WEBVTT - Reach your full potential 0:00:08.070 --> 0:00:12.690 Hello, I'm Gillian Bowen, Public Affairs Manager at Chartered Accountants ANZ, 0:00:12.690 --> 0:00:17.010 or CA ANZ. This is Small Firm, Big Impact. 0:00:22.630 --> 0:00:25.479 I was on the hamster wheel of life and I'd 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:28.540 go home at night thinking, well, what have I actually achieved today? 0:00:28.780 --> 0:00:30.520 You know, I was just busy, busy, busy, but I 0:00:30.520 --> 0:00:36.030 wasn't busy being effective. How often do you create complete stillness, 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:39.430 isolate yourself from everything that's going on and just think, 0:00:39.430 --> 0:00:41.140 how do I build a better firm? How do I 0:00:41.140 --> 0:00:44.190 build a better business? How do I serve my customers better? 0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:46.440 How do I get rid of more low value work? 0:00:46.450 --> 0:00:48.820 How do I improve the quality of my team? 0:00:55.220 --> 0:00:57.800 It's the podcast giving you and your clients the up 0:00:57.800 --> 0:01:00.920 to date information you need to do your jobs. Each 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:06.050 fortnight I share resources, tools and expert advice provided by CA ANZ 0:01:06.080 --> 0:01:08.990 and a range of people across our profession. So make 0:01:08.990 --> 0:01:12.020 sure you're following the pod in your favourite pod app. 0:01:12.020 --> 0:01:14.540 And if you've got an idea for the show email 0:01:14.540 --> 0:01:28.680 podcast@charteredaccountantsanz.com Today we have Andy Fell. He's the founder of GiFT 631 - 0:01:29.130 --> 0:01:31.890 a leadership and personal growth Business. I'm going to pick his 0:01:31.890 --> 0:01:35.460 brain about what small and medium sized practices, sole practitioners 0:01:35.459 --> 0:01:38.729 could be doing to help their business or just themselves 0:01:38.730 --> 0:01:43.170 reach their full potential. Andy welcome to Small Firm, Big Impact. 0:01:43.470 --> 0:01:46.110 Hi, Gillian. I'm absolutely delighted to be with you. 0:01:46.530 --> 0:01:50.820 Brilliant. Look, firstly, I'd like to give our listeners a 0:01:50.820 --> 0:01:54.270 bit of a taste of your background, the guest's background, 0:01:54.270 --> 0:01:57.120 so they can see and feel who it is that 0:01:57.120 --> 0:01:59.220 they're listening to today. So what's your background? 0:01:59.310 --> 0:02:03.870 Yeah, well, I spent 28 years in financial services, 20 0:02:03.870 --> 0:02:07.140 of which were in the UK and 20 of which 0:02:07.140 --> 0:02:09.990 were in senior leadership. And most of my career was 0:02:09.990 --> 0:02:15.720 spent leading big people centric distribution businesses. So branch networks, 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:21.240 contact centres, teams of, you know, relationship managers, private bankers 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:25.440 and business bankers. So when I moved to Australia that 0:02:25.440 --> 0:02:28.620 was with the Westpac group. And yeah, I had the 0:02:28.620 --> 0:02:31.350 pleasure and privilege to be a general manager in both 0:02:31.350 --> 0:02:34.830 Westpac and also the Saint George Consumer Bank. And then 0:02:34.830 --> 0:02:37.740 I turned 50 and finally worked out what I wanted 0:02:37.740 --> 0:02:40.920 to do in my life. So yeah, I left. I 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:44.220 took the rocking chair test on myself and I left 0:02:44.220 --> 0:02:48.690 financial services and set up my business GiFT631 which is 0:02:48.780 --> 0:02:52.110 a business that focuses on four key things: one on 0:02:52.110 --> 0:02:57.120 one coaching, scaling entrepreneurs, senior business leaders and rising talent, 0:02:57.120 --> 0:03:01.830 conference and keynote speaking leadership, talent development and facilitating off 0:03:01.830 --> 0:03:05.579 sites for for leadership teams, be it vision and values, 0:03:05.580 --> 0:03:10.410 high performing teams, strategy, culture, execution. So yeah, that's the 0:03:10.410 --> 0:03:12.360 world in which I've I've been living for the last 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:13.109 six years. 