missing currently that people could really build is the ability to do forecasting. Clients don't really want to come having you explain the history, rather they want someone to help them go where they want to go. If someone is really good at forecasting, that's where clients find the most value for a service.

To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit: petermargaritis.com

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Sometimes we have a hard time defining what good or great leadership is, but we also know what bad leadership is.

I believe in Improv leadership, which is more about the team and less about an individual. No matter what business we are in, people are our most important asset and we need to begin to treat them better.

The firing of 900 employees by the CEO of better.com via a zoom call is a tragic example of how not to manage people.

How do you inspire when you are leading a large number of people and can't interact with them individually? You can by tone and attitude. Being in a toxic environment where you are ridiculed when you make comments or question will lead to either choosing to keep your job and silencing yourself or choosing to leave and finding another job.

Intimidation is not a form of management and this type of leadership needs to go away and be replaced with some type of leadership that has compassion. One that looks at their people who are productive as an ethical part of the organization and show respect for their employees. When you show respect to your employees, that puts you apart from a lot of other leaders out there who look at their employees as just a number and something that is replaceable

Ego has a lot to do with good and bad leadership. The leaders who are willing to put it aside will be more successful than those leaders who still want to tell everybody what to do and how to do it, and look at them as a replaceable asset. It goes back to being human and going back to thinking about a fellow person, being tolerant and supportive.

To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit: petermargaritis.com

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"When we have compassion and empathy for ourselves, we will radiate that to other people." Kathy Klotz

Kathy Klotz-Guest is a speaker, author, comedian, and founder of Keeping It Human. Kathy started Keeping It Human after 15 years leading tech marketing and communications. Her mission is to help leaders, teams and companies use Improv and humor principles to be happier, healthier, and more creative all the while having more fun.

Cathy has worked for global brands such as Amazon, Dow Jones and Deloitte and has spoken internationally on company and conference stages, including South by Southwest, Inbound and coming soon, TEDx salon. In addition, Kathy studied and performed Improv at Comedy Sports and Sketch at the second city La. Kathy still performs and teaches Improv and stand up. Kathy is a graduate of Stanford University and UC Berkeley with an MBA and a Masters of Arts. She is currently working on her third book and still barely makes her teen kids laugh.

The challenges that organizations have today stems from fear and uncertainty and this keeps people from moving forward because they get stuck in old patterns that have to be unlearned. Leaders thought that they had to have all the answers but with a shift of mindset towards improvisational thinking, we reframe leadership and suddenly realize that leaders don't have to have all the answers and that it is okay to let go.

Leaders constantly send these conflicting, contradictory messages, which are shut-up signals. Suppose we don't do something about honoring the way people learn and how they check for credibility and honesty in an organization. In that case, we are just shooting ourselves in the foot repeatedly because we're doing the same things and expecting that it's going to be different.

Leaders must let people experiment and know that it's safe to fail. Part of growing that muscle is to be okay with failure and see it as learning. The difference between people who succeed and those who don't is that the people who succeed keep trying and keep showing up every day.

People have a template mentality about how things are supposed to work, but that's not how humans or life works. The reality is so much of the bravery, boldness, and the art of learning to show up human, making mistakes, learning, and improving. This requires us to use this muscle of trusting the process.

Lead with compassion. Give yourself permission to play, be human, and make mistakes. When you do that for yourself, you are more likely to show up that way for other people, which will automatically make it safer for other people to connect with you.

To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit: petermargaritis.com

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For the first time since I launched Change Your Mindset in 2016, I’ve decided to take the month of December off to pause and reflect. This podcast is very near and dear to me, and I want to put the time and care necessary into making the next evolution of it with intentionality. From podcast length to formatting, I spend this episode rehashing the past and brainstorming what’s to come.

This podcast has reached people all over the world in 136 countries and all 50 U.S. states. I am continually blown away by the power of this exciting medium. It has only grown to what it is today through consistency, commitment, and patience.

See you all in 2022!

To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit: petermargaritis.com

Resources:

• Read: Off Script: Mastering the Art of Business Improv

Change Your Mindset is a production of Crate Media

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“When you see a turtle on top of a fence post, chances are he did not get there on his own.” Joey Haven starts off a recent blog post with this old saying to illustrate how leaders only get to where they are because others helped them get there. Joey serves as the managing partner of strategic growth for the CPA firm HORNE, writes the beBetter blog, and is an active member of CPA Practice Advisor’s Top 30 Thought Leaders. He talks about the power of building a firm with a strong foundation of culture.

To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit: petermargaritis.com

Resources:

Change Your Mindset is a production of Crate Media

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