There may be errors in spelling, grammar, and accuracy in this machine-generated transcript.
Rachel Dillon: Hi, I'm Rachel Dillon, and together with my husband, Marcus Dillon, we lead Who's Really the Boss podcast, where we highlight the joys and challenges of running a business with your spouse or family. Our mission is to strengthen families and businesses by helping listeners avoid the mistakes we have made so they can lead.And live happily ever after.
Rachel Dillon: Welcome [00:00:30] back to another episode of Who's Really the Boss podcast.
Marcus Dillon: Hey, thanks for having me back.
Rachel Dillon: And we are welcoming a very special guest and actually a second time guest, Leslie Reeves, one of our client CFOs.
Lezlie Reeves: Thanks for having me, Marcus and Rachel, excited to be on today.
Rachel Dillon: Yeah. So, Leslie, you are a repeat guest. You are only one of two people who have been a guest more than one time. Will you give a self intro just in case there are listeners who haven't had the chance to meet you yet? Sure. [00:01:00]
Lezlie Reeves: So I sit outside of Houston and Fulshear, Texas. I have been with a firm almost five years. I started out as a client service manager, moved to comptroller and then CFO, and I manage a team of six, I believe one of the pods inside Dillon Business Advisors. Outside of work, I have three kids college, high school, and elementary and we love to travel. I think that's [00:01:30] about all there is to me. I love it.
Rachel Dillon: And you guys just recently traveled. So we are recording this in mid-October, and you just recently traveled for a fall break to one of your favorite places.
Lezlie Reeves: Yes, we are headed over to 38. We love the neighborhood of watercolor, and our son is a freshman at Auburn. And so it's about a 3.5 hour drive for him. And we made the flight. So it was a great weekend to spend together in the fall. [00:02:00] Weather was amazing.
Rachel Dillon: All right, Marcus, before I give you the floor, Marcus, I want to ask Leslie the best advice she's ever been given. But since you've already been a guest, you have the option you can reshare if that's still the best, or if you have another piece of advice you'd like to share with us.
Lezlie Reeves: Okay, so I'm going to pick another piece of advice. And it's one that I believe I first heard in high school and from a family friend, and then my [00:02:30] mom adopted it as well. And it is this too shall pass. Um, and I think it's actually very fitting in talking about maternity leave, because I remember celebrating babies and thinking like, oh, they're sleeping through the night. Even the good stuff shall pass. Um, so you got to hold on to it and remember it. Um, enjoy it while it's happening. And then also the bad stuff, like you've gotten through it 100 times, 100% of the times before. So it's going to pass and you're going to move on [00:03:00] to another day.
Marcus Dillon: Awesome. So how often do you tell yourself that? Daily.
Lezlie Reeves: Oh, maybe not daily. Definitely daily. Uh, in the in the certain seasons.
Marcus Dillon: Yeah, I understand seasons of life or seasons of business.
Lezlie Reeves: Yes. All of the above. Okay.
Rachel Dillon: So we are sharing our most recent experiences within Dillon Business Advisors of having [00:03:30] team members out on extended leave. And we like to go big or go home. And so not only did we have one team member out on extended leave, but we actually had two team members out on extended leave. And so we had one team member from Marcus's pod, one team member from your pod. Leslie. And, um, really wanted to hear from you guys what that looks like. And ours happen to be maternity leave for both of our team members. And they did overlap. And [00:04:00] so really just want to talk through what was that experience. Um, and obviously we're talking about this. We would talk about it either way if it went really well or if it went really bad, and what we were going to do the next time, you know, in hindsight, knowing better. But this time it's been a great experience and so really want to talk through that today.
Marcus Dillon: Yeah. Uh, just a little bit of context for those that may not know the makeup of the DBA team. So we have 15 [00:04:30] W-2 employees. We only have, um, probably around 12 FTEs. We do have a handful of part time folks that we love, and they do great work and just don't work 40 hours a week or 36. Um, so Leslie is actually one of those, uh, part timers. Um, and we appreciate, you know, how much she's, she's able to do on a part time schedule, compared to what some could even do on a full time schedule. So we love part timers [00:05:00] with the makeup of our team. I'm actually the only male, so you can, you know, kind of get there real quick that we employ a lot of working parents, a lot of working moms by default. Um, not everyone has kids at DBA, which also is part of the reason why we're having this conversation today. We are now the three of us are now probably the, uh, elder statesman in the room at DBA. Uh, you know, being in our early 40s, [00:05:30] I'll get I'll give us all that. Um, but yeah, we are, um, not the youngest, not even the average anymore. So I think that our average DBA team member is probably young, 30s. Um, you know, we have some that are really, you know, in their early 20s, mid to early 20s. And those are one of those are or actually both are the ones that we're going to kind of go through their situation today. So, um, all that to say, we appreciate [00:06:00] all the team members and it's just worked out that we have created a home for, you know, a female team member to actually have a great place to work.