0:03:13.889 --> 0:03:15.960 All right. Well, we've got a lot to try to 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:18.600 cover in 20 odd minutes then with your expertise. So 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:21.839 I'm thinking we begin by looking at where the gaps 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:25.200 are regarding potential and why they exist. And then we 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:26.970 take a look at what we can do about them. 0:03:26.970 --> 0:03:29.970 So how about you explain that the gap between our 0:03:29.970 --> 0:03:33.540 potential as a human and what we believe we can do? 0:03:33.810 --> 0:03:36.660 Yeah, sure. And and I think the gaps I'm going 0:03:36.660 --> 0:03:40.380 to articulate, Gillian, are this could be you as an individual. 0:03:40.380 --> 0:03:42.810 This could be a small firm. This could be a 0:03:42.810 --> 0:03:44.910 team that you're leading. This could be a function within 0:03:44.910 --> 0:03:47.520 a within a big business. I believe that the gaps 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:51.690 between current performance and potential actually are the same within 0:03:51.690 --> 0:03:54.119 us as they are within the businesses in which we work. 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:58.170 And I think there's six that I would really love 0:03:58.170 --> 0:04:00.630 to to share with the audience. And the first one 0:04:00.630 --> 0:04:04.860 is having you've got to have an absolute clarity of purpose, 0:04:04.860 --> 0:04:08.730 real clarity of vision, real clarity of goal. So that's 0:04:08.730 --> 0:04:10.830 the number one for me. And when I work with 0:04:10.830 --> 0:04:14.040 a team, individuals and businesses, whatever size, you know, we 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:17.580 need to get that place of clarity. And that really 0:04:17.580 --> 0:04:22.020 energizes energizes us, but it also energizes those around us, 0:04:22.260 --> 0:04:25.380 you know, a compelling vision, a compelling purpose with some 0:04:25.380 --> 0:04:28.770 really big goals that that we have to commit to. 0:04:28.890 --> 0:04:32.520 We have to be more resourceful, more innovative, more creative 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:35.040 to take us in the direction of those goals. So 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:37.919 so that's the absolute number one. The second one is 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:41.520 the individual and collective mindset. You know, we all talk 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:44.760 to ourselves and we all have an inner critic and 0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:47.730 an inner champion. And to put it really, really simply, 0:04:47.730 --> 0:04:50.430 the inner critic is the person who's constantly telling you, 0:04:50.430 --> 0:04:53.550 you can't, you can't, you can't. And the champion is 0:04:53.550 --> 0:04:56.910 the person that believes the mindset, that believes that anything 0:04:56.910 --> 0:04:59.729 is possible. And going back to that really old, you know, 0:04:59.730 --> 0:05:02.010 well known phrase, if you say you can or you can't, 0:05:02.010 --> 0:05:04.589 you're probably right. So that's the second one. And I 0:05:04.589 --> 0:05:08.310 believe a huge percentage of our success is that attitude, 0:05:08.310 --> 0:05:12.540 that belief system and that mindset. The third one is 0:05:12.540 --> 0:05:16.260 our attitude to change. And if you take something that's 0:05:16.260 --> 0:05:19.740 really topical at the moment, like ChatGPT, you know, do 0:05:19.740 --> 0:05:21.930 you see that as a threat or actually do you 0:05:21.930 --> 0:05:25.350 see that as a huge opportunity? And for me, the 0:05:25.350 --> 0:05:27.990 analogy I would I would share is if you've lived 0:05:27.990 --> 0:05:31.979 your whole life in a cave, in complete darkness, and 0:05:31.980 --> 0:05:33.900 then one day somebody lets you out and it's a 0:05:33.900 --> 0:05:38.550 beautiful sunny day. What happens to your eyes? Well, you're 0:05:38.550 --> 0:05:42.179 temporarily blinded and it feels really