Testimonials

"In the last year, the cost of salaries and benefits has skyrocketed, and for a small business like ours, we struggle to keep pace. In the midst of that, we've been able to attract and retain great talent by offering work-life balance, employee-chosen remote or hybrid options, and the ability to have flexible hours during the workday. It's been tough, but due to our ATAWW environment, we've been able to fill every open position."

We left our vision planning retreat ready to hire a high-level operations professional to support the partner group, but we weren’t sure how to find the right person. ConvergenceCoaching helped us craft a clear role description, outline key first-year goals, identify a pipeline of strong candidates, and create buy-in for the hire internally using proactive, targeted communication. ConvergenceCoaching’s support in the engagement was critical to us finding a candidate we could all be excited about.

ConvergenceCoaching helped us achieve our goals, beginning with assisting us in hiring a new firm administrator. They helped us identify our priorities for the position, crafted a job description based on those needs, and served as our recruiter for the hiring process. They clearly understood our vision for the role and it was obvious to us in the process that Renee really cared about finding us the right person. Our final candidates shared glowing reviews of our consultant as well. We successfully hired one of our top candidates and were so pleased with the results that we engaged ConvergenceCoaching to act as a coach for our new hire.

ConvergenceCoaching continues to be a huge resource for us!

“ConvergenceCoaching is an authority on how to successfully design and implement workplace flexibility in professional services firms. We partnered with them to remotely train our Partners and People & Culture team on the market perspective of flex, required mindset shifts and practical tools and resources to make flex a win for our Firm, people and clients. We leveraged ConvergenceCoaching’s deep insight into the topic, their Anytime, Anywhere Work™ (ATAWW) research and their own experience as a 100% remote company.

This partnership allowed us to add an additional level of communication prior to rolling out our refreshed approach to workplace flexibility – a key priority for the Firm. I have worked with ConvergenceCoaching in various capacities since 2016 and have personally benefited from their insight into the profession, guidance and coaching.”

We launched a pilot program offering every team member the opportunity to work at least one day a week from home, both as a part of our Best Place to Work initiative to improve work-life balance, and to mitigate the negative impact to our team from planned construction in Atlanta. To help in these efforts, Convergence Coaching delivered a relevant and actionable one-day training to our partners and managers on strategies to successfully manage a remote workforce. In addition, they provided assistance and insight into the program launch, design and communications. Their services were invaluable to the execution of our pilot, which has since become a successful program and the foundation for our remote working policy offering.

I’m so happy to have worked with Jen Wilson and ConvergenceCoaching. She worked with my firm for many years before we joined Wipfli, and she was instrumental in helping my partners and I realize that the best exit strategy for our firm was an acquisition. She helped us make the changes we needed to better ourselves and our operations. ConvergenceCoaching was the best connection I ever made! Working closely with Jen for the four or five years helped me reach my potential as Managing Partner. The things she taught my team and me truly changed my life, and I am grateful.

We partnered with ConvergenceCoaching to create Honkamp Krueger’s Vision 2022. They facilitated a collaborative process that included a diverse group of leaders across the entire firm and encouraged us to be open and forward-thinking. In the end, we walked away with a vision, mission, core values and boulders we are excited about implementing. We are a few years into it and still have the same fire underneath us to continue to see our vision and boulders become reality.

Our firm has worked with ConvergenceCoaching for nearly a decade now. We first engaged Convergence to lead a firm retreat and assist with the creation of our mission, vision and values. That progressed into monthly calls with our leadership team regarding firm strategy, goals and alignment. More recently, our relationship has evolved into bi-monthly coaching calls with each of our firm leaders on an individual basis. Regardless of what our needs have been, Convergence has consistently delivered sound advice and wisdom to aid our growth and development. We look forward to the next decade with them by our side.

ConvergenceCoaching has been an extraordinary partner in helping our firm evolve and implement effective strategies for both external and internal challenges and opportunities. We rely on Convergence extensively for partner coaching, firm retreats and strategic planning, training through webinars and workshops as well as their TLP and leadership development offerings.