Marcus Dillon: And as part of, uh, you know, the natural cycle of life, people like to have kids and people have to figure out what the balance in work and life looks like. And part of that balance begins as soon as you have that child. So we were fortunate that a couple of team members did recently have children. [00:06:30] Both. Both are girls? Yes. Both daughters. Yeah. So, uh, girls? Yeah. More girls on the team. So, uh, both daughters that were welcomed, uh, I think August and and September. Yeah. So back to back and I think it was really cool. We we had the the team retreat this year in Florida. Uh, kind of mid-year retreat late June, uh, near 30 A it wasn't as cool as, uh, watercolor. It was [00:07:00] destined proper, but right on the edge. And so as, um, you know, as that was kind of wrapping up, it was kind of neat to see those young families, especially ones ones that were welcoming daughters for the first time, you know. So I think both had sons. And it was kind of a neat experience for their husbands and our team members to get away. So so that's catching you all up on where we're at. And, um, you know, maternity is one of those things, like even a virtual world. [00:07:30] You got to talk about it. You can't hide it. Um, you know, we probably knew for a few months that, um, that, you know, they, they were expecting before and, you know, kind of working through what all that looked like and what conversations need to happen. And so yeah, that's the background on where everything's at. So.
Rachel Dillon: So Leslie, do you remember about when you found out that your team member was expecting. [00:08:00]
Lezlie Reeves: No. Yeah, I, I found out about.
Rachel Dillon: One of our team members expecting in December, like, she told us very early because she was very recently hired, and she didn't she wasn't planning for that to happen. And so she really felt compelled to, like, share it as soon as she knew she didn't want anything to feel like she hid something like during the interview and hiring process. And so [00:08:30] she shared super early. So we knew one of our team members was going out, um, at early December. Maybe sooner than that. I mean, just very, very early. And then the next, I think we found out maybe pretty quickly February, wary. March ish.
Lezlie Reeves: Yes, it was just a few months after.
Rachel Dillon: Yes it was. It felt. It felt very close after. But time passes quickly. Uh, but prior to that, we set as our goal to hire an [00:09:00] accounting assistant or additional support from Toa, the outsource accountant from the Philippines. Our team member, April, who we found in the beginning of January. So that was actually on the plan. We were looking for that before we knew any anyone was going out, um, for an extended leave. And so do you want to talk a little bit about I want to talk about what we started and put in place and [00:09:30] kind of the path that we took from finding out we were going to have team members on extended leave, um, all the way through what it looked like until they came back. And so, Leslie, I'm going to let you share, uh, some of those steps. You can start wherever you'd like.
Lezlie Reeves: Okay. Well, I'm going to start. Before we knew, um, that we had team members leaving or taking leave for an extended period of time. And, uh, as Rachel mentioned, we [00:10:00] had in the works to create more capacity on the team. Uh, and with that, we hired April at the same time, we had a project where our csm's were to document the workflow for each client. Um, so many of our csm's do such a great job, but a lot of things would live in their head. And then if they needed to be out or, um, you know, we were not prepared for the big yellow [00:10:30] bus if someone left us unexpectedly, um, they were not covered. And so we took on that project so that every client's workflow, um, from payroll to how they did their accounting, how we prepared financials, who the contact person was. And that was a big project that happened, I believe was finished in quarter four of last year. And and we had that we had accountability to make sure that that was done for every single client. And so that was something paired with [00:11:00] creating the additional capacity by hiring people that I feel like really set us up. For now, we know that people are going out and what can we do next? Um, that was probably not everyone's favorite project. There are some people who love to document things. There are others who just do what they do. Um, so that was a little bit of a challenge, um, just to make sure all that was done. But then once that was done, we were in a great place to, [00:11:30] um, train April. And in the beginning, we knew we wanted her to assist as a client service manager assistant. And so we trained her on some simple clients to begin with. She's helped in the background with bank feeds, um, with some tax projects, etc. so we would have her do small projects for us. Um, and then we progressed over the months for her [00:12:00] handling, um, the back side of the accounting for clients from start to finish.