uncomfortable. So you want 0:05:42.180 --> 0:05:44.489 to run back into the cave. But if you can 0:05:44.490 --> 0:05:47.250 only hold your place in the sun, then this beautiful 0:05:47.250 --> 0:05:49.409 vista opens up in front of you. And you want 0:05:49.410 --> 0:05:52.200 to go forward. You don't want to go back. And 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:54.690 if you replace the cave with that comfort zone, to me, 0:05:54.690 --> 0:05:56.370 that's what it's all about. You know, we've got to 0:05:56.370 --> 0:05:59.130 get ourselves out of our comfort zone and we've got 0:05:59.130 --> 0:06:02.250 to live with that uncomfortableness until we see the new 0:06:02.250 --> 0:06:05.490 opportunity in front of us. So that'd be my third. 0:06:05.490 --> 0:06:08.340 My fourth would be time, you know, does time manage 0:06:08.339 --> 0:06:10.650 you or do you manage time? And I think if 0:06:10.650 --> 0:06:13.050 you're a sole trader, if you're a really small firm, 0:06:13.050 --> 0:06:15.779 that's a that's a critical part of this that you're 0:06:15.779 --> 0:06:20.250 able to ruthlessly prioritize and really sort, you know, value. 0:06:20.550 --> 0:06:22.770 You know, a lot of my clients were really working 0:06:22.770 --> 0:06:26.160 out well. Where does the value sit? And starting by saying, 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:28.980 have I got a really high performance diary? You know, 0:06:28.980 --> 0:06:32.130 what goes into my diary first should be the most important, 0:06:32.130 --> 0:06:37.289 the real value, the real value centric activities. The fifth 0:06:37.290 --> 0:06:41.250 is unquestionably what we would call a growth mindset. But 0:06:41.250 --> 0:06:44.340 really what that is, is the ability to you know, 0:06:44.339 --> 0:06:46.560 one of my favorite sayings is winners debrief more than 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:49.800 the average, the ability to do something and then review 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:54.630 it to find and drive continuous improvement. And then the 0:06:54.630 --> 0:07:00.660 final one, you know, Disney once said that success is 95% systems, 5% magic. 0:07:01.050 --> 0:07:03.479 But you've got to have the 95% systems to get 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:05.640 to the 5% magic. And if you really want to 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:09.180 unlock your potential as a as a sole trader, you know, 0:07:09.180 --> 0:07:11.940 as an individual, as a team, as a small business, 0:07:11.940 --> 0:07:14.640 you've really got to have the right systems in place, 0:07:15.300 --> 0:07:20.070 and that's personal systems, team systems and business unit systems. 0:07:20.070 --> 0:07:23.250 So that I think is is, you know, the basket 0:07:23.250 --> 0:07:26.250 of things that I think hold people back from reaching 0:07:26.250 --> 0:07:27.420 their true potential. 0:07:28.110 --> 0:07:31.260 And there'd be people listening along who could really then 0:07:31.260 --> 0:07:34.770 identify I'm sure they had their mind ticking away of 0:07:34.770 --> 0:07:38.460 what the impacts are of not having those things right 0:07:38.460 --> 0:07:41.940 on their small business, on themselves, if they're if they're 0:07:41.940 --> 0:07:44.880 just working for themselves. So to help us get the 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:48.300 brain thinking about what the next steps are, I think 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:52.290 and you mentioned this when you first introduced yourself, what 0:07:52.290 --> 0:07:54.060 is the rocking chair test? 0:07:54.240 --> 0:07:58.170 Yeah, sure. So I actually took this on my 50th birthday, 0:07:58.530 --> 0:08:00.720 which seems a strange thing to even thinking about on 0:08:00.720 --> 0:08:04.710 your 50th birthday. But it was I first heard it 0:08:04.710 --> 0:08:08.970 from Sir Richard Branson, and Branson says, imagine you're 90, 0:08:08.970 --> 0:08:12.330 95 years old. You're sitting outside your house in your 0:08:12.330 --> 0:08:15.270 rocking chair and you're looking back on your life. And 0:08:15.270 --> 0:08:17.160 he would say, What do you want to be saying 