• Current students
      • Student centre
        Enrol on a course/exam
        My enrolments
        Exam results
        Mock exams
        Learning Hub data privacy policy
      • Course information
        Students FAQs
        Student induction
        Course enrolment information
        F2f student events
        Key dates
        Book distribution
        Timetables
        FAE elective information
      • Exams
        CAP1 exam
        E-assessment information
        CAP2 exam
        FAE exam
        Access support/reasonable accommodation
        Extenuating circumstances
        Timetables for exams & interim assessments
        Interim assessments past papers & E-Assessment mock solutions
        Committee reports & sample papers
        Information and appeals scheme
        JIEB: NI Insolvency Qualification
      • CA Diary resources
        Mentors: Getting started on the CA Diary
        CA Diary for Flexible Route FAQs
      • Admission to membership
        Joining as a reciprocal member
        Admission to Membership Ceremonies
        Admissions FAQs
      • Support & services
        Recruitment to and transferring of training contracts
        CASSI
        Student supports and wellbeing
        Audit qualification
        Diversity and Inclusion Committee
    • Students

      View all the services available for students of the Institute

      Read More
  • Becoming a student
      • About Chartered Accountancy
        The Chartered difference
        What do Chartered Accountants do?
        5 reasons to become a Chartered Accountant
        Student benefits
        School Bootcamp
        Third Level Hub
        Study in Northern Ireland
        Events
        Blogs
        About our course
        Member testimonials 2022
        Become a Chartered Accountant podcast series
      • Entry routes
        College
        Working
        Accounting Technicians
        School leavers
        Member of another body
        International student
        Flexible Route
        Training Contract
      • Course description
        CAP1
        CAP2
        FAE
        Our education offering
      • Apply
        How to apply
        Exemptions guide
        Fees & payment options
        External students
      • Training vacancies
        Training vacancies search
        Training firms list
        Large training firms
        Milkround
        Recruitment to and transferring of training contract
        Interview preparation and advice
        The rewards on qualification
        Tailoring your CV for each application
        Securing a trainee Chartered Accountant role
      • Support & services
        Becoming a student FAQs
        Who to contact for employers
        Register for a school visit
    • Becoming a
      student

      Study with us

      Read More
  • Members
      • Members Hub
        My account
        Member subscriptions
        Newly admitted members
        Annual returns
        Application forms
        CPD/events
        Member services A-Z
        District societies
        Professional Standards
        Young Professionals
        Careers development
        Recruitment service
        Diversity and Inclusion Committee
      • Members in practice
        Going into practice
        Managing your practice FAQs
        Practice compliance FAQs
        Toolkits and resources
        Audit FAQs
        Other client services
        Practice Consulting services
        What's new
      • In business
        Networking and special interest groups
        Articles
      • Overseas members
        Home
        Key supports
        Tax for returning Irish members
        Networks and people
      • Public sector
        Public sector news
        Public sector presentations
      • Member benefits
        Member benefits
      • Support & services
        Letters of good standing form
        Member FAQs
        AML confidential disclosure form
        Institute Technical content
        TaxSource Total
        The Educational Requirements for the Audit Qualification
        Pocket diaries
        Thrive Hub
    • Members

      View member services

      Read More
  • Employers
      • Training organisations
        Authorise to train
        Training in business
        Manage my students
        Incentive Scheme
        Recruitment to and transferring of training contracts
        Securing and retaining the best talent
        Tips on writing a job specification
      • Training
        In-house training
        Training tickets
      • Recruitment services
        Hire a qualified Chartered Accountant
        Hire a trainee student
      • Non executive directors recruitment service
      • Support & services
        Hire members: log a job vacancy
        Firm/employers FAQs
        Training ticket FAQs
        Authorisations
        Hire a room
        Who to contact for employers
    • Employers

      Services to support your business

      Read More
☰
  • The Institute
☰
  • Home
  • Articles
  • Students
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Archive
  • Podcasts
  • Contact us
Search
View Cart 0 Item
  • Home/
  • Accountancy Ireland/
  • Articles/
  • Comment/
  • Latest News

Comment

Comment
(?)

The end of the EU peace project era?