Marcus Dillon: Yeah. I think the, uh, we can go ahead. And so Hannah is one and then Abby, because I know I'm going to want to refer to both of them. So Hannah is a CSM on my team. She is the one that was hired in Q4 of 2023. Kind of came to us in December immediately when they found out they were expecting. And, [00:12:30] um, she she is full time. And so also background on Abby. She is part time. She is also a CSM, but she works in Lesley's pod. And so I think those are just kind of also laying the groundwork for one's a full time, one's part time, both total. It's about 60 hours of capacity that you know is gone. And there was some overlap. You know, whenever um, Hannah had gone out first and then I think she was coming back. And then Abby, I think there was a week or two where [00:13:00] they both, uh, were out at the same time, but two different pods, two different teams, two different sets of clients. So that was also important, uh, during this, uh, process, just because how we've structured the team for effectiveness to so to Leslie's point, you know, documentation is key. And from all the way back, you know, 13, 14 years ago, whenever it was just me and like, what still lives in my head, which is scary. And I think a lot of owners, [00:13:30] um, you know, downplay how much knowledge that they may have around relationships or just being able to remember way back when, uh, things that happen in clients, businesses. So I think documentation is key. Uh, Leslie, we also want to share like, that wasn't like some, like, crazy software that was used. That wasn't something that was, like, outside the norm to actually document what's going on. Why don't you share, like, what programs? Like what? We actually used to document all of that. [00:14:00]
Lezlie Reeves: So we used Excel, the accountant's favorite tool uh, to document that. And we just created a template and it followed, uh, that tasks that the CSM did for each client on a daily basis. If there's anything that was daily on a weekly basis, uh, on a monthly basis, and then also usually bi monthly, um, I'm sorry, bi weekly for payroll. And so we had those lined out in Excel. We gave everyone, [00:14:30] um, a template. But then we asked them, can you also record yourself, um, doing some of the tasks. So we used Vimeo to create videos that we could share within our team, and that would live on a link to that would live on that Excel document. Um, so yeah, it was very simple. It could be, um, one note. It could be word. It doesn't have to be complex just to get it out of your head and where someone else can rely on it.
Marcus Dillon: Yeah. And I think the [00:15:00] other, you know, by developing the template, which maybe that will drop as a free resource within collective or something, if I had to guess down the road. Um, but I think having the template by role. So as we talk through like DBA and why we're structured, I think the role kind of specific responsibilities that easily helps with like checklists and responsibilities and who's the best person on that team of three to do certain tasks. So by role is important. Um, the other piece that, [00:15:30] um, a lot of people have in their head, or only one person on the bus is passwords and login credentials. So we had solve for that a while back. We currently use Practice Protect for that. Um you know but there's other options out there as far as password management. So I think that was another big step, is just making sure that regardless of someone going out, if it is maternity, if it is vacation, if it's some other type of like sabbatical, um, that, yeah, [00:16:00] it's like they're in the business and the clients can continue to get served even while someone is out. So I love the fact that we didn't try to reinvent the wheel. Um, so Excel or Microsoft products, Vimeo or Loom does the same thing.
Marcus Dillon: And then a recent program that we just kind of purchased, some, some of y'all may know is, um, I forget the name of it. Um, scribe. We just bought scribe. Yeah. So scribe. Um, and we just [00:16:30] have a single user for the whole firm, and everybody shares that much like they do Vimeo. So we have like one library, one bank of, um, you know, videos and tutorials on stuff on how to do stuff. So that's what we use. The other piece was that was being documented, especially like the video portion. We didn't ask people because we know that it is additional admin tasks and especially like csms that are, um, you know, for the most part pretty productive, like 75 [00:17:00] to 85% production is kind of their target. So we didn't want to add a bunch of admin work on their plate. So our recommendation was, hey, as you're closing out this next month or you're doing that next payroll or next sales tax filing, just hit record and start talking through what you're doing, doing it on screen. Document it as you go. Um, and that's always worked best for us, you know, as opposed to having to do all of that admin and have additional work [00:17:30] that's outside of a normal workflow.
Rachel Dillon: Yeah. So with with maternity, there's some uncertainties. Um, and so because we knew that we would have team members out and we knew that the due dates were very close to each other, we, I think, as a team were preparing for the the worst case scenario versus like the best case scenario where there would only be, you know, 1 or 2 weeks overlap. We were prepared for a [00:18:00] couple of months, right. We were prepared for a couple of months of having team members out at the same time. And so what we knew the way our teams are set up in teams of three, is that it doesn't make sense with knowing in advance that we will have people out to just say, oh, this one person's going to take on all of the responsibilities of Abby, or someone's going to take on all of the responsibilities [00:18:30] of Hannah. And so what we started looking at, I think, from the beginning. And, Leslie, I'd like you to talk through this a little bit, but was kind of the timeline of what we decided would be realistic of how we were going to divide up the responsibilities, and then also how long we thought it would be a good amount of time to get the person who would be filling in, trained on those responsibilities.
