April Housing’s Post

Next up for Meet the Team, our resident Tony wrangler, she’s encouraged his shenanigans years longer than anyone else on the team, it’s Tracy! ▪️ Name? Tracy Vidray ▪️ What do you specialise in at AV Chartered Accountants? I specialise in keeping Tony on the straight and narrow. ▪️ How long have you been with the company? 11 years ▪️ What do you love most about working at AV Chartered Accountants? The flexibility and the people (staff, clients and suppliers) ▪️ What would you be doing if you weren’t working in this industry? A gardener. ▪️ If you could have any one superpower, what would it be? To have the energy of an Everready Battery so I could do all the things in a day that my mind thinks I can do. 

THIS IS LEADERSHIP My 16 year old has been at his new part-time job for just over a month. He works at Brave Brewing in Hastings, which is a must-do if you’re ever in these parts (and like great beer, and fat burgers). Let me tell you how owners Gemma and Matt treat their student staff. - Like the young adults they are, which means a proper job interview, proper contract, and proper rosters. - Decent pay with a starting rate that sits well above minimum wage. - Full inclusivity and respect for diversity, gender pronouns, and a “safer spaces” policy on behaviour and how the Brave community operates. - Paid staff training days. - An atmosphere that supports his learning and development (he already knows more about beer than I do). - A long list of staff perks (he can’t wait to be old enough to access the beer-related ones!) - Understanding. My son woke up with a hacking cough and runny nose this morning. He’d already asked for next Saturday off to attend an event and was nervous to call in sick because it would mean letting them down two weeks running. But when he rang, all he got was empathy and compassion. Too often, part timers are treated as a bit of a commodity. Students are viewed as cheap labour, uncommitted and probably unreliable. But give them the tools and they will rise to the challenge. This is true leadership.

6 months together, how time flies 💘* It has been 6 months since I was incredibly fortunate to be awarded the Employee Owner of the Year award at the annual eoa conference. It’s also just about three years since I was - again - incredibly fortunate to become an Employee Trustee at Stephens Scown 💕 Both milestones have me in a reflective mood. We’re currently running an election to appoint five new Employee Trustees as the terms of five of our current Employee Trustees end (Dave Robbins, Lexie Williams, Anthony Booth, Kia Pearson and myself). Those of us exiting these roles have given a lot and contributed a lot in that time, for the benefit of our fellow employee-owners and for our business. But I know that by handing over to colleagues new to the positions we will be adding new experience and perspective, not losing it. And, in our time we have raised the bar of what is expected from a Trustee at Stephens Scown – and when we step away the bar will be set to that level as a minimum, and then taken higher yet again by the new group, as we continually evolve our Employee Ownership. Before we part though, there is still the little-old task of delivering an outstanding EO Day event, so we all get to finish our time as Trustees with a bang! 🤯 It has been a pleasure to be of service. #EmployeeOwnership #EmployeeEngagement #Culture *I'm a Film graduate, not that you could tell from this (purposefully) simple piece, and I have never finished a short film with 'Fin' before...until now. But, after the roller-coaster of these 31 seconds, I thought it needed a punchy and charming and romantic ending.

Meet Taylor Snider, our new Staff Accountant. She likes numbers best when they balance, and even better when they help inform important decisions. Learn more about her and her two golden doodles at the link below! #NewHire #WelcomeToSchaefer

2 Years of experience in Public Accounting working for Moss Adams, and I have a few thoughts I'd like to share: 1. First impressions are huge, second impressions solidify (or correct) the first - 2. Culture will differ between each leader/in-charge, but it is the internal intangible that matters most to the engagement - 3. Incremental positive reinforcement can resonate for weeks/months, whereas negative reinforcement can linger for months/years - 4. Technical accounting skills will develop over time, don't sweat it - 5. The ability to ask the right questions at the right time can dramatically shorten the learning curve - 6. A focus on the People with an emphasis on relationship building and coaching will foster buy-in and ownership of work - Grateful for my first two years of experience and excited for what the future holds!

