How can it be Thanksgiving already? I swear it was just the first football game of the season last week…Go Dawgs. No matter how much of denial I am in, it is still very close to the end of the year. Which means it is time for me to started aggravating y’all and beating y’all upside the head with posts, interviews, and newsletters about getting ready for the New Year. I already made a post or 2 about it…don’t act like you didn’t see them. Today I am going to change it up a bit though. Instead of yelling about “get you financials in order!!!” I am going to take another approach. I want to talk about communication across your team.
“Ashley you are a financials person…why are you trying to get into other stuff?”
Well it just so happens that I can do more than math. I am also a pretty good communicator and that has really helped me with my job. So, I am going to tell you how it can help you and those around you.
First, let’s talk about your team. By team I don’t mean just the people on you weekly payroll. I mean the people that help you succeed from the outside as well – the banker, the CPA, the attorney, the input dealer, the insurance agent, etc.. Everyone that you have a conversation with throughout the year that helps you get your job done in some form. (I have other posts about building a team if you want to go scrolling.) Now that you know who I am talking about, let’s talk about how we can be more successful in 2020 by communicating better with these individuals AS WELL AS encouraging these individuals to communicate with each other.
Why do they need to communicate with each other and not all be on their individual islands serving their own purposes? Because the more all of the team members are on the same page the BETTER they can serve you. Also, it eliminates the butting of heads throughout the year. “Mrs. Banker my CPA says I need to spend $500,000 by YE or I’ll have to pay taxes!” “Mr. CPA my banker says she isn’t going to loan me $500,000 and adding a payment to my debt load to avoid paying $50,000!” That’s a random example just using a few even numbers I pulled out the air, but you get the idea. If the team were all on the same page and knew what your goal was for the year and knew what goals were priority, they could serve you so much better. Also, you would make their job easier.
So, how can you accomplish better communication? Start with your plan for 2020. Get each member of the team involved. “Mr. CPA in your opinion where did I fall short last year? What should I work on for next year?” “Miss Crop Insurance Agent how did my decisions work for me last year? Did others in the area fair better with other policies?” Get feedback from each member of the team and use that information to formulate your plan for the year. Once you have a rough draft of your projections and goals for the year send it out to everyone on a group email with bullet points of the advice you took into account from each person and ask for feedback. Then after you have your final plan complete send it back to everyone to say – “This is my plan for the year. My main goals are outlined.” Then keep in touch and update that plan as issues arise in one area or the other and keep everyone else informed. That way at the end of the year there aren’t any surprises that need to be addressed. “My crop insurance isn’t going to pay.” “I have a tax problem.” “I need a loan.” “I still owe the input dealer.” All of that will already be out in the open and hopefully already addressed. Then when we get to this time next year no one will be running around like a chicken with their head cut off. Everyone will be on the same page and getting ready for the next year. It seems like such a simple thing, but the lack of communication is a problem every year for someone. I encourage everyone to make their jobs and the jobs of those that help them easier next year and communicate more! Let’s all help each other get our jobs done to work toward a common goal and solve problems as they arise in lieu of creating them when we aren’t all on the same page.
