Decisions 2 days faster in an accounting office
The owner had to approve every document. We trained 3 leaders and gave them decision-making power. The office breathed a sigh of relief, and clients get answers faster.
In the Tax & Progress Poznań office, every email from a client had to pass through the owner's desk, Marta. The 12-person team felt useless, and clients waited too long for answers. In 8 weeks, we rebuilt the way decisions were made.
The challenge
Marta worked 11 hours a day because she was afraid that employees would make a mistake in documents. In June 2024, we measured that an average of 43 documents per day were waiting for her approval. A bottleneck was created that delayed sending declarations to clients by almost 48 hours. Employees were frustrated that despite 7 years of experience, they couldn't send a simple explanation to the tax office themselves without 'top-level' consent.
Our approach
We started with process mapping – without unnecessary fluff. For the first 2 weeks, we checked which decisions actually carry a risk and which are just a formality. Together with Marta, we selected the 3 most capable employees who became team leaders. We conducted 4 workshop sessions with them on how to take responsibility for errors and how to give clear instructions to colleagues with less seniority.
The solution
We introduced hard rules: leaders make financial decisions up to 4200 PLN independently. We created a list of 17 typical situations that no longer require Marta's signature. Every morning in the office now starts with a 12-minute briefing over coffee, where leaders briefly say what they are doing. Marta was given the role of an advisor, not a policeman, which freed up her time to search for new clients.
Results
The office started functioning like a smooth mechanism, and not a one-actress theater. Marta finally left the office at 4:00 PM on Friday, which hadn't happened in 4 years.
Timeline
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June 12, 2024Audit of bottlenecks and measurement of decision time
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July 04, 2024Workshops with leaders on taking responsibility
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August 14, 2024Implementation of new decision limits
"At first, I thought no one would do it as well as I would. I was wrong. Poznań Progress Partners showed me that my people are ready, only I was blocking them."