They are insightful thought leaders helping us address our toughest challenges. They relate to and connect with all levels within our organization. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that I have personally benefited from Jen’s wisdom and am also grateful for our special five-mile early morning runs before our firm retreats.

Wow! This was an enjoyable session. The tools I received from this training will be helpful as I continue to develop myself as a leader.

We engaged ConvergenceCoaching to facilitate leadership development learning for a group of our managers. Convergence did an excellent job for our firm. They presented content and shared tools that were directly relevant to our future leaders including conflict resolution, people development, management skills and leading a practice area. The focus on how to motivate, engage, and develop people was exactly where our people needed instruction the most. Their presentation materials were great, and the combination of lecture and practice/case studies was very effective.

At the start of my TLP journey, I underwent a revealing 360° assessment process that showed me how I am perceived as a leader. I realized that being more compassionate and understanding where others are coming from helps me to better connect with coworkers and clients. Today, I’m more intentional about both listening to and caring about others’ problems and concerns and working towards a mutually beneficial solution. In my TLP journey I have become a more vulnerable leader which will help me be a stronger Principal and asset to my firm as we strive to engage and retain a pipeline of future leaders.

If I were to choose one word to describe my TLP experience, it would be intentionality. As I have progressed as a leader, I am more intentional about where I serve on committees, my practice development efforts and my client focus. A significant result is the culmination of my TLP project and the launch of KSM’s Tax Academy. This project provided a consistent forum for learning and internal networking for our tax team and increased visibility and deeper relationships across the firm for me. Because of the TLP, I approach opportunities with more genuine self-confidence and strive to work at my highest and best use, elevating my contribution to the firm.

I realized from my leadership assessments at the beginning of the Transformational Leadership Program (TLP) that I wasn’t always the most approachable leader. So, in my TLP journey, I set out to become the kind of leader that people say, “Yay! I get to work on a project with Shannon!” The TLP has helped me enhance my communications and approach to others to move closer to the inspiring leader I aspire to be.

We really appreciate our relationship with ConvergenceCoaching. Our partnership has allowed our CPAmerica member firms to identify and address the most pressing opportunities and challenges facing their practices today and in the future. Their information-sharing, discussion-oriented approach invites collaboration among our firm members. The best practices and tools that Convergence shares are always valuable for firm leaders seeking to drive growth and improvement. We truly value their thought leadership in driving positive change in our profession.

An area of leadership that I wanted to develop was in speaking up and gaining visibility in my firm overall. The TLP provided me with the structure and support I needed to achieve this goal. I have since taken the lead in various initiatives in our firm’s A&A department, using what I learned in the TLP to help in the planning, implementation and communication of each one. My input and leadership make a difference for our firm and I encourage all emerging leaders to identify opportunities to step up into greater leadership, too. I am thankful to the entire ConvergenceCoaching team for helping me move forward towards my dream!

When I signed up for the TLP, I expected to learn about trends and best practices in public accounting. While this was one outcome, the most impactful result of TLP related to discoveries I made about my strengths and weaknesses as a leader. By better understanding myself and how my behavior impacts others, I have worked to modify my approach, shed old habits and try new techniques to keep striving to be a more inspiring people developer and leader. After completing TLP, I was promoted to partner in my firm and was recently given responsibility for leading the tax service line for my region. I believe that my enhanced self-awareness and leadership strategies played a role in my earning these new opportunities.

Business development was an area that I wanted to strengthen in the TLP. I also wanted to develop more ownership and accountability within our group. During the program, I worked with my coach and in-firm mentor to try a number of different business development strategies and began to see sustained success. I also shared the things I learned during the program with our group members so they could apply the ideas in their careers. After completing the program, I was fortunate to become a partner and I am continually working to apply the ideas I learned in the program to this new leadership role.