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:19.590 to yourself? Do you want to be saying to yourself, Well, 0:08:19.830 --> 0:08:22.140 I wish I'd done that. I could have done that. 0:08:22.170 --> 0:08:24.600 I should have done that. I had the ability to 0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:28.050 do this, but I didn't. Or do you want to 0:08:28.050 --> 0:08:30.450 look back on your life and go, Well, maybe I 0:08:30.450 --> 0:08:33.000 didn't get everything right, but at least I gave life 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:36.870 my best shot? And that's actually was my trigger to 0:08:36.870 --> 0:08:39.480 leave the corporate world and set up my own business because, 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:41.220 you know, I had a great, great life in the 0:08:41.220 --> 0:08:43.410 corporate world. But I knew when it was my time 0:08:43.410 --> 0:08:45.660 to face the rocking chair test that I could only 0:08:45.660 --> 0:08:47.910 pass it if I went and follow my dreams, follow 0:08:47.910 --> 0:08:50.670 my passion, live true to my purpose. So that really 0:08:50.670 --> 0:08:52.829 is is the rocking chair test. And it's a great 0:08:52.830 --> 0:08:55.590 place to start for anyone who's thinking, well, you know, 0:08:55.740 --> 0:08:57.690 I am where I am, but I know there's there's 0:08:57.690 --> 0:08:59.450 a lot more within me or my firm that ah 0:08:59.460 --> 0:09:02.520 really I'm keen to unlock. So what is - what I 0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:06.390 call my your future-use state. And that really is if 0:09:06.390 --> 0:09:10.229 you can identify that future, you state you know how 0:09:10.230 --> 0:09:12.120 you would love to be living your life, the business 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:14.760 you'd love to be leading or running. That's a great 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:15.809 starting place. 0:09:16.350 --> 0:09:19.590 How on that starting place, how do you get Because 0:09:19.830 --> 0:09:22.559 there's a lot of ideas there and people will be thinking, well, 0:09:22.559 --> 0:09:26.040 what's step one, two and three? How do I get 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:28.470 to a point where I can identify a path forward 0:09:28.470 --> 0:09:31.620 to help my business, myself reach my full potential? 0:09:31.770 --> 0:09:34.740 Yeah, I think that's a brilliant question. And Gillian, I 0:09:34.830 --> 0:09:36.990 every single day from when I was a bank manager 0:09:36.990 --> 0:09:39.900 to when I was a general manager in my diary, 0:09:39.900 --> 0:09:44.189 I had an appointment with Mozart. And the story goes, 0:09:44.190 --> 0:09:45.990 I'd actually don't even know if this is a true story. 0:09:45.990 --> 0:09:48.840 By the way, the story goes that Mozart suffered from 0:09:48.840 --> 0:09:52.500 composer's cramp, and the way he'd overcome that composer's cramp 0:09:52.500 --> 0:09:55.200 is he'd isolate himself from the world. So he'd go 0:09:55.200 --> 0:09:57.809 out on his own. And when he was wandering through 0:09:57.809 --> 0:09:59.689 the forests in the middle of Europe and, you know, 0:09:59.730 --> 0:10:01.860 he was watching the deer and he was smelling the trees, 0:10:01.860 --> 0:10:04.920 listening to the birds, that's when he started to compose 0:10:05.070 --> 0:10:07.949 his music again in his mind. And the whole idea 0:10:07.950 --> 0:10:11.880 is that, you know, greatness requires some stillness. And from 0:10:11.880 --> 0:10:16.170 stillness you'll get clarity. And from clarity you'll get innovation, 0:10:16.170 --> 0:10:19.260 breakthrough and success. And when I first heard that story, 0:10:19.260 --> 0:10:21.660 I was a struggling bank manager. I was on the 0:10:21.660 --> 0:10:24.870 hamster wheel of life, and I'd go home at night thinking, Well, 0:10:24.870 --> 0:10:27.300 what have I actually achieved today? You know, I was 0:10:27.300 --> 0:10:30.090 just busy, busy, busy, but I wasn't busy being effective. 0:10:30.090 --> 0:10:33.330 And again, I talked to so many sole traders and 0:10:33.330 --> 0:10:37.500 small firms, small practices across sectors who are in this space. 