{"id":7082,"date":"2020-07-08T12:33:44","date_gmt":"2020-07-08T16:33:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog\/?p=7082"},"modified":"2026-01-16T05:18:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T10:18:18","slug":"prep-accounting-team-for-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ca\/blog\/prep-accounting-team-for-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Preparing your accounting team for an environment of constant change"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAccountants<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tPreparing your accounting team for an environment of constant change\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\tSandra Wiley<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Keeping up with the pace of change is a challenge for firms of all shapes and sizes. Technology and changing client demands create powerful business opportunities, but they also bring skills gaps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can your firm combat this skills gap while retaining your current talented team members? Your firm\u2019s ability to upskill, or its capacity for training and developing talent to expand their skillsets, creates a real competitive advantage in our increasingly technology-driven profession. Not only will it allow you to better serve clients, but it will help you retain talent. When motivated and driven professionals feel like they\u2019ve stopped growing within the firm or learning new skills, they tend to look elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some tactics you can use to upskill your team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Devote the resources<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Learning and development are complex, so your firm\u2019s leaders must recognize that and budget time and resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the uncertainty around COVID-19<\/a> and the economy right now, many firms put learning and development initiatives on hold. But right now is an excellent opportunity to identify the resources to develop your people and make them more valuable for the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What your people are learning right now might be different from what you\u2019d planned back in January. However, it\u2019s still a huge opportunity to upskill your high performers. These initiatives have to be supported and prioritized from the top of your firm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make it bite-sized<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Conferences and formal training programs are excellent methods for developing your people, but they\u2019re not the only approaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the barriers people have to upskilling is capacity \u2013 in their minds, if not in reality. Busy professionals with packed calendars and long to-do lists often feel like they don\u2019t have the time to learn new skills. So thinking small can be the key to meeting these employees where they are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some strategies include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n