The TLP provided me with insights and tools to take a fresh look at my work and leadership style. This enabled me to become more effective when leading different personality types and enabled me to successfully delegate work to my team members. As a result, our people have the opportunity to grow and develop, and in return, now that I have been promoted to partner, I am able to focus more strategically, adding value to my client relationships and through my business development activities.

Participating in the Transformational Leadership Program (TLP) was a very beneficial step on my path to partner. It was made abundantly clear that while technical competence and engagement delivery are important skills, there are equally valuable abilities to possess – team building, employee engagement and business development. I learned more about motivation and engagement with individuals as well as worked to develop my people and business development skills. In acknowledging that everyone has different personal values, I can now appeal to those separate values. Without good people, you cannot have a successful firm. I am now a partner and feel like it’s important that I act as an advocate for focusing on our people and continuously enhancing our culture.

We are thrilled to have developed a custom Perkins & Co Management Development Program with ConvergenceCoaching. The program content is clear, practical, and readily actionable for managers. One of the best elements is the goal setting and accountability check-ins that follow each webinar and the in-person workshops. The content focuses on defining the manager’s role and responsibilities so that they consider the staff’s success to be their responsibility. This has engaged our managers to interact with staff in new ways and be attentive to teaching, coaching, and setting clear expectations. The relationships that develop out of effective interaction between managers and staff are key to employee retention.

Our managers appreciate the ability to work more effectively with employees and their clients, too. They have also received tools for improving productivity, goal setting, client service, and personal branding. While managers have regular interaction with staff in the normal course of business, the program has given them valuable time with their peers to learn from and support each other. In fact, they have asked for more organized peer socializing opportunities which shows that these relationships are quite important to their job satisfaction.

Our firm engaged ConvergenceCoaching to produce a Rainmaker Development Program and we experienced excellent results. Since completing the program, we’ve developed a more strategic and firm-wide focus on business development, especially from the partner perspective. We have a deeper understanding of the necessary tactical drivers like developing referral sources, tracking activities and maintaining and reviewing an accurate pipeline. Our RDP participants are practicing their skills on a daily basis and we’ve seen some big rainmaking victories.

We initially engaged ConvergenceCoaching to facilitate a one-year, in-house leadership development program for our firm’s nineteen partners – the first long-term, structured leadership development initiative that we had formally invested in – and have experienced great results. Through the learning we gained from the leadership assessments, individual coaching, and virtual and in-person training, our partner team is now operating at a higher level. And now we’ve started a new leadership development program for our next tier of employees including senior managers and new partners. Our firm continues to grow and the skills and abilities that our people gain related to communication, people management and business development will enable us to be more unified and collaborative in leading our team and clients toward success. We are committed that leadership development be a valued part of our firm’s culture and believe that our people, our clients, and our firm as a whole benefit tremendously from our focus on always getting better.

The TLP helped me build confidence as a leader and see how I could contribute meaningfully to my firm. Using the skills and tools that I learned, I am better able to face difficult situations from a collaborative stance. Also, as part of the program, I led a number of flexibility initiatives to shift our firm's focus to measuring productivity versus emphasizing face time or charge hours only. We had great success with those initiatives and this led to my becoming our firm's human resources lead. Additionally, I was promoted to senior manager. I am happy to be more involved in the leadership of our firm.

I’m thankful for having participated in the Transformational Leadership Program™ as the insights I gained led to my increasing my internal ownership and responsibility. I am confident that the program aided in my promotion to principal, which was the realization of a long-time goal. During the program, I led a team to build the foundations of our international tax practice and now lead both it and our technology practice group. I am now a coach to our firm’s up-and-coming leaders to aid them in their learning so they can one day see themselves as leaders in our firm. The program allowed me to push my boundaries and adopt a learning philosophy that will also keep me on a path toward personal development.