0:10:37.500 --> 0:10:40.110 So once I heard that story, I went back and 0:10:40.110 --> 0:10:42.510 I put an appointment in my diary with Mozart. And 0:10:42.510 --> 0:10:44.970 I still have that appointment every single day. And it's 0:10:44.970 --> 0:10:49.500 20 minutes of time. Just me, my thoughts and my journal. 0:10:49.500 --> 0:10:53.040 No technology. So no phone, no laptop, no chance of 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:58.079 interruption or disruption. And I just think and I seriously 0:10:58.080 --> 0:11:01.650 would suggest and recommend to everyone who listens to this 0:11:01.650 --> 0:11:04.590 that that is the starting point. How often do you 0:11:04.590 --> 0:11:09.449 create complete stillness, isolate yourself from everything that's going on 0:11:09.450 --> 0:11:11.910 and just think, how do I build a better firm? 0:11:11.910 --> 0:11:13.920 How do I build a better business? How do I 0:11:13.920 --> 0:11:16.320 serve my customers better? How do I get rid of 0:11:16.320 --> 0:11:18.990 more low value work? How do I improve the quality 0:11:18.990 --> 0:11:21.090 of my team? How do I improve the quality of 0:11:21.090 --> 0:11:24.210 my services? How do I use ChatGPT to my advantage, 0:11:24.210 --> 0:11:28.380 whatever it might be? You know, it's just that thinking time. 0:11:28.380 --> 0:11:31.800 Because if you give yourself that, that stillness and I 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:34.800 only ever have two speeds in business, I'm either completely 0:11:34.800 --> 0:11:38.729 still or I'm completely fast. And I do believe speed 0:11:38.730 --> 0:11:41.189 is a source of competitive advantage. But if you look 0:11:41.190 --> 0:11:43.970 from the outside, all you see is the speed. But 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:46.109 I can only go that fast because I'm going that 0:11:46.110 --> 0:11:49.710 slow because that's when I make decisions about the things 0:11:49.710 --> 0:11:52.350 that I'm going to prioritize in my life and my business. 0:11:52.350 --> 0:11:53.790 And if you're going to go fast, it's a good 0:11:53.790 --> 0:11:56.280 job to go fast in what you think is the 0:11:56.280 --> 0:11:57.240 right direction. 0:11:57.929 --> 0:12:01.650 How important is it, do you think, for people to 0:12:01.650 --> 0:12:02.970 believe in themselves? 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:07.610 Oh it's the core of absolutely everything, you know. And 0:12:07.610 --> 0:12:11.270 the greatest day is when your internal validation so what 0:12:11.270 --> 0:12:14.510 you think about you crosses over from your reliance upon 0:12:14.510 --> 0:12:18.860 external validation, which is what others think of you. And 0:12:18.860 --> 0:12:22.580 far too many people, in my view, are dependent upon, 0:12:22.580 --> 0:12:24.770 you know, what holds a lot of people back. Actually, 0:12:24.770 --> 0:12:27.530 Gillian is not it's not the fear of failure. It's 0:12:27.530 --> 0:12:31.189 the fear of judgment. So when you're totally reliant upon 0:12:31.190 --> 0:12:35.390 either on praise, but also you're equally wounded by criticism, 0:12:35.510 --> 0:12:39.170 you you hold yourself back. You become dependent upon what 0:12:39.170 --> 0:12:41.900 others are saying about you, rather than just being true 0:12:41.900 --> 0:12:44.600 to yourself and following your own course. So I think 0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:48.590 it's really important that we all work exceptionally hard to 0:12:48.590 --> 0:12:53.239 build our confidence, our belief systems and to go a 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:55.010 little bit deeper, our level of self esteem. 