Aren't We All Teachers?
Volume 12, Number 42,
Issue 589
I had a wonderful time last Thursday at Chesterfield County’s Teacher of the Year Banquet, sitting next to my great friend Ed Barber, Chesterfield County’s Midlothian District Supervisor, at a table with 10 of my closest friends. Ed and I were the luckiest ones at the entire banquet—our seats happened to be right at (within about three feet) of the point where each of the individual 57 teachers present would stop as they were introduced to an audience of several hundred. We got an up-front look at their faces as they listened to the Master of Ceremonies state several sentences about each of them. For most, I imagine, that was one of the high points of their entire professional career—being introduced as an individual school’s 2004-2005 Teacher of the Year.
In her address to the group to accept the award as Chesterfield’s County-Wide Teacher of the Year, Pamela Edwards of Matoaca High School said that she has never believed that any of her students have any limitations. She stated that she had always enjoyed professional success by pushing her students beyond whatever limits they thought they had because, if you expect--even demand--more than what is required, they (the students) will always find a way to exceed your expectations.
Ms. Edwards’ remarks made me remember that all people who serve the public are teachers and that the best entrepreneurs remember this when they interact with their customers and their potential customers. In my years in business, I’ve found that the best entrepreneurs make sure to teach their clients things as the service is provided—they explain the process, constantly ask for more information and they make sure that the customer knows “what’s going on.” The best entrepreneurs aren’t afraid to change their opinions as new information is gathered. The best entrepreneurs know that serving the public is much more of an art rather than a science.
She also made me remember that when I hire someone when I am the consumer I want to learn something from making my purchase. When I work with a plumber or an electrician, I want to learn something. The same is true when I work with tree trimmers, carpenters, attorneys, marketing executives and bankers. If I am paying money to hire someone to do something I can’t do, that makes me a student in the transaction. I want to learn because next time I will do whatever it is I’m doing or involved with better.
More and more as I have moved through my career, I have high expectations for my clients. I expect them to tell me everything that they think might be important because that is the evidence that I’ll consider in developing my professional opinions. I don’t expect them to hide things from me. I expect them to trust me. I expect that they will be honest and forthright and that they will respect my judgment. As their teacher, I have high expectations for them as my students. I push them with aggressive questioning and innovative (to my profession) service. I, like Pam Edwards, demand more than what is required by my industry.
This past week, I hired a heating and air conditioning company to repair a unit in a building that I am renovating. The service technician that came treated me as a knowledgeable customer and talked to me about what he was doing. He wanted to know everything that I knew and stated that would be his evidence to consider. He wanted me involved in the process and shared his expertise with me as he asked questions. He knew I was interested in what was wrong and that I wasn’t about to abdicate responsibility. He was happy to be my teacher. He now expects that I will be a better consumer in the future and he will expect more and difficult assignments from me when I call his company again.
A local law firm has been running an advertisement on the radio recently proclaiming that every case has a very important and well-informed staff member working on every engagement—the client. They imply that they want the client involved in the process. Isn’t this the way it should be? But I don’t want just involvement from my clients—I want passionate cooperation towards agreed-upon goals, on a two-way street of give and take—I want all of our expectations exceeded over time through a relationship that is based on the constant gathering and re-gathering of evidence. I can’t do things by mind reading.
I have expectations of my own when it comes to my clients. I want them involved in the process from start to finish and I want them asking questions. Again, I can’t prepare tax returns or accounting projects by mind reading. When I get better questions from my students (clients) and more cooperation in telling me things rather than just waiting for me to ask, we are using our abilities to gather and discuss information TOGETHER and this always results in a better outcome. I want great students (clients) who will ask better and better questions about their tax and accounting situations as the months roll by. Through an intense and long-term relationship, I will learn about them and they will learn to help me to help them.
More and more, the Certified Public Accounting profession is changing to the extent that CPAs require extensive client involvement in their own situation. In a professional relationship, both sides learn and through the passage of time and building a history together, both sides push each other beyond any set expectations or limitations. Trust develops. I expect more input and so does the client. The roles of teacher and of student constantly interchange and, admittedly, often merge. Both teacher and student learn things.
Pam Edwards at Chesterfield’s Matoaca High School sounds like my kind of service-provider. She sounds like she has high expectations for her customers. She wants the type of customers who want to be challenged and just aren’t going through the motions of showing up to receive what is required. She knows that if YOU exceed the expectations of your customers about you and that you expect THEM to exceed yours about them, that everyone will become better people in the long run because cookie-cutters were never, ever used by anyone.
David B. Robinson, CPA
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