We retained ConvergenceCoaching to facilitate our shareholder retreat where we focused on succession and the path-to-shareholder. Prior to the retreat, Jennifer Wilson and Tamera Loerzel invested a great deal of time and work in getting to know us – surveys, phone calls, etc. When Jennifer arrived for the retreat, she was so well prepared and versed on who we were. We really appreciated and valued the insight that she had to offer.

We then utilized ConvergenceCoaching’s services to conduct leadership and communication training to strengthen unity among the supervisors, managers and shareholders prior to busy season. Jennifer presented the information with a style that is direct and candid but not offensive. Everyone really grasped what she shared. Both engagements improved the teamwork within our leadership group and helped us to think about changes we can make in our strategies, processes and behaviors to grow our firm and ensure success well into the future.

We engaged ConvergenceCoaching to help us address our succession issues and facilitate our movement to more of a “one firm” model. While it is a work in process, we are inspired by the increased partner unity and the real possibility for a sustainable future in our firm. Based upon the change process we’ve begun, we expect a new level of success for our firm and for each of our partners, team members and clients.

ConvergenceCoaching has facilitated our principal retreats for several years now. Their work has been essential in opening up communication, elevating thinking and helping to define and drive our firm toward a unified vision. We have also sent nine future leaders in our firm to the TLP and benefitted greatly from their participation in that program. We truly appreciate ConvergenceCoaching’s shared faith and values and their personal investment in our success.

ConvergenceCoaching facilitated one of the most productive and successful partner retreats we’ve ever had at HoganTaylor! We made some important strategic decisions for the firm, and the partners are energized by our direction and ready to charge up the hill, clear about their commitments and expectations.

We engaged ConvergenceCoaching to teach segments of our Leadership Development Program, and their programs have been so popular that other managers and shareholders have made time to attend. This led us to engage Convergence to facilitate our two-day Leadership Summit, focusing on updating our firm’s five year vision and identifying our top priorities for the upcoming year. The retreat was very productive, with a high degree of engagement and creativity that allowed us to devise an inspiring vision and a practical approach to implementing the first initiatives to reach it. Our experience working with them has been outstanding.

ConvergenceCoaching delivered a one-day CPA firm program where the firms brought both experienced CPAs and the emerging leaders from their practices together to conduct strategic planning. Convergence guided firm attendees in creating a shared vision and an outline for their strategic plans. Members are still raving about the event, and we really appreciate the outstanding work that Tamera Loerzel and Jack Lee did to make the day impactful for our participants!

The [TLP] class was so relevant to our profession and generated so many ideas to bring back to our firm. I wish everyone could participate.

Our firm engaged ConvergenceCoaching to facilitate a two-day shareholder retreat, focused on enhancing partner unity and trust. They demonstrated the ability to facilitate straight talk and provided insights into the issues that were hampering trust. In addition, we selected them to assist us in formalizing our Executive Partner succession process. Their ability to help us clearly define the needs of the position and to design a process that provided all of the partners the ability to have input into the selection process was critical to our success.

The TLP process was a great experience and truly contributed to my growth both professionally and personally by giving me genuine insights into things I could change and improve. TLP really enhanced my ability to delegate, engage team members, develop new business and lead with confidence. ConvergenceCoaching understands how to individualize coaching in order to capitalize upon strengths and achieve personal development goals. My success in the TLP enabled me to step into new responsibilities and sparked our firm to send another team member for the next year’s program.

Our firm sought out ConvergenceCoaching to facilitate developing our mission, vision and values based on their reputation for delivering exceptional results. However, we had one specific requirement of Jen and her team: engage our quiet, reserved, introverted staff in a way that brings their creativity to life. Not only did ConvergenceCoaching rise to the occasion, they surpassed our expectations in so many ways. An all-day staff retreat was the culmination of our project, and through many interactive exercises, ConvergenceCoaching brought forth, in writing, our reason for being. We’ll definitely engage ConvergenceCoaching again on our next strategic endeavors.

