Leadership Programs

Client Advisor Program™ (CAP)

Duration: Five remote roundtables over 4 months

Format: REMOTE

Who Should Participate: Experienced managers, senior managers and partners who control and manage client relationships and have some business development experience

CPE: Up to 12 credit hours in the areas of Personal Development and Communications & Marketing

Class Size: 14 participants

In this dynamic and uncertain market, clients require a different level of service to support their business continuity and financial well-being. Their needs demand more than our compliance deliverables, providing information and guidance to help them make swift decisions as they manage cash, pivot their business models, and navigate staffing, technology and other infrastructure changes. To make the shift to a truly strategic client advisor, you’ll have to shed old ideas and habits and develop both your advisory skills and an advisory approach to engagements.

The ConvergenceCoaching Client Advisor Program™ (CAP) is an entirely remote, modular program designed to teach experienced CPAs and consultants advisory skills and strategies to deepen their client relationships, broaden the support they provide clients beyond compliance services and ultimately make a bigger difference in the lives and businesses of their clients.

The program seeks to teach CPAs and consultants how to identify their ideal clients for advisory and coaching services and implement various strategies and frameworks to develop deep rapport with clients, engage in query to uncover needs and to develop, scope, and price solutions, too. CAP participants will partake in five, web-based video roundtables covering a range of client-centric topics. After each roundtable, participants will complete specific homework assignments related to the ideas covered and will report back on their outcomes to experienced coaches who will provide them feedback. The result is participants become more indispensable to clients and drive growth with every module mastered.

Click here to learn more about the CAP.

ConvergenceCoaching^®, LLC Leadership Development Program for Seniors and Supervisors™

CPE: Up to 13 credit hours in the areas of Personal Development and Marketing and Communications

ConvergenceCoaching^®, LLC Leadership Development Program for Seniors and Supervisors™ is an opportunity for seniors and supervisors in accounting and consulting firms to learn foundational leadership skills and grow their personal effectiveness and productivity. Over the course of seven weeks, participants will engage in four live remote roundtables and one self-study course on the following topics:

Leading From the Middle We all influence others, regardless of our roles. Every day, you have the opportunity to engage and inspire others, just by who you are being. Are you being the type of leader you would want to follow? Attend this session to explore ways to elevate your leadership, including:

• Becoming self-aware  by exploring your strengths and shortcomings and how you manage yourself accordingly
• Learning how to solicit and embrace feedback on your performance so that you can grow
• Understanding your role and gaining confidence in being a senior or supervisor in your firm
• Leading with generosity and operating from a leadership mindset

Leave this session with enhanced emotional intelligence to step up your leadership game!

Creating a Culture of Ownership on Your Jobs In your role, you're likely both the giver and receiver of delegated tasks. When you exhibit and convey ownership of assignments, you produce and achieve so much more than the expected results! Attend this session to:

• Explore ways to exhibit ownership on your assigned tasks and within your role
• Learn a method for effectively delegating to and receiving delegation from others
• Understand ways to take ownership for your career progression

Complete this segment ready to convey ownership to others so you can take on more yourself.

Becoming an Excellent Communicator There is no such thing as a silent leader. If you want to influence others and make your ideas heard, you must be able to effectively communicate. If you want to address what's important to others, listening is critical, too. In this session, we'll:

• Identify strategies for actively listening so that you learn from what you hear
• Understand methods for communicating more effectively to ensure your message gets across, especially in a remote or blended environment
• Recognize common pitfalls in verbal and written communication
• Learn one method for delivering feedback constructively to others

Leave this session with actions you can begin immediately to increase your impact as a leader.

Increasing Your Professional Visibility and Reach Building relationships early in your career provides you numerous benefits. You're more likely to have influence over the types of clients you work with, deeper client relationships, more new client needs, greater buy-in to your ideas for the firm and more opportunities for growth and progression. In this session, we'll:

• Explore ideas for networking internally to foster relationships with colleagues and firm leaders
• Define ways to build relationships and trust with clients
• Understand an approach for developing your external networking strategy

Leave this session with ideas to raise your profile and build a valuable network!

To learn more about this program, click here.

Rainmaker Development Program^® (RDP)

CPE: Up to 12 credit hours in the areas of Personal Development and Communications & Marketing

Duration: 6 months

Format: REMOTE

Who Should Participate: Managers, principals/directors or partners looking to grow their rainmaking skills

CPE: Up to 14.4 credit hours

Class Size: 18 participants

The ability to develop business is a skill that most firms seek in their future leaders. It is also the one area in which most professionals feel least developed or experienced. With the emergence of the global coronavirus pandemic, many professionals are selling and delivering services in a brand new climate. Our program focuses on developing your sphere of influence and managing prospects in a virtual environment, in addition to a traditional face-to-face environment.

If you have a group of professionals who wish to become better business developers, consider incorporating our Rainmaker Development Program^® (RDP) into your learning programs. This program provides a mix of learning and “real life” experiential activities to build real skills in personal marketing and business development.

Our standard program entails six virtual roundtables that teach participants critical personal marketing and business development concepts. Between roundtables, your RDP participants will be tasked to complete assignments with support from an in-firm coach who they identify, reporting their progress by a specific date. In each subsequent roundtable, we discuss challenges and successes, learn the material for the next concept and agree on a new assignment to facilitate real learning and progress.

The topics covered in our standard RDP include the following:

• Developing as a Rainmaker
• Making a Bigger Difference for Your Clients
• Building Your Sphere of Influence
• Qualifying Opportunities For Success
• Sales Strategies to Close More Business
• Furthering Your Target Accounts And Building Thought Leadership

Click here to learn more about the RDP.

Transformational Leadership Program™ (TLP)

CPE: Up to 49 credit hours in the areas of Personal Development, Business Management & Organization, Communications & Marketing, and Personnel/Human Resources.

The TLP is designed to take your new and future leaders to their next level of success in leading others and your firm. Throughout the intensive one-year program, participants engage in the following:

• In-depth assessments including a 360 self-examination, input from their superiors, staff, and peers, and a personality assessment designed to heighten the participant’s self-awareness and aid in identifying strengths and areas for growth and development
• Two mandatory 2-day workshop experiences where they will learn specific leadership, communication, management, people, and business development skills and build career-long peer networking relationships. The workshops will either be held in-person or in a web-based format, depending on the progression of COVID-19
• Online self-study and instructor-led web-based roundtables that provide year-round learning opportunities
• Tailored one-on-one coaching sessions for both the participant and their in-firm coach or advisor conducted by our leading CPA profession and behavioral experts designed to keep the process honest, accountable, and rewarding
• A special project of their choice where they will be responsible for a specific measurable result that will benefit the participant and your firm.

Participants can expect to invest a minimum of 60 hours during the twelve-month program if they take advantage of all the learning and coaching opportunities available to them (excluding travel time, if applicable, and time to develop and implement the difference-making project they choose). The participant's in-firm coach can expect to invest a minimum of 16 hours in the program, through participating in an assessment of the participant, three coaching calls with the participant and their assigned Convergence Coach, supporting and mentoring their participant through their program goals and special project, and holding 30-minute monthly check-ins.

Click here to learn more about the TLP.