0:12:55.900 --> 0:12:59.590 I think what plays into that is what you say 0:12:59.590 --> 0:13:03.580 about making mistakes safe. What does that mean? 0:13:04.690 --> 0:13:08.170 Yeah. And it really started because I talked to a 0:13:08.170 --> 0:13:09.760 lot of leaders and they go, I want to be 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:12.520 an empowering leader. You know, however small the firm, I 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:13.929 want to I want to grow my firm. And the 0:13:13.929 --> 0:13:16.060 only way I can do that, I can't hold on 0:13:16.059 --> 0:13:18.160 to everything that I've always been doing. So I want 0:13:18.160 --> 0:13:20.800 to empower those around me. And I would say, well, 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:24.520 what's your system for empowerment? And people like, Well, what 0:13:24.520 --> 0:13:25.630 do you mean? I said, Well, you've got to have 0:13:25.630 --> 0:13:27.820 a system. So people have got to know what they're 0:13:27.820 --> 0:13:30.790 empowered to do. So when I was running the bank, 0:13:30.790 --> 0:13:34.240 for example, people knew the no go areas. You know, 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:39.910 these are areas you just can't touch. Maybe something around legislation, governance, pricing, risk, 0:13:39.910 --> 0:13:43.120 you know, brand, all those different things. These are the 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:45.400 things you need to refer to me as your one up 0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:48.370 line manager. So almost you're setting the parameters of where 0:13:48.370 --> 0:13:53.079 people are not empowered and therefore you're, you're you're enabled 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:58.750 to empower them about everything else. And that's about quality delegation, delegation. 0:13:58.750 --> 0:14:02.650 That's about reducing and removing red tape. But it's also 0:14:02.650 --> 0:14:06.610 about making mistakes safe. So very early in my career, 0:14:06.610 --> 0:14:09.760 I worked for the managing director of the Royal Bank 0:14:09.760 --> 0:14:12.550 of Scotland. I was his executive assistant, and one day 0:14:12.550 --> 0:14:14.260 he called me into his office and I was just 0:14:14.260 --> 0:14:16.809 this young guy starting out in business. And he said, Andy, 0:14:16.809 --> 0:14:18.820 he said, I want to give you a piece of advice. 0:14:19.090 --> 0:14:22.300 He said, Let me just tell you this. The only 0:14:22.300 --> 0:14:26.140 people who don't make mistakes are the people who don't 0:14:26.140 --> 0:14:29.160 do anything. So he said you want to, First of all, 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:31.410 he said, I want you to live an action orientated life. 0:14:31.800 --> 0:14:34.170 He said, But secondly, when you're in a position of 0:14:34.170 --> 0:14:37.530 leadership like I am, create an environment, create a tone 0:14:37.530 --> 0:14:41.010 which is conducive not only to people bringing their full 0:14:41.010 --> 0:14:44.280 selves to work, but people being willing to have a go. 0:14:44.670 --> 0:14:47.340 And it was him, Tony, who first got me thinking 0:14:47.340 --> 0:14:49.470 about this, he said. But obviously, you know, put some 0:14:49.470 --> 0:14:52.310 parameters around this. I mean, we were in financial services. 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:54.810 He said, I don't want people making mistakes with lots 0:14:54.810 --> 0:14:56.910 of noughts on the end. He said, But you've got 0:14:56.910 --> 0:15:00.300 to create an environment where people, it's safe to test 0:15:00.300 --> 0:15:03.300 and learn to fail fast in these areas, he said. 0:15:03.300 --> 0:15:05.700 Because that's how you are going to grow as a leader. 0:15:05.700 --> 0:15:08.280 Andy But that's also when you're in leadership, how others 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:10.260 are going to grow. So I think it's about it's 0:15:10.260 --> 0:15:12.990 about setting up a whole system of empowerment for the 0:15:12.990 --> 0:15:16.320 people that work within your firm so they know where 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:19.800 they can, you know, where they can take decisions and 0:15:19.800 --> 0:15:23.730 risk making mistakes, where they need to refer to you 0:15:23.730 --> 0:15:27.090 as either the business owner and where you just don't 0:15:27.180 --> 0:15:27.990 want them to play. 0:15:29.070 --> 0:15:31.410 You mentioned red tape. 0:15:31.410 --> 0:15:32.040 In. 0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:35.910 In in that answer. And you're not talking about government 0:15:35.910 --> 0:15:38.730 red tape or external red tape. What what red tape 0:15:38.730 --> 0:15:40.560 are you talking about? And how does that impact a 0:15:40.560 --> 0:15:41.550 small business? 