This [TLP] really opened my eyes to how becoming a true leader is within my own control. I now have so many tools to move toward becoming who I can and should be.

ConvergenceCoaching delivered leadership training for our firm that transcended levels – teaching practical behavioral concepts to our staff, administrators, managers, and partners. The material provided a common understanding of crucial concepts such as ownership and accountability so that we speak the same language as a team. We also gained concrete ideas for enhancing our people and project management. We are excited to be planning another training event with them for the near future!

As we envisioned our firm’s future, we needed someone to guide us in organizing our teams and niches while planning for succession within our partner team. We engaged ConvergenceCoaching to facilitate our two-day partner retreat and appreciated their thoughtful approach to preparing our agenda. Tamera invested a significant amount of time understanding each of our partners prior to the retreat and this led to a deeper, more focused process. After the retreat, we left with clarity about how to evolve the structure for our key industry and service niches with a defined plan, owners and actions for each and an organizational structure to drive us forward in achieving our growth goals.

The two sessions of leadership training we received from ConvergenceCoaching have already impacted our firm positively. The training both energized and organized our effort by providing fundamental techniques that we can consistently apply, enabling us to make great strides toward a culture of ownership and accountability. In addition, the training improved our group communication and conflict management. Our instructor's energy and ability to maintain a finger on the pulse of our trainees were excellent. We look forward to continuing our relationship.

ConvergenceCoaching has consistently provided the independent members of the BDO Alliance USA with their clear, thoughtful, and valuable insights into “best practices” of accounting firm leadership, marketing, business development, and internal communication for many years. And their abilities to help accounting firms evolve into advisory firms is critical to the success of all firms expecting to remain relevant. ConvergenceCoaching is responsive and comprehensive in their efforts, and they consistently exceed the expectations of our independent member firms.  Most importantly, they are great people! We are very proud that they are members of the BDO Alliance USA.

ConvergenceCoaching has provided the independent members of the BDO Seidman Alliance with their clear, thoughtful, and valuable insights into “best practices” of accounting firm leadership, marketing, business development, and internal communication. These are areas that are critical to the success of any accounting firm. ConvergenceCoaching is responsive and comprehensive in their efforts, and they consistently exceed the expectations of our independent member firms.

We value our work with ConvergenceCoaching in the expansion of our Trusted Business Advisor programs. Their understanding of the CPA profession and ability to develop product and service programs, communications strategies, and applicable tools and resources has been instrumental in generating solutions to help our members enhance the effectiveness and success of their firms and organizations.

Our firm was committed to use social media to support recruiting efforts, broaden our networks, aid in business development, and enhance communications. ConvergenceCoaching helped us establish our social media strategy, supported the development of our Facebook pages and LinkedIn profiles, and aided in training our teams. Working with ConvergenceCoaching professionals who are well-versed in social media enabled us to implement our digital marketing strategies quickly.

We have hired ConvergenceCoaching for several years and are more pleased with each engagement. The presentations have helped our event attendees with invaluable expertise in leadership, human resources, and marketing. Whether it is an all-day workshop or an hour-long presentation, the ConvergenceCoaching team always brings us the latest information in a dynamic and professional manner. We couldn’t provide the level of education we do without CC’s support.

ConvergenceCoaching facilitated our Partner Retreat, expertly leading us through a well-defined process of improving our communication and teamwork as a partner group and delivering pertinent follow up assignments, ensuring accountability. We have been conducting Annual Partner Retreats since 1980 and the evaluations of this retreat and ConvergenceCoaching were off the charts! Convergence is currently assisting us with a specific position succession planning engagement and we even had them return to facilitate another Retreat!

ConvergenceCoaching delivered many practical applications that I can use to proactively and effectively engage people, which are some of the most important aspects of my work. I became clearer on how I can produce results, manage commitments and contribute to achieving the goals of our firm and the distinctions I learned. First and foremost, I am more accountable to myself and my team for completing the task at hand. These distinctions ultimately benefit our entire firm.