If the European Union is to protect its democratic way of life, the bloc must transition from soft power actor to hard power player, writes Judy Dempsey “Europe has never been so prosperous, so secure nor so free. The violence of the first half of the 20th Century has given way to a period of peace and stability unprecedented in European history.”  So begins the opening sentence of the EU’s first ever security strategy document, presented in December 2003. Nearly two decades on, it’s worth revisiting this pithy analysis. It is optimistic. It speaks of an “arc of stability” around Europe.  It is realistic. Europe has to consider terrorism, migration, hunger, conflicts, and bad governance. EU member states cannot go it alone in tackling these problems. Now, however, this document must be reconsidered in the light of Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. This war taking place in Europe right now has several repercussions for the EU.  It is not just about providing as much financial, political and moral support as possible to Ukraine and its refugees. Nor is it about increasing the sanctions on Russia (if indeed they will change Russian president Vladimir Putin’s attitude towards destroying Ukraine).  The war in Ukraine is about the future security of Europe—and this includes the EU, NATO, all non-EU and NATO members and the countries of Eastern Europe.  If Europe wants to protect its democratic way of life, it has to start embracing hard power, but hard power has never been an intrinsic component of the EU.  Its foundations were built on democracy and a peace project—intentionally so, after the appalling destruction of World War II, the Holocaust and the centuries of wars and rivalry between France and Germany. The peace project should have been revisited during the Balkan Wars of the 1990s. The status quo prevailed. Yes, the EU began establishing defence structures, but they were focused on peacekeeping and crisis management missions. Hard power was not part of the kit.  Defence was instead anchored in soft power. This entailed training national police forces in the neighbourhood, providing substantial amounts of development aid, and lifting trade restrictions.  Ultimately, the EU attitude toward Eastern Europe was benign and meant different things to different member states, depending on their geographic location. And there was a perception that Eastern Europe was a part of Europe that straddled the EU and Russia.  The war in Ukraine is finally changing this mindset. Across the EU, with variations of urgency, there is an emerging consensus that the war is about the security of Europe.  When the war began, the EU went into overdrive, mobilising €1 billion for military assistance to Ukraine that would be taken from the European Peace Facility.  This is an off-EU budget set up to fund emergency assistance measures. Essentially, it amounts to a military fund.  There are several other defence packages, which include training the Ukrainian armed forces. This military assistance to Ukraine says two things about the EU.  First, its soft power has been ‘upgraded’ to providing hard power support for Ukraine. It is sinking in that a Russian victory in Ukraine would have devastating consequences for the rest of Eastern Europe and, by implication, for the EU.  EU member states are also slowly realising that the original peace project based on stability, security and democracy, has to be quickly overhauled. Soft power now needs hard power to defend values, citizens and democracy.  Judy Dempsey is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at Carnegie Europe and Editor-in-Chief of Strategic Europe

Apr 11, 2023
READ MORE
Comment
(?)

What’s the impact of AI on the future of accountancy?