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:44.610 Yeah, it's really interesting. Often, you know, I'll work with 0:15:44.610 --> 0:15:46.859 a business and when you really get into talking about 0:15:46.860 --> 0:15:49.500 all of the low value work that they're having to do, 0:15:49.500 --> 0:15:52.650 that's in their view, it's constraining them. It's holding them back. 0:15:52.650 --> 0:15:56.310 It's it's it's first of all, it's a source of 0:15:56.310 --> 0:15:59.880 disengagement because people get really, really frustrated. But often you'll 0:15:59.880 --> 0:16:01.470 talk to someone and they'll say, well, my boss has 0:16:01.470 --> 0:16:04.140 asked me to do this, but now I'm spending every 0:16:04.140 --> 0:16:06.870 five minutes updating the boss about how I'm going. So 0:16:06.870 --> 0:16:10.050 I'm spending more time updating than I am actually doing. 0:16:10.050 --> 0:16:13.200 So it's all of the low value activities that are 0:16:13.200 --> 0:16:16.080 actually getting in the way of us achieving what we 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:19.080 want to achieve as a firm. And it goes back 0:16:19.080 --> 0:16:21.930 to a brilliant story from Gail Kelly, who was the 0:16:21.930 --> 0:16:26.970 the CEO of the Westpac group, just a phenomenal human being. 0:16:26.970 --> 0:16:32.700 And Gail told this story about when the recently deceased 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:35.520 Queen Elizabeth, when she was still a princess. So this 0:16:35.520 --> 0:16:38.730 is going back a long, long time when Princess Elizabeth 0:16:38.730 --> 0:16:42.300 was going on a state tour of South Africa with 0:16:42.810 --> 0:16:46.800 her husband, she wanted to see whales and they set 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:49.650 up a system in South Africa where all of the 0:16:49.650 --> 0:16:52.950 Coast Guards, every single day in the three months leading 0:16:52.950 --> 0:16:56.640 up to Princess Elizabeth's visit, would send in the number 0:16:56.640 --> 0:17:00.150 of whale sightings in that particular spot around the coast 0:17:00.150 --> 0:17:03.480 of South Africa. The idea being where there was the 0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:08.280 most frequent whale spotting cause that's where they'd send Princess Elizabeth. Anyway, 0:17:08.430 --> 0:17:11.550 fast forward 60 years and they're still doing the whale 0:17:11.550 --> 0:17:15.270 report and this new guy takes over this function and 0:17:15.270 --> 0:17:16.770 he goes, So why are we actually why are we 0:17:16.770 --> 0:17:20.620 doing this? And no one really knew. And people going, well, 0:17:20.630 --> 0:17:23.090 obviously we want to monitor whale numbers. And he said, No, no, 0:17:23.090 --> 0:17:25.909 we can do that with technology. We don't need to 0:17:25.910 --> 0:17:28.550 have all these manual reports flying around the system and 0:17:28.550 --> 0:17:31.160 then someone's keying them in. So Gail then challenged us 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:35.120 to say, So in your part of the business, where 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:38.869 are your whale reports? What are your whale reports? And 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:42.590 it's brilliant that everyone takes away from this podcast. Just 0:17:42.590 --> 0:17:45.949 go and challenge everything in your firm. Why are you 0:17:45.950 --> 0:17:48.530 doing it? What's the value in it? Is there a 0:17:48.530 --> 0:17:50.110 And if you do believe you need to do it, 0:17:50.119 --> 0:17:52.340 is there a more efficient way of doing it? So 0:17:52.340 --> 0:17:53.840 think about whale reports. 0:17:54.220 --> 0:17:58.760 I along that similar vein and I often, you know, 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:00.980 I'm the host. I don't often tell stories, but I 0:18:00.980 --> 0:18:04.369 have a friend who had said that for a long 0:18:04.369 --> 0:18:07.939 amount of time, a person that they worked with had 0:18:07.940 --> 0:18:10.460 been popping into a meeting that had been set up 0:18:10.460 --> 0:18:14.119 during Covid and and sitting in it for 15 or 0:18:14.119 --> 0:18:17.810 20 minutes and wondering why no one else was joining 0:18:17.810 --> 0:18:23.060 it because Covid had finished and the meeting had not continued. 