Lezlie Reeves: Right. So our first thing with [00:19:00] April was training her on a daily task, just how to do tasks. And we started that at the beginning of the year. And so we're talking eight months, nine months that she began training both as a client service manager, assistant and then also for just taking over those roles when the client service manager was out. So that was a long training. Over time, we've learned unless someone is coming from a very similar role, we don't want to give them 20 clients [00:19:30] at once and say, hey, go, you know, it's your job, go take care of it. Um, so we've learned over time that it's definitely better to, uh, do task training and let them batch a task at a time before handing them the whole plan. And so that's what we did with April. She started out. She worked with bank seeds. Um, she worked through bank reconciliations. She did a project where she pulled fixed asset reports for every client that [00:20:00] we prepare monthly financials for. So just got her really familiar with the tasks in her first couple of months and her next couple of months, um, we started getting her familiar with specific clients and how to work through, uh, the monthly tasks on one specific client and then apply that to another client. Um, she shadowed the CSN. And, um, so in my case, will be has about 20 clients that she takes [00:20:30] care of.
Lezlie Reeves: And she would April would shadow. I would say when we were maybe five months out, four months out, she would shadow. She would work on five clients and she would shadow Abby. If you've ever trained someone you know, it is exhausting to train while you're working and still have other work to do. So I would definitely. And it was nice because April could shatter Abby and April could shadow Hannah. We didn't have her shadowing [00:21:00] one person her entire 40 hours, so I think that was key for our existing team members to be able to still get other things done. So we worked on tasks of training her, of tasks that we felt really comfortable with her owning. Um, with our structure, our controllers oversee our csms and their work. And so we decided that our controllers, who already are very familiar with the clients would be the ones to continue communication with them. So we're not going to introduce another [00:21:30] person for communication for two months and of leave. So our controllers took over, um, communication with clients. They took over payroll sales tax and any moving of monies pay, um payments being made, bill pay, etc., things like that. Our controllers kept um, and then any other tasks or the tasks that our um, CSM, our CSM assistant took over.
Rachel Dillon: Yeah. Perfect. [00:22:00] And I like that. You said like how far in advance we started training. So we didn't wait till one month prior to the due date. Um, partially because we know that, uh, a baby can come at any time, and also because what we've seen in the past as we've trained new team members, what ideally we like to have is at least one month of closeouts outs, shadowing one month of close outs. The new person is doing the work and being shadowed. And then [00:22:30] the third month they're independent but have support through questions. And so I think that that was the mentality of like, we want to make sure that April has at least three months of seeing all of the work that she's going to be responsible for in some capacity. And so, Marcus, will you share a little bit about how did we balance that if or when when April got to the part where she was independent on Hannah's work and on Abby's [00:23:00] work, they had to be hands off. They had to let her go to see where is she going to get stuck or have questions so they could fill that in before they went out on leave. So how did we handle that? As far as from what are they doing with their time if someone else is doing their job?
Marcus Dillon: Um, I don't know that I'll have the the right answer. Uh, but I think what was done, um, was a lot of just support, uh, verification kind of review, making sure [00:23:30] everything was good, um, documenting where they were at at, like in that process of that current month or that current closeout because as you mentioned, like they they could leave the very next day going to labor overnight and not show back up the next day or we weren't, you know, expecting them to like log in to do that. So we wanted it was really a week by week, like, hey, where are you at on things? And then as we got closer to them going out, it was day by day. And so with that like that [00:24:00] administration just took time. Right. So they're updating that. So that was some of where their time went. But it was also committing to the team member like, hey, we're not going to hold this against you that like we're becoming more effective and more efficient. Um, in these in these clients during this time preparing for you to go out. So we, you know, made sure that they did have work or did have hours. Um, so they weren't just missing out on pay for the part timer for the for Hannah, who is full time. She, you [00:24:30] know, she had other projects that she could help with as far as like can you look at this workflow on this new client or can you go look at this software, which we're trying to minimize how many different software applications we use? So I know Hannah spent some of her time during those few weeks and months like, hey, what are your thoughts on can we move this client off of this old legacy software and onto this new software that we've implemented? Just to get her [00:25:00] thoughts on that is partly what she helped with. Um, but it was just being there for April, being there for the controllers as well. So I think that's what they they did with the majority of their time that they had.
Rachel Dillon: And I think to Leslie's point, Leslie, you mentioned that April was taking like from Abby, she was taking pretty much like five clients at a time. And so I know Abby tried to help her balance that as she learned the five. Abby might work on those five the next month and let April work on the five new.
