This one idea has helped us to understand a lot of frustrations we were experiencing in our accounting firm towards the end of last year.
Initially, I just couldn't figure out what the problem was. We had more staff, they were better trained and demonstrating great values.
We had better processes and systems, powered by better technology.
We were attracting our dream clients and our MRR was higher than ever before.
But things still felt.......tough... tougher than ever in fact.
But why was that? Wasn't technology supposed to be making our lives easier?
THEN, one day, I came across this concept of the COMPLICATED versus the COMPLEX in a book called "Brave New Work" and I immediately saw how it applied to our firm and the accounting industry as a whole.
Complicated vs Complex
So let me start by explaining the difference between something that's complicated and something that's complex.
Complicated - A good example of this is a car engine. Something that's complicated can be understood. We can write instructions for it. We can learn about it. It might take time, but eventually we can dissect it. We can write rule books for it and fundamentally, we can control it.
That's the key aspect of something that's complicated. Something that's complex, on the other hand, is quite different.
Complex - Something that's complex can't be controlled. It can only ever be managed.
If complicated is a car engine, then complex is traffic.
Traffic is complex because you have different drivers, of different abilities, driving different cars, going in different directions with different focuses.
All manner of complexity surrounds that. It suddenly becomes a very difficult situation.
We can't control traffic, all we can ever do is do our very best to manage it.
Complicated vs Complex in accounting
The services we provide and the prices we charge in our accounting business are complicated.
They take time to learn. We can put processes in place to plan, maintain and fundamentally, control them. We can get the right technology. We can train our team to use and sell them.
However, the complex side of accounting is introduced in the businesses that we serve. Our clients.
This is due to having different business owners, with different agendas, different levels of experience, different operating systems, different sized businesses, different markets and many different frustrations that appear.
These are people. They're not processes and systems.
The challenge that we face in providing accounting services to these businesses, is that it's where the complicated meets the complex.
It is in the meeting of these two entities, that causes so much frustration.
Where we were going wrong...
All of our efforts were being poured into controlling the COMPLICATED (our services) and a much smaller amount into 'attempting to control' the COMPLEX (our clients.)
The problem though, as I mentioned above, is that complexity can never be controlled.... it can only ever be MANAGED.
And it doesn't matter how good the technology gets, managing that complexity will always be challenging, because it's a hands-on process, which is why we need to develop skills and tactics to arm us in this mission.
Now I don't have a silver bullet, but I can help you to understand the problem better and moreover, help you to articulate the problem to your team more clearly.
What I want to do in this video, is to help you to unravel the difference between what's complicated and what's complex and to understand the approach you have to take to solve each of them.
This is an interesting and strong concept for us to get our heads around.
Watch the full video below, then join in the