0:18:23.060 --> 0:18:26.090 But this poor person had been rocking up, spending 15, 0:18:26.090 --> 0:18:28.430 20 minutes. Oh, no one's coming and getting off and 0:18:28.430 --> 0:18:32.720 not realizing that actually that calendar invite should have been deleted. 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:35.360 Of course that meeting shouldn't have been continuing on, but 0:18:35.359 --> 0:18:38.180 what a waste of time. How many things like that 0:18:38.180 --> 0:18:40.100 do you think exist? So many? 0:18:40.609 --> 0:18:43.790 Honestly, Gillian, that is a huge area of opportunity for 0:18:43.790 --> 0:18:45.139 everyone listening to this. 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:46.190 Oh, dear. 0:18:46.190 --> 0:18:49.369 How long are your meetings? Have every meeting that either 0:18:49.369 --> 0:18:52.430 you're attending or your people are attending is a clear purpose, 0:18:52.430 --> 0:18:56.270 clear agenda, clear minutes, clear actions. You know, I say challenge. 0:18:56.450 --> 0:18:59.070 I often say to my clients, What's the worst 1 0:18:59.070 --> 0:19:00.980 or 2 meetings you go to every week and they 0:19:00.980 --> 0:19:03.290 can tell me like that. And it's like, Well, why 0:19:03.290 --> 0:19:06.230 do you go, you know, almost as an expectation that 0:19:06.230 --> 0:19:08.990 I go, Well, let's challenge the expectation. You know, this 0:19:08.990 --> 0:19:11.690 creates some capacity within the system here. And I think 0:19:11.690 --> 0:19:13.790 it's a huge opportunity. You're absolutely right. 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:16.670 We are almost out of time. I wanted to finish 0:19:16.670 --> 0:19:19.760 on that. Look, people listen to this podcast rather than 0:19:19.760 --> 0:19:21.710 watching it, but you and I can see each other 0:19:21.710 --> 0:19:25.670 and you've got a hashtag that's under GifFT 631 that 0:19:25.670 --> 0:19:28.760 is hashtag, 'What winners do' - I think that's a nice 0:19:28.760 --> 0:19:31.429 way to to wrap up. What does that mean? 0:19:31.820 --> 0:19:35.210 Yeah. So really it's it's creating a personal success system. 0:19:35.210 --> 0:19:39.740 So I believe, as I said earlier, success 95% systems, 5% magic. 0:19:39.740 --> 0:19:43.130 So what what are your personal success systems that's going 0:19:43.130 --> 0:19:46.400 to enable you to move in the direction of future you? 0:19:46.400 --> 0:19:49.790 And that might be everything from your morning routines to 0:19:50.180 --> 0:19:54.020 how you you debrief your significant activities to how you 0:19:54.020 --> 0:19:57.020 time block your diary effectively so you can really focus 0:19:57.020 --> 0:20:00.770 on on the deep work, how you re-energize, how you 0:20:00.770 --> 0:20:03.800 motivate yourself in a moment of need. So what winners 0:20:03.800 --> 0:20:07.550 do is is my series of winning habits, winning frameworks, 0:20:07.550 --> 0:20:12.380 running routines which form my personal success system, which ultimately 0:20:12.380 --> 0:20:14.600 will enable me to pass my rocking chair test. 0:20:15.200 --> 0:20:17.030 Okay, we've covered a lot. That is all we have 0:20:17.030 --> 0:20:18.770 time for. If you want to find out more about 0:20:18.770 --> 0:20:21.740 Andy Fell and GiFT 631 I'll put a link in the show 0:20:21.740 --> 0:20:25.010 notes to his website. Also give the podcast a follow in 0:20:25.010 --> 0:20:27.290 your favorite pod app so you're ready for next time. 0:20:27.290 --> 0:20:29.960 And you can also find all the other episodes from 0:20:29.960 --> 0:20:32.720 season three there. The podcast has an email, so feel 0:20:32.720 --> 0:20:38.540 free to get in touch. Podcast@charteredaccountantsanz.com Let's start a conversation 0:20:38.540 --> 0:20:41.210 we certainly have today. Thanks Andy Fell for joining me 0:20:41.210 --> 0:20:42.830 on Small Firm, Big Impact. 0:20:43.130 --> 0:20:44.090 My absolute pleasure. 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:45.020 Bye bye.