How a Nottingham accountancy firm has transformed its culture
UHY Hacker Young in Nottingham has grown significantly since it opened over 30 years ago. In the past three years the accountancy firm has continued to modernise its approach with managing partner Simon Browning at the helm. We spoke to Simon to find out more about how the firm continues to evolve in a traditional sector.
As the adoption of cloud technology to manage finances continues to become widespread, particularly with this year’s Making Tax Digital changes, the accountancy industry as a whole has needed to adapt and grow to meet the needs of clients.
The Nottingham office of UHY Hacker Young has spear-headed this change. However, it is not just technology which has unlocked potential for the firm, a focus on developing a mentoring and coaching culture has served to engage the business’ people, while also boosting performance and productivity.
Managing partner Simon Browning, who took on the role in 2017, says: “Despite the technological developments in our sector, people continue to buy from people – particularly advice led services – and therefore developing our people to the highest standard is vital to ensure clients receive the best advice and service.
“Educating people on the importance of coaching and giving them space to invest time in it will help them to appreciate and understand the true value of coaching and the positive impact it can have on the success of the business and the people within it. This is why one of my biggest focuses here in Nottingham has been to embed coaching into our culture from the ground up.
“Taking the time for coaching helps to develop individual and team talent, engage people in the business, boost performance and productivity, while delivering a thriving culture. It represents a genuine and true investment in people and those who take the time to deliver it will see the benefits over the long term.
“Recently we launched Time Out sessions, whereby different teams come together on a monthly basis to discuss non-technical matters such as technology, mental health and client service. Each session is led by a different person with a view to providing an engaging discussion across teams in a variety of areas that everybody is finding challenging.”
Together with this new coaching approach the firm has implemented its competency and behaviours framework, which supports development for everyone across the firm. In Nottingham, Simon has also driven the use of technology in this area with a more accessible online appraisal and feedback system being introduced, however, he feels more businesses need to invest time in coaching.
He added: “Unfortunately, I think that mentoring and coaching is one of the first things to get cut when people are too busy, which can sometimes lead to individuals becoming disengaged as they feel like they are under-developing and not being listened to.”
“I’m immensely proud of how far UHY has come over the past few years, our culture is continuing to grow and I am pleased the wider team feel they can pioneer change.”
