Ep. 113: Twyla Verhelst - Building Confidence in an Industry of Introverts

Contact Twyla Verhelst: https://www.linkedin.com/in/twylav/

Twyla's Links/Resources:

1. https://linktr.ee/twylav
2. http://www.freshbooks.com/accountants

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:
Adam: (00:00)
Welcome back to Count Me In. IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. This is your host, Adam Larson and today I'm bringing you right up to the start of episode, 113 with our featured guest, Twyla Verhelst. As we listen to this conversation, we first need to acknowledge that many accountants got into the profession because they are really good at crunching the numbers. However, the role has changed, and accounting and finance professionals are now asked to be confident communicators and storytellers. Twyla will walk us through the evolution of the position and give us strategies for overcoming introversion to be confident business partners. Let's head over and listen now.

Mitch: (00:45)
The accounting profession is one that typically attracts rather introverted individuals. Now there are many stereotypes about accountants and their personality traits, but in speaking with you, I know some of these stereotypes have evolved or proven false, particularly in today's industry. So would you like to give us just a little bit of background from your perspective on today's conversation?

Twyla: (01:14)
Sure. So, you know, I don't necessarily think that the personality types have changed per se. I still think that the accounting profession does attract rather introverted individuals and I feel comfortable sharing that when I'm an accountant and an introvert myself. But what I do believe has happened is that we're no longer your dad's accountant, or we’re no longer your Uncle Joe that used to be an accountant. Accountants now have a very diversified skillset. We have social skills, we have relationship skills, and oftentimes these relationship skills are what are driving the service agreements. We have the clients, that's the value they're paying for. They're no longer paying for what you slide across the desk at them every year on an annual basis, coupled with their bill that you slide across, that's just different, it's changed now. And there's so much more inside of the personality of an accountant that's being shared with the client and the client is valuing. So, when I speak of this previous accountant that I'm thinking of, I actually think of my parents' accountant in my head. I think of the man that we saw on an annual basis, my parents were entrepreneurs, we went and saw him annually. They helped with their personal taxes and their corporate taxes. And I remember specifically when I told him I'm thinking of becoming an accountant, he really just had five words for me, which was, do you want a job? He didn't expand. He didn't elaborate. He was very much an introvert. So now I think we're still introverts at the profession probably still does draw in introverts, but the stereotype of the boring accountant that fits in a box and doesn't really talk and doesn't really converse has changed. And that's, what's evolved inside of the industry.

Mitch: (03:07)
So typically, you know, many accountants will get into the profession because they're skilled at diving into the numbers, right? They like to work at their desk and crunch these numbers rather than really work with people. But as you said, the job has evolved. And you know, these accountants are asked to embrace new identities. You know, we look to these individuals as really confident advisors. So as the job evolves and the individuals grow within this profession, again, from your perspective, what is the first step for accounting and finance professionals to take when looking to make this progression and gain a little bit of this confidence?

Twyla: (03:50)
Before I dive into the first step, I just want to make sure that we're clear on the type of advisors that we're looking to be, or that we're trying to strive to be. And why I want to start there is because sometimes that's the barrier to us getting there, is that we have now painted this picture of, I need to be this really professional, highly confident, so knowledgeable, and use these big words and this accounting jargon in this financial jargon in order to fit that new mold. That's not necessarily true either. And so I want to just lay that out there because sometimes that's a roadblock to thinking, how do I get started? Because you're trying to get somewhere that I would encourage you not to get too far down that road, because now you've become somebody who's no longer the introverted accountant, but now you're intimidating or now you're talking over your clients or now you're really not in relationship with your clients because they're almost too scared to bring up what's going on inside of their business because of potential shame or potential guilt or potential, you know, getting inside of a conversation that they no longer understand and that they don't even feel comfortable saying, “I don't know what you're talking about”. So I want to make sure that we start there and then once we know that, alright, let's be professional and let's be advisors and let's be inside of a relationship out there, clients, but not take that too far. Then it's a case of starting with do some personal reflection. Where do you currently have a skill gap and do that self audit. Do you have really personable skills already and, that you've evolved or developed inside of your career thus far and now you're just layering onto that. Or are you the more traditional, introverted accountant, super, super smart, but loves sitting behind your desk and you know that you need to take steps towards breaking out of your shell so that you can feel comfortable inside a relationship or inside a conversation with your client. Or is it more that you're needing to do some other sort of, upping of other skills, which could be video calls nowadays, especially, where you've got to feel comfortable getting on video, presenting, doing that virtually, being organized to do that and not losing your place and feeling confident and having a loud, clear voice that everyone can understand and hear over the internet. What do you need to do to upskill? And so it's kind of taking that step back and saying, all right, here's what I'm trying to be. So once you understand where it is you’re trying to grow to, or stretch to then, where do I need to fill in that gap in order to be that advisor.

Mitch: (06:41)
Now, please correct me if I'm wrong. But I would assume that technology is a big reason that this evolution within the accounting profession and an individual's ability to effectively communicate and build these relationships, you know, this change is because of technology. I would say technology is now that person who was sitting behind the desk crunching the numbers, right? We have the software and the computers to do that for us and the human, the accountant, is responsible for the communication of the data that's gathered from the technology. So, utilizing this technology and kind of having that secondary relationship, what is the best course of action for a professional to increase their comfort and confidence in changing what they do on a day-to-day basis because of technology and then communicating what comes out of it?

Twyla: (07:41)
I completely agree with you that technology has really paved the way for this evolution, paved the way for us being able to have the...