Imagine your company grows 400% practically overnight. Instead of one office and 50 employees in Vancouver, you’re responsible for four offices and 200 employees across North America.
For Eva Fong, CPA, CGA, this was her reality.
Within the past few years, TIO Networks, a thriving Vancouver-based FinTech company, has completed three merger and acquisition (M&A) deals, which have allowed the company to further expand its footprint and customer base throughout North America.
Fong, who is the VP, Corporate Strategy at TIO, says that hypergrowth comes with the challenge of additional staff and changing business processes. Through her training as a CPA, Fong has acquired the skills necessary to navigate these huge organizational changes. The next challenge is to pass those skills along to her team.
According to Fong, the key to success starts with people. Employees, the most important asset of any company, need to get up in the morning and come to work happy and productive.
From her years of extensive experience and knowledge in mergers and acquisitions and strategic investments, Fong has distilled some advice for how to successfully manage change in the workplace.
Open communication is imperative.
Fong says no matter what change is happening, ensure open and honest communication. During a time of transition, it’s important that all levels of staff know they can provide and seek feedback, and that it won’t be ignored. This change affects them as much, if not more, than anything else. So listen!
Training is essential.
Through CPABC, Fong has been able to take professional development courses and attend various networking events that equip her to deal with situations like a major company expansion. Programs like leadership development, strategic thinking, communication and professional and ethical behaviour have helped her along the way.
“Employees trust that you’re a CPA and trust your personal and professional ethics, as well as your intrinsic knowledge in the business,” she says.
It’s a numbers game. Literally.
Change within an organization must be measured and reported. You need someone who can understand these numbers and discern from them what changes are working and how you can improve the process. Companies preparing for a transition can sponsor employees to take CPA or ACAF (CPA’s Advanced Certificate in Accounting and Finance) training, which equips workers with the hard and soft skills necessary to manage change.
Share key knowledge and business insight with staff.
According to Fong, helping employees understand the financial metrics of the company has been instrumental in gaining their trust over the years. This can be achieved through lunch and learns, walk and talks or simply a quick chat in the lunch room. Fong is well-equipped to walk everyone through the wins (and losses), even those not so familiar with things like P&Ls and EBITDA.
Sharing this information lets everyone see how they can help shape the company and make a positive impact on its bottom line. They share in the wins and better understand the effects of the losses.
Strong company culture will withstand change.
“The culture of a company will determine its success or failure,” states Fong. Culture includes the leadership style, company vision and the community within the company. Company culture is built by the employees collectively, and if the culture and vision of the company are not aligned, you won’t be successful — especially the next time you have to ask for buy-in from employees.
