An important part of this process will be identifying who you should seek more detailed input from. You will need to look at the specific circumstances of the organisation in order to identify these people and consider what major projects or actions have already been flagged for the personal effectiveness programs.

Consultation should be an ongoing process throughout the planning cycle. Formal submissions and other structured activities should be scheduled to occur before the planning activities commence in earnest, but they will not stop there. As planning progresses, there will be many times when you will need to return to stakeholders and seek further input.

When you have a draft of your program plan in place, it will be useful to ask stakeholders who have made major contributions to read it and offer comments. As you implement the plan and undertake projects, constantly seeking feedback and input will allow you to develop ideas for the next year’s business plan and to refine your planning process. Education is important when it comes to becoming a successful accountant or bookkeeper, you can study a Diploma of Accounting - https://www.edna.edu.au/online-courses/diploma-of-accounting/ 

How Bookkeepers and Accountants should use  feedback

When all the submissions that have resulted from the consultation process are in, it is time to review the feedback received and select the ideas of value to the planning process.

Depending on the organisation and the scale of the program under consideration, you might establish a panel or a committee to guide the consultation process and assess the feedback received. This can be an effective way of taking a formal and rigorous approach to considering the information received and putting into action appropriately.

Under such an approach, you could set a deadline for all submissions to be received by and thereafter convene a meeting of the committee to review and discuss everything received. The committee should consist of representatives from relevant and appropriately diverse areas of the organisation to ensure all considerations are dealt with.

After a decision has been taken on how to apply the most useful or relevant of the feedback received, it will be important to communicate this to relevant stakeholders. Many organisations ask for feedback—only some use it effectively. One of the key factors that will affect perceptions of how you use feedback is the information that flows back to stakeholders. Did someone you surveyed have a big impact on the way you planned the project? If so, do not forget to tell the organisation and it may be possible to use this person as a key participant.

When stakeholders can see the positive flow-on effects of feedback they have offered, they will be more likely to make quality contributions the next time you ask.

If stakeholders feel they are being asked for their feedback, only to have it sit in a locked drawer, they will feel disenchanted with the process, the program and possibly with the organisation.

You can communicate the outcomes of the consultation process to stakeholders through mechanisms such as a consultation report. This need only be a few pages, but it might outline what the consultation process looked like, what feedback was received, and how this feedback was integrated into the business plan. More informal methods, like personal communications, team meetings or emails are also useful for communicating outcomes, particularly when you are only trying to reach a smaller number of people.

In any organisation, there will be a hierarchy that determines who is responsible for and invested with the authority to approve various business decisions. The approval of the personal effectiveness plan is a high-level decision and will most likely rest with the organisation’s executive, whether that is an individual (chief executive officer) or governing body, such as a board or executive committee.

In large organisations, there will be official documentation outlining the governance structure and the various delegations attached to certain individuals or committees. Once you have determined which individuals or governing bodies need to be involved in the approval of the plan, you can commence the process.

This might involve making a presentation, or writing a report in support of the plan. A management committee might review the plan before recommending approval to a governing body, or it could be a simple process of receiving approval from senior managers who will be able to approve the activities highlighted for their individual areas.

The approvals process will confirm that the activities and targets outlined in the plan have been designed in support of the organisation’s strategic plan, and that the organisation or its individual areas have the resources (or plans to have the resources) sufficient to undertake the planned activities.

Active consultation guide for Accountants and Bookkeepers 

In order to ensure activities outlined in the personal effectiveness plan are achieved, you should actively consult with team members about:

• the organisation’s strategic plan
• the activities outlined in the plan (designed to fit in with and achieve the organisation’s strategic goals)
• how the outcomes of these activities will be measured
• the time frame the activities should be carried out in
• the roles and responsibilities of individual team members
• who should be responsible for meeting each objective

Active consultation involves:

• free and open discussion
• encouragement of all points of view
• acceptance of constructive feedback
• time to consider and revise

Involving team members from all levels of the business, from senior management to new team members, is a useful way to develop objectives and targets that are:

• widely supported and understood
• relevant across the whole business
• consistent across different business units and teams
• detailed and clear

How an Accountant and bookkeeper Develops objectives

One of the real advantages of active consultation can come from group decision making which enables organisations to make the best use of problem-solving resources. Teams or groups of people who get together to address issues and solve problems are able to bring innovation and continuous improvement into the workplace because they have a range of ideas, creativity, thinking styles, innovation skills and perceptions to draw upon.

A decision is ‘a judgement, conclusion or resolution reached or given’ ( Collins English Dictionary Fourth Australian Edition ). Problem solving and decision making are key activities in any organisation. Many decisions will be small, easily assessed, and pertinent to the day-to-day running of the organisation.