2 Types of Goals You Need to Succeed in the New Year
Using a two-part goal-setting structure will get you closer to achieving your goals in 2024 and beyond. It’s that time of year again, when organizations and individuals alike review their performance in comparison to goals set at the beginning of the year. How did you do? Did you achieve your goals? Or was it a year
Consider an After-Action Review to Assess Your Progress This Year
By Jon Lokhorst, CPA, CSP, PCC The 2023 year-end has arrived, and now is the time to create a framework through which you can assess your progress over the past year. To achieve this, consider using an after-action review (AAR). This structured approach has been a tool of the U.S. Army in evaluating performance in battlefield
What Can You Learn from Best Firm Award Recipients?
By Jon Lokhorst, CSP, CPA, PCC Your Best Leadership LLC Earlier this fall, Accounting Today released its 2023 Best Firms to Work For results, with two Minnesota-based firms scoring high in the midsized employer category. Ranking third among 53 midsized was St. Paul-based Mahoney. Coming in eighteenth was Global Tax Network (GTN), which is headquartered in Maple
How to Become a Better Delegator
Here’s how to enhance your leadership skills and elevate your team by using more effective delegation skills. “I’m terrible at delegation,” said an emerging leader in one of my recent leadership development programs. At least she was honest. Many leaders are in denial about their delegation skills—they think they delegate well, but their team members would
Positive Self-Talk to Thrive During Your Busy Season
By Jon Lokhorst, CPA, PCC If you are a CPA, no matter your role, you are going to encounter crunch time for one reason or another. If you’re in public accounting, mid-April marks the end of tax season (at least the first one of the year). If you’re in industry, government, or the nonprofit world, crunch
5 Tips for Creating an Impactful Off-Site Team Retreat
When was the last time you pulled your team away from the daily grind to work on the team, not just as a team? The best leaders recognize the need to get off the hamster wheel of never-ending operational tasks to focus on building a cohesive, high-performing team. An off-site retreat is one of the
How Assessments Can Help You Lead Well in All Directions
By Jon Lokhorst, CPA, PCC Is it possible for you to be a good boss and, at the same time, underperform or even fail as a leader in your organization? That was the opening question during Mission-Critical Leadership: How Smart Managers Lead Well in All Directions, a full-day training experience offered during PICPA’s 125th Annual Meeting and
5 Tips for Leading a Hybrid Workforce
Performance, productivity, and … proximity bias? Leaders navigating hybrid work environments have new risks to watch for when trying to level up their leadership skills. We’re two-plus years into the ever-changing COVID era, and employers and employees alike are wondering what the future of work will look like. “Employees are happier and more productive when they
3 Steps for Taking Your Leadership to the Next Level
Even when you’re at the top, there’s always room to improve. Here are three steps every leader should take to make the new year their best year yet. How am I doing as a leader today? What’ll it take for me to get better? How will I make it happen? These are the questions every leader
HOW SUCCESSFUL MANAGERS LEAD UP, ACROSS, DOWN, AND INWARD
By Jon Lokhorst, CPA Most leadership development focuses on being a good boss to the people who report to you. While leading down is important if you want to be successful, it’s mission-critical that you lead well in all directions. Mission-critical leadership, as I define it in my book by the same title, is “using influence to