As Artificial Intelligence continues to advance, it’s inevitable that it will have an impact on the accountancy profession. Three Chartered Accountants tell us about their expectations Teresa Gallagher Finance AI Senior Manager EY Ireland   Artificial intelligence (AI) can remove repetitive tasks such as data entry, account reconciliation or report preparation and allow accountants to focus on advisory, analysis and business partnering, along with building broader business knowledge.  Equally, natural language processing can extract data from unstructured text documents and input it into accounting systems, reducing time and increasing accuracy.  Aside from the time savings presented by AI functionality, the profession can leverage the innate knowledge garnered in the past to design and develop programs that reduce risk and drive real-time insight and efficiency.  While AI can process vast amounts of data at a rapid pace, it is not capable of the critical thinking and decision-making that human accountants are trained to do. Accountants who embrace AI will thrive as the human skills required to address bias in data will still be key.  Accountants’ expertise in design and understanding data biases can also be used to serve other departments in the organisation as they seek to embrace AI. Moving forward, accountants will work together with AI, but their core analytical and advisory skills will remain essential in understanding their client’s or stakeholder’s objectives and which data will serve them best. Shuning Li  Director, Audit & Assurance Deloitte  Imagine asking a chatbot a complex accounting question and instantly getting a well-written, well-considered answer – similar to what you would receive from someone with 20 years of experience.  Well, there’s no need to imagine it anymore; it’s possible with ChatGPT.  To put the technology to the test, my colleague and I recently entered a real-life accounting scenario under IFRS 10 to ChatGPT.  It returned a detailed analysis with correct reference to the accounting standard. While the answer wasn’t perfect, it did wow us with its depth of knowledge and how quickly it was delivered.  This prompted us to consider what it means for accounting professionals and how our role will evolve together with the technology.  In this early stage of Generative AI (the underlying technology of ChatGPT), the first step is to understand its potential and consider its limitations.  As Chartered Accountants, we apply our professional judgement to scenarios every day and when assessing the outputs of Generative AI, this is no different.  We have a role to play in co-creating and training an AI model to create the new role of “AI model auditor”. This role will not only audit the algorithm of the model but also the ethics behind the training of the model – it requires an individual to lead the professional consultation. Trust is a critical issue as we leverage these advanced technologies, no matter what the stage of maturity. Furthermore, we must also consider the AI’s independence and ensure the technology is monitored and assessed to provide independent advice.  There is huge potential for Generative AI to enhance the workplace, but it will not replace professional specialists. Instead, it will raise the bar for these specialists.  The role of the specialist will evolve, and deeper knowledge and a better understanding of accounting implications that can constantly challenge and verify the answers generated from the AI model will be crucial.  Although there has been heightened discussion about Generative AI in recent months, we are still in the very early days of its adoption and development. Its potential implications, with the right levels of trust, are significant for the profession.  Keith Stafford  IT Audit Partner KPMG Ireland The proliferation of AI technology, automation and bots touches all aspects of how we use and interact with technology today.  AI is having a disruptive impact across many industries, and it would be naïve to assume that the accounting and auditing industries would be immune to the level of change that AI can offer, but neither should the profession fear it.    A significant opportunity for the profession is the ability to automate repetitive tasks, particularly in respect of data entry and analysis.  AI will provide more opportunity and time to focus on more complex tasks, such as data interpretation, decision making and strategy development.   AI can also be used to efficiently support the audit process through the analysis of large data sets and the identification of patterns, outliers, and anomalies within the Financial Statements’ data, enhancing audit quality.   To take advantage of what AI has to offer, the profession needs to embrace the technology and invest in training programs and the creation of opportunities for accountants to understand and utilise these new AI technologies.     AI will look to automate some of the compliance and technical tasks that accountants currently perform. Accountants will need to shift their skill set to analytical, strategic and soft skills rather than pure technical accounting knowledge.      AI has the potential to transform the accounting profession, and rather than shying away, accountants need to understand how it will change the way they work and what they do.   While job security will remain a concern, it is likely that the role of the accountant will evolve to work alongside AI technologies to create new opportunities and skills.  

Apr 11, 2023
READ MORE
Comment
(?)