Lezlie Reeves: Correct? [00:25:30] Correct. That's exactly how she did it. So she didn't give her the whole 20, and she was never going to have the whole 20 right by herself. And she was working closely with a controller. So I think that's, you know, a good thing to think about. Uh, we did not there was never a time that we practice having everybody out and having you. You're in charge of all the clients. Um, we did make sure she's very familiar with all the things. But like [00:26:00] you said, there's a timeline that we can't predict. And so we didn't go, like, worst case scenario in our training. We definitely made sure she was familiar. And the other thing too, with this is with the controllers working so closely and helping that, uh, balance The demand on the client service manager. Assistant. Uh, that relationship needs to be happening the whole time. So April spent a lot of time with Abby and with Hannah training. Um, and [00:26:30] then we also had to make sure that April spent time with the controllers. Abby and Hannah's controllers. So that they were familiar with her, that they had open lines of communication, um, that they knew what to expect from each other. So I think that was an important thing that we had to bridge as well over the period.
Marcus Dillon: I think a great point and, um, something, something to definitely to, um, make sense in this, I guess that we [00:27:00] got right was having certain Csms only work with certain controllers. So Abby only works with Holly and as her controller, Holly knows exactly what Abby has on her plate at any one time. Um, Hannah is a little bit different. She actually works with two controllers. Kind of as my pod continues to accept clients and grow. So, um, that is a little bit different than Abby's situation. So it [00:27:30] was making sure that Mallory and Elena, the two controllers that Hannah works alongside, know, you know, what clients those are, and then obviously that there were no missing pieces, um, to happen. But, you know, compared to, like, how DBA was structured once upon a time, you know, when everybody kind of worked with everybody like, I'm there's no doubt in my mind, like things would have gotten forgotten or dropped just because controller would have just assumed [00:28:00] something was getting picked up and it wasn't. So I think that's the other really key part in this, is making sure that the controller and even the client cfo's were instrumental in communication with April on responsibilities and client needs wants. Hannah or Abby did officially go out.
Rachel Dillon: All right, Leslie, give me a, like, a quick rundown. What? April, as the CSM assistant, was responsible for what the controller was [00:28:30] responsible for. And then we'll share what the role of the client CFO was, um, during this time.
Lezlie Reeves: So the CSM assistant, um, during the time of leave, was in charge of bank feeds, of bank reconciliations, um, making journal entries, preparing the financials. Um, and in our process of how that is, those clients are touched at least weekly. Um, the client controller [00:29:00] was responsible for all client communication as well as sales tax filings, bill pay and payroll. In addition to their Existing job responsibilities.
Rachel Dillon: Yes, which does include support of the CSM, but also reviewing the monthly financial statements, recording commentary for those financial statements and then sending those out to the client. So that which is kind of [00:29:30] why the client controller doesn't necessarily have capacity to take on one of their csms full responsibilities and stay within the time that they've committed to DBA. So that for us, it it could have seemed like, oh, this is an easy solution. The client controller already works on the client. They already review and support that person. They'll just take it on. But honestly, that would not work. [00:30:00] Um, the team of three with Abby, Holly and you, Leslie, actually all happened to have, like, flexible or part time work arrangements. And so to load that up would just go beyond what we've committed to our team members and what the team members have committed to us. So that wasn't a good solution for us to do. Even though temporary, it just wasn't a good solution. Clients may have not been served as well. Um, and then definitely families with families would have definitely, um, taken [00:30:30] the the bad end of that, I guess. So tell a little bit about client CFO responsibilities during all of this planning and then the actual time that's out.
Lezlie Reeves: Um, so I think that's client CFO really in this role was the person to hold everyone accountable. Um, so we talked about a plan. We talked about training, but we can all get very busy with all the things going on now and [00:31:00] think, I will do that later. Uh, and so I think that was the one of the biggest, um, responsibilities I realized during this process Was helping that stay front of mind. So we do biweekly check ins, um, with my ideal biweekly check ins with my team. Marcus does, um, check ins with his team as well. And so in those one on one check ins, we're checking in to see. Have you met with. When I'm meeting with April, the CSM assistant. Have you met [00:31:30] with Abby? Which clients have you gone over? Asking a lot of questions to determine what is actually been done. And is she understanding and comprehending the roles that she needs to responsibilities she needs to take over? Um, and then talking with Abby and seeing, okay, feedback, like, how do you think this is going? Um, and then talking with the controller, you know, like, have you sat with, um, the CSM or the assistant? And so I think that was a big thing of just keeping that front [00:32:00] of mind because it's really easy. Like I said, when you're several months out to feel like there's plenty of time to get it done.
Rachel Dillon: Yeah. And Marcus, any, um, anything to add or anything different that you did as far as from the CFO for Hannah? Um, preparing for her leave?
