1. SUMMARY STATEMENT: Provide a brief, compelling statement describing how you, as an owner, will drive firm strategy and make a difference (locally, regionally, nationally, and/or internationally) to the future of RSM.
As an owner, I will continue to drive firm strategies which include social strategy around cultural, diversity and inclusion. With my diverse background that experienced various social challenges growing up, I will make it a priority to drive our inclusion program. In addition to driving our social strategy, I believe that there are a number of tremendous growth opportunities for RSM as the middle-market leader for tax, audit and consulting services and I intend to positively impact this growth through my actions as an owner and Enterprise Account Leader in our consulting practice. Furthermore, I believe that our Data Digital Services (DDS) practice will help be the beachhead to enterprise wide opportunities across LOBs which will help lower the number of single service clients. In order to continue to lead and drive growth activities, I will be part of national DDS strategic planning and provide input based on broad client experiences. I plan to work with local Dallas leaders to start driving RSM as local leader in consulting firms. I recently visited TCU with Ty Beasley to extend our part in being part of Fort Worth community where we plan to be involved in their CDI, recruiting and public speaking events around innovation and automation.
2. RSM EXPERIENCE - CLIENT. Actively serves clients as a first-choice advisor by providing timely, responsive services that exceed expectations.
2a) Provide two recent examples illustrating how you have actively demonstrated the our firm values and the first-choice advisor characteristics (5 C’s) in an effort to support the firm in its vision of being the first-choice advisor to middle-market leaders globally.
Understanding and adopting our firm values and 5 C's, has set RSM apart from our competitors. I've especially noticed the impact on broadening from a narrowed discussion to more enterprise wide and ability to gain trust. More recently, KB Home and Abode Services are two net new clients that started off as a single service request which quickly pivoted to a broader discussion around organizational goals. Through curiosity we asked appropriate questions that helped formulate a team of subject matter advisors (SMA) that showed RSM cares on the overall relationship. The following are details around how I've owned the Relationship Lead role while constructing the appropriate team of SMA's and Eminence experts. I will start with KB Home which is the 5th largest home builder in North America. Through curiosity, we acknowledged the client project sponsors were at high risk to losing their jobs, if the implementation wasn't successful.
With the heavy weight on both the client and RSM, I was able to have a candid conversation to show RSM cared not only for the relationship but to assure the sponsorship team could regain credibility which they lost through an unsuccessful Microsoft ERP implementation with another firm. Through continued transparency, we gained a level of trust and mutual respect which ultimately landed RSM a performance incentive which was outside the fees of the SOW. With the support of executive RSM sponsorship, we rewarded the RSM implementation team for working with integrity and showcasing our teamwork through cross LOB collaboration. My second example will start with a quote from a LinkedIn recommendation by the controller of Abode Services.
"With an initial focus to re-evaluate our current CPM solution and partner, Shaz listened and was able to pivot to a broader discussion around process and technology." March 2021, LinkedIn – Tyler Martin – Abode Services Controller
As to the above quote, Abode services quickly appreciated our curiosity on their journey to how they got to where they are while caring about the negative financial impact. Understanding that we needed to gain trust before having the courageous conversation of not going down the same path while understanding the right approach. As to the controller;
“We quickly found ourselves collaborating with a mix of CPM, Intacct and Finance process SME’s which resulted in a roadmap to success.” March 2021, LinkedIn – Tyler Martin – Abode Services Controller
Both project sponsors have agreed to be a reference but more importantly, continue to leverage our first choice advisory. Notes:
KB Home - meeting clients deliverables is fun, meeting deliverables early or earning incentives is more fun
Curiosity – asked questions to understand where concerns were derived from
2b) Provide an example of a time you realized your approach to working with a client wasn’t ideal. Which of the 5 C’s did you demonstrate to rectify the situation?
I've spent various years to ensure that clients become referenceable but along the way have encountered situations where our initial planning as well as approach did not fulfill a client's expectations. Most recently, we ran into a situation where taking a step back was critical to move forward and potentially save a firm client. Lithko Contracting who is an existing client based out of Cincinnati, OH in the construction industry engaged our team to assist with a corporate performance management system selection as well as implementation. During the implementation phases, we learned our approach was not aligned with what the Lithko team was expecting. Lithko was expecting RSM to bring forth industry knowledge as well as system expertise and to not just replicate their current process but to improve them.
We were notified that the through the CIO that the finance team was not happy with how the implementation was going. As the functional and engagement leader, I decided that the best course of action was to listen to what Lithko had to say. I learned that the Lithko team wanted a broader approach to the project.
We were able to collaborate internally and with the support of leadership created an action plan that included an executive steering committee, eminence lead and added project management from our DPMO practice. As a token of goodwill, we decided that further incentive the Lithko team to stay the course by applying discount to their blended rate. With all the adjustments and a go-forward plan, the client seen we cared and took accountability. With a laser focus on their growth trajectory, we now have monthly executive sponsorship calls that spotlights the growth of the organization. We continue to proactively come to the table with suggestions while leveraging our eminence program with industry trends which the client has appreciated. The lessons learned have been of great value as we've proactively applied learning experience to further refine ongoing and new projects
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