After a lovely but often tricky school summer holiday, with a lot of juggling and some unfortunate missteps along the way, I'm delighted to be 'properly back' at work today. One of the things that I love about the summer period is the fact that everything slows down a bit. For me, this lets my brain work subconsciously on problems that have been bothering it work-wise. A big challenge for LexRex Communications Ltd recently has been managing our growth and ensuring that we continue to deliver at the absolute highest level. Our elite team is second to none in terms of our expertise - and this means we charge more than our competitors. We are a very senior set of practitioners, with years and years of experience under our respective belts. It's worth noting that we don't just work with 'any' legal businesses or law firms. We actively turn away a lot of work that doesn't fit our model or passions. We work with similarly elite organisations - our clients are boutique and niche law firms, and extraordinary businesses that work with and supply services to law firms. Our strategic services are built on a bespoke basis from the ground up, based upon and aligned closely with our clients' business and growth strategies. This takes time. We're not Ikea, we're Mousey Thompson of Yorkshire *regional reference... We take what we do very seriously and we really do help law firms to grow - by supporting them on their growth journey and providing the inputs and outputs that they can't manage themselves, brand and PR-wise. This summer has helped me to remember where we sit in the marketplace and to recognise the quality of what we do, along with the fact that there really isn't anybody else out there offering quite the same service as we do. So although this isn't really a sales post - it would, of course, be remiss of me not to say the following... If you like the sound of what we're doing over here, let's connect and have a chat!

Taking Thigs Personally at work 🚦 Our jobs often provide more than a paycheck: They often offer a sense of purpose, growth, and community. But over time, our professional roles can become too intertwined with our sense of self. This is especially true for “sensitive strivers.” When you’re driven to perform and also think and feel everything more deeply, it’s easy for interactions, decisions, or feedback to have a direct — and often disproportionate — impact on your emotions, self-worth, and identity. Taking things personally at work is not a sign of weakness, but a reflection of your passion, commitment, and deep sense of responsibility. But what if your professional role has become too intertwined with your sense of self. While equating your value as a person with your performance at work is common, it’s also possible to break free from the pattern. In this article, the author offers five strategies for how to approach situations with more objectivity so that you can navigate your professional journey with greater clarity, balance, and effectiveness. Read more ↘️ https://lnkd.in/eCKXmseK

Do you regularly flounder on the #mountainofyes; perhaps you need to make 2024 the #yearofno, just like Tom. I've known Tom for a number of years and he is super insightful. Like all great consultants and #futurists he's in high demand. Being great at your job is a positive problem to have. It's not a classic resilience issue, there is no adversity that comes with doing a great job, or having a great reputation...or is there? It's great to feel wanted, but there are only 24 hours in a day (25 if you can wait 200 million years - how that for being a futurist), so how do we manage positive demand? Two key elements of being a #mentaltough performer are a Tough Attitude and Focus. A tough attitude isn't about being difficult or aggressive, it's about being tough with ourselves. It is about showing #selfcompassion and #selfrespect rather than seeking to pander sometimes to other people's needs over our own. Too often our #copability and #capability is impacted by a little three letter word; we burnout on the Mountain of Yes! Using the alternative two letter word makes us more efficient, enables us to focus and in the long run it creates more respect, for ourselves and from others. When we say no, we are not always helping ourselves or others. Sometimes No is the best answer. It helps us focus and do the best job we can do, rather than being superficial. Don't perishing on the #mountainofyes; just say No! PS I'm sure if Tom cannot help you he'll know someone who can.

As you may have seen lately, we were recently recognized as one of the "Top 5 Best Places to Work" for small businesses in Arkansas. Because of this, we wanted to share why we believe we won this award. The reason.... 🥁🥁🥁 Our core values. We have worked long and hard to build a team centered around our core values in a way that reflects PCA well. Our core values are: ▪️THE GOLDEN RULE guides our relationships with staff, clients and community. ▪️RELATIONSHIPS are valued and built on trust, with the expectation of honesty in all things ▪️EXCELLENCE is imperative in all that we do. ▪️ACCOUNTABILITY means we make no excuses and give our very best. ▪️TEAMWORK means we each serve different roles but work together to reach the same goal. ▪️INTELLIGENCE and knowledge are celebrated. We are dedicated to IT training/development. ▪️TRUST and integrity are core values of our faith-inspired work culture. like Because we priorities these qualities, we create a culture worth working at. And thanks to you, we have relationships worth working for.