Marcus Dillon: Yeah. I think the other thing that I mean, obviously. What what Leslie kind of lined out was very important internally from an external perspective. Also, you know, communicating with the client. Um, and most [00:32:30] of the clients we serve have a very similar value. Um, you know, kind of morals and everything like that in life. And so they see children as usually a great thing and wanted to celebrate the csm's alongside of DBA too. Right? So it was sending out that communication to let them know, hey, like Hannah's going to be out and don't worry. In the meantime, like Mallory and myself or Alaina and myself are taking point while Hannah is out, I know that Leslie [00:33:00] and her team sent very similar messages just to make sure that the client was fully educated and they knew who to communicate with. Um, while that person is out and leading up to while they are out. Um, I think back to Leslie's point. We didn't introduce April to clients, um, yet at that time, so we just kept all the communication at the comptroller and CFO level. But it was crucial that the client know, hey, there's a plan, and [00:33:30] just trust the plan and it'll be fine.
Rachel Dillon: Yeah, that's really good. Okay, I'm going to ask Leslie first and then mark a second. Leslie, were there any things that you were nervous about? Kind of about the upcoming, um, extended leave when you, when we, when we just first knew about it, were there any things that made you nervous or uneasy about it?
Lezlie Reeves: Well, of course we were. There's [00:34:00] just the unknown. Right. So we had just hired April, and she was very early in training and we did not know what that what how she was going to grow. And I mean, she's done tremendous. But we did not know at that time. So I think that was the biggest thing of who is going to fill this. Um, the plan came together perfectly. Uh, Abby, you know, planned I'm going to be here through the September [00:34:30] close, and she made it happen. So there was a lot of that that, uh, unknown that we just didn't know, um, that we figured out along the way. Right. Like, careful planning, being intentional. We figured out I was not concerned that the client wouldn't be taken care of. Um, and I think that is something we can all take comfort in as we are structured with this team of three. So that was not a concern. But, you know, you [00:35:00] don't know what you don't know.
Marcus Dillon: Yeah. Yeah.
Marcus Dillon: The other thing there is like there's some things that you just can't delay. So like we place emphasis on closeouts. And much like Abby, you know, stuck around through September closeouts like, but that's an internal deadline that we have on the 15th, like payroll sales tax. Any like you can't mess those up. So it was placing maybe some priority within the team, like, hey, the client's given us grace. They know what's going on. They know it's a short term window. Um, [00:35:30] if they get their financials a week or a few days later, they're going to be forgiving versus, like, we were a week late on payroll. That's not as forgiving. So I think that's part of the apprehension that you have to hit head on. Like, okay, we have to address this. And the way that you address it is having the conversation on what is priority. So, um, the other the other aspect is always like, are are the team members going to come back? And I think that's just from a selfish standpoint, like they're really good. We've put, you know, training [00:36:00] in place and we love the person. And if they decide, you know, to stay home with children, that's obviously a good call for them and their family. But, you know, we would love to make it work long term at DBA. So always being open to that conversation whenever something comes up like a new child and things like that. So that's just part of our story, you know, from the very beginning as being open for people to balance, you know, their family life and how much they want to work in a professional aspect. [00:36:30]
Rachel Dillon: All right we'll keep going in this order. So, Leslie, uh, what are there any things that have worked out even better than you could have imagined? Um, from kind of the planning and preparation and then the execution of it, of team members being out.
Lezlie Reeves: Uh, well, I think it's all gone. Um, just exceptionally well. Um, we've had to say, you know, to the to Abby, hold off and spend more time with your baby. You [00:37:00] know you don't have to rush back. We love you, but enjoy this time. It goes by so fast. Uh, so it's definitely worked out. Um, just incredibly, I will say one added, um, benefit we've had is with the client service manager assistant, the CSM assistant, and the controller stepping in on different tasks. They're just putting a different set of eyes on the client, um, tasks, the responsibilities. And that is never a bad thing. So they can [00:37:30] reevaluate, like maybe trying new ways of doing things. They can just add value throughout that process. When someone's had a client and done that work themselves for a year or two years, even longer sometimes.
Rachel Dillon: Yeah, absolutely. Marcus, anything that's worked out better than you imagined.
Marcus Dillon: Yeah. So, um, with having the assistant in place in April, um, it's it's given our csm's the option to delegate [00:38:00] as well. So like elevating them to like where is their time best spent. And obviously they have relationship and communicate with the client. So as opposed to like being bogged down in maybe some of the admin responsibilities, I know that that's going to be April's role to support Csm's and the whole pod, you know, even after both people return from maternity. So I would say like that has also led to definitely like on the team of Leslie, Holly [00:38:30] and Abby, their effectiveness as far as like client service. And then also just um, you know, the the numbers behind how how profitable they are on engagements has only gone up by having April in place. And I think that's just you can't deny it. Like it's just part of the we're providing additional support to a team. So as opposed to like Holly who has a higher, you know, Cost than Addie or April. You know, [00:39:00] picking up all of this excess work. And then, Leslie, the same thing you're able to, um, look at look at it from a business lens, right? Like, we're still very profitable on those engagements, and they are within budget, um, even while people are out on maternity versus just being okay with budgets being not as profitable during that time. So I would say there's always going to be a role as an, for an assistant, um, here on out, just in ways that they can continue to add value to [00:39:30] individual teams within a pod or the whole pod as it stands.
Rachel Dillon: And I think for.
Rachel Dillon: The two of us, Marcus, I think knowing people were going to be out, we don't want to overstep like you. And I never want to overstep the boundaries that we've set and promises we've made with team. So in the back of my mind, it's always okay if if everything goes wrong, we pick it up and do it. And by we. If it's technical, I do not mean me. So [00:40:00] that would be you. And I think that that's normal for a lot of owners is that they're going to, you know, when everything goes wrong. Ultimately the owner's going to pick it up and make sure it happens and that the clients are served. And so that was one thing that I thought went really, really well. There was no additional, um, I don't think, any additional responsibilities on your plate from a time standpoint. Uh, and then the other thing was, Hannah, when she got back, [00:40:30] said, can I keep using April? And I thought that that was amazing because as well, if Hannah is able to use an assistant and delegate some things out, that means she has more capacity to take on new clients as new clients come in. Which means we don't have to go out and search for another team member. And so April has 40 hours a week, mostly uninterrupted, because she doesn't have direct client interaction yet anyway. And so that's very different than our client service [00:41:00] managers who have probably the most client interaction because they're talking frequently on payroll and also different questions on transactions and things. So I thought that those were two great things that came out of the plans and preparation of this.
Marcus Dillon: Yeah. The the other comment, just for those that may not work with Toa or any outsource, you know that you may have questions, but April works our ours for the most part. So she works East Coast. Ours. [00:41:30] Most of us are central. Some of us are mountain, some are east. But she does work East coast time, and that's just the norm for Toa and where she sits in the Philippines. So, um, you know, it's not a bad thing that she's working graveyard or anything like that, but she is there as a support to our team because our team like like Holly and both Holly and Leslie like they aren't full time, and having April there as an option like, hey, can you work on this? And then I'll get back to [00:42:00] you tomorrow? Um, that's always a very real thing. So I think it's just, you know, we've stumbled upon success, um, in this instance. But I think part of it was planned to I think it just goes back to, uh, credit to the team being awesome as well. And I think all the prep led to a very good, um, season for both, uh, the team member that was out and able to spend time with their new child, you know, like we told them from the very beginning, [00:42:30] like our our gift, the best gift that we can give to you is like that.
Marcus Dillon: You're not worried about the office like that. You're not running payrolls and that you're not checking emails during that time like you truly are on break. Um, so and I think Hannah, for the most part experienced that. I think Abby also, for the most part experienced that and actually made some comments like, I thought you were going to check on me. You know, like, um. But but I think that was always the plan. Like, hey, we're ready when you are. Don't, like, don't come back early on behalf of us. [00:43:00] So, um, but yeah, I think that's the main thing that from the team member perspective, it's been successful. And then from a owner perspective, I haven't like, you know, between April Mallory, Elena, kind of myself, um, I never thought like, man, I really wish I could ask Hannah this question or I should, I should I email Hannah and see if she'll respond about this issue? [00:43:30] I never had that come up while Hannah was out. I don't know, Abby. Um, if you had that Leslie when Abby was out.
Lezlie Reeves: No, no. We were not. We we we let her be at peace. I was thinking one more thing that we haven't mentioned that is such a benefit of this is just the Steady growth for both. April. As a CSM assistant, we had a timeline. We had a deadline for these trainings and so that was great. Um, but also for our Csm's, they are [00:44:00] learning management skills and leadership skills by delegating and, and having to do those things that they don't usually do if they are the only, like they're the only one doing the work, they have no one to delegate to. So I love that while they were out throughout this process, everyone has grown in their skills 100%.
Marcus Dillon: I think the other piece too is like Leslie leads her pod so much better than I do, and it's because she has empathy for every level, [00:44:30] you know, has kind of been CSM controller and now CFO. Um, how she manages her team is just a little bit different than how I manage my team. Both are very similar in a lot of ways. But somebody may be asking like, how do you know when stuff is missed? Or how do you know when like that payroll didn't get run. It's not like I'm logging into ADP or the sales tax for that client. You know, by having a practice management software where we have made sure that the team members do appropriately [00:45:00] record and like close out projects as those are done. That was kind of the tool that I used. Um, you know, to kind of make sure things were getting completed and if if there was something that I was concerned about, I would message the team members that were involved. So controllers mainly and be like, hey, are you good? Like, is there any support you need from me? And they're like, stay out of stay out of the support. Like, I don't need you messing up what I do. So, um, [00:45:30] you know, it was just being there. More of a support mechanism, but knowing and trusting the practice management software and the different workflows and, um, you know, the deadlines that were set in those, um, to make sure that everything really was getting done.
Rachel Dillon: Yeah. Let's wrap this conversation with things we could improve for next time. So even though it went exceptionally well, like, better than all of us could have expected, uh, as we're recording this, Abby is planning to [00:46:00] come back within just the next couple of days. And so we'll say that we succeeded on that two. Both team members came back. Um, what were some things we could improve for next time?
Lezlie Reeves: So the thing that I think we ended up doing and called it at the very end, was the time the controller spent with the CSM assistant so early on, we didn't see that as a need. Um, we didn't identify it. Maybe I assumed it was happening. I'm not sure. Um, but it wasn't until [00:46:30] the very end where it was aware that there hadn't been as much conversation with that. So I would say whomever the CSM assistant is reporting to, um, and working very closely with, they need to spend a good amount of time with them, as well as the person that they're filling in for.
Marcus Dillon: I think one one area of improvement, and I know that because Abby's coming back after Hannah, Leslie's had a better opportunity to take where I fell short with Hannah. [00:47:00] Um, but I think reentry is key as well. Like, so having a conversation, like, before they come back, like, hey, how are you doing? Like, I'm not going to send you a bunch of, like. But just checking on you. Is the date still good? Like, do you still want to come back, like, full time or do you want to ramp up into, like, coming back? Because all of those are very real things. Like Hannah and Abby both now have two children, right? And two very young children. And, you know, the dynamic changes whenever you're [00:47:30] playing zone defense or one on one versus like two people able to guard one child. So, um, I think those are the conversations. Like with Hannah, we just were like, hey, you're back. Thank you. Like you're back at it. And I think with Abby, it's more of a little like, I know Leslie has a one on one schedule with her. The morning that she returns and just able to, like, touch base. So I would say, like, communication is always key. Um, balancing out that communication with, like, privacy, like, hey, we want you [00:48:00] to spend that time with your family and be good. So maybe before they leave, like having a timeline of return and like, hey, this is what we're thinking. Like we're going to touch base this week and pre scheduling that stuff because then it's not like, oh did we do that? Oh crap I need to do that. You know. So I think um just being being able to get things on the calendar a little bit better.
Rachel Dillon: Yeah absolutely. And then the other thing [00:48:30] I know that we have mentioned, and that we also worked through, was that even though we split some of the responsibilities of the CSM, the controller was still taking on more responsibilities than what they would typically do each week, and so really making sure that there's a plan for where they will get that extra time to be able to do those things, and that there is some type of compensation for that additional work. And so that can [00:49:00] be worked out in tons of different ways. We actually have a few different incentive structures and compensation structures that we do based on, like per client work per role. And so just really working out the details of if there is a missing piece of that team, where does where do those additional incentives or compensation go?
Marcus Dillon: And I think to like Leslie and my roles on our given teams, I think that's where we were like, how can we support [00:49:30] what the controller may need help on? Because the controller is like, you know, stepping into a CSM role part of the time. So, you know, it was like, hey, if you're going to prep the financials, then I'll review them and send commentary for these months, even though it may not be quarter end or, um, just one of those times where a client would typically hear from me. So, um, being open to that and giving the controllers bandwidth is definitely something that needs to be considered because like in Holly's, you know, situation, she [00:50:00] had some availability because she is part time. So if that worked out with like the the balance of like her family and she was able to give those extra hours then great. Mallory's also in that same situation. So it's like just making sure that that aligns with family. Elena is already full time and has other responsibilities. So it's like, hey, like, is there anything that we can put on the back burner that's kind of currently like in your schedule or what can I help with? So I think those are the pieces where as like a leader [00:50:30] or an owner or a client CFO, as both of us hold that seat. Like that's what you need to be asking.
Rachel Dillon: Yeah. Well, I think this has been an excellent conversation. I think the two of you, um, and every single one of our team members that helped to fill in for those team members so they could be at home with their sweet babies. I think you guys all have done an amazing job. Um, and so I think that that success from these, we'll call this an experiment [00:51:00] to see how would this really work out. What would this really look like? But I think this went over really well. So thank you guys for sharing that.
Lezlie Reeves: Thank you.
Marcus Dillon: All right.Thanks so much.
Rachel Dillon: All right. We'll see you on the next.
Rachel Dillon: Thanks for hanging with us to the end of another episode. Leave us a review with your thoughts, comments and feedback on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast so you don't miss any future episodes. Join us again next week for another great conversation.