Counting the costs for Generation Rent

The benefits of higher incomes are being cancelled out by Ireland’s spiralling cost of living and housing is the biggest culprit, writes Cormac Lucey Once in a while, you come across information that forces you to fundamentally reconsider a firmly held viewpoint. This happened to me recently. Ireland’s economic history over the last four decades has been one of spectacular growth.  The first stirrings that the recent performance of the Republic’s economy might fall short of spectacular success came in an article written two years ago by Patrick Honohan, titled: ‘Is Ireland really the most prosperous country in Europe?’ Take a look at Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures and you might think so, but they have long been dismissed as an accurate measure of the output that is actually under the ownership and control of Irish people and entities.   That’s why the Central Statistics Office (CSO) gathered a group of expert economists to compile a more realistic alternative measure of Irish economic output. In late 2016, the CSO unveiled modified Gross National Income (GNI).  Honohan’s article questioned whether we—having lost faith in GDP as an accurate measure of Irish output—should put all our trust in this new GNI measure.  The former governor of the Central Bank of Ireland highlighted the impact Ireland’s extraordinarily high cost levels have in reducing the purchasing power of people with higher incomes.  According to Eurostat, the EU’s statistics agency, cost levels in Ireland were 41.4 percent higher than the EU average at the end of 2021. Most of Ireland’s higher cost level is the result of higher housing costs.  Comparing Irish GNI per capita data to EU GDP per capita data, Honohan showed that Ireland was the eighth richest EU member state in income terms. Using Actual Individual Consumption at Purchasing Power Parities, however, put us in 12th place.  In other words, recent economic growth has seen strong income growth, but an awful lot of this has been eaten up by higher costs, especially higher housing costs.  That paper caused a tremor in my rosy view of Ireland’s economic performance over the last few decades.  That tremor became an earthquake when I considered the more recent assertion by Holly Cairns TD, the new leader of the Social Democrats, that she was “a member of the first ever generation” that would be worse off than their parents.  I examined Actual Individual Consumption levels per head adjusted for inflation to test whether, in real terms, people today are worse off than a generation (or 25 years) ago.  The data contradicts Cairns’ assertion. It shows that, in 2020, peoples’ real consumption levels (including housing) were 87 percent higher than in 1995. Far from being worse off, people today are nearly twice as well off compared to a generation ago.  It was only when I examined Eurostat data, comparing Ireland’s Actual Individual Consumption (AIC) level with that of the EU (27) average, that I got an unpleasant surprise.  Between 1995 and 2007, this rose from 96 percent to 118 percent. Three quarters of a century of economic underperformance by the independent Irish state was triumphantly reversed.  The Celtic Tiger was followed by the crash, however. This saw income levels drop and consumption levels fall even more sharply as Ireland switched into deleveraging mode.  Between 2007 and 2021, real Irish AIC as a percentage of EU levels fell from 118 per cent to just 88 percent. We are further behind than we were in 1995. Our economic development model promotes substantial immigration through the mechanisms of EU membership, substantial foreign direct investment and large refugee numbers.  Between 2012 and 2022, the population of Ireland grew by 10.3 percent while that of the EU 27 grew by just 1.4 percent.  Add in a hopeless Department of Housing and you get a housing crisis that is getting worse, not better. This benefits older property-owning generations but disadvantages younger, non-property owners.  No wonder Holly Cairns and Generation Rent are left so exasperated when Official Ireland celebrates its economic success.    Cormac Lucey is an economic commentator and lecturer at Chartered Accountants Ireland

Apr 11, 2023
READ MORE
Comment
(?)

The myriad risks of banking instability

The banking system is driven by confidence and when that confidence evaporates, the risk of contagion becomes real and dangerous, writes Jim Power One of the abiding memories of the great financial crisis back in 2008 and thereafter was the virtual collapse of the global financial system following the implosion of the US sub-prime mortgage market.  This implosion created a domino effect around the world and its tentacles spread far and wide, devastating the Irish banking system.  The Irish banking system was ripe for devastation after nearly a decade of excessive lending and poor lending standards.  A banking system is driven by confidence, but when that confidence evaporates, the risk of contagion becomes very real and very dangerous. This has played out in recent weeks.  Silicon Valley Bank collapse In the second week of March, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) became the second largest bank in US history to collapse and the biggest lender to fail since the 2008 crisis after customers rushed to withdraw cash due to fears over its liquidity.  SVB was a bank that loaned money to start-up companies mainly in the technology area and it also provided other financial services to both start-ups and other technology companies.  Another US bank, Signature Bank, was also shut down by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The earlier collapse of crypto-bank Silvergate did not help matters.  The FDIC forced SVB bank to cease operations on 10 March. At the peak of the technology boom, SVB placed $91 billion of its $188 billion in deposits in long-dated securities such as mortgage bonds and Treasury securities.  The value of those bonds had fallen heavily over the past year, however, as the Federal Reserve increased short-term interest rates aggressively.  The value of its assets was also adversely affected by the sharp correction in the global technology sector over the past year.  The bank sought to raise funding of $2.25 billion to cover the losses on its bond portfolio, but without success. This contributed to a run on its deposits and the closure and eventual sale of the bank by the FDIC.  In an FDIC insured bank, up to $250,000 is guaranteed, but the problem for SVB, reflecting the nature of its client base (it had almost 40,000 customers), is that an estimated 93 percent of deposits were not covered as they are over the threshold.  For a normal bank, it is estimated that around 50 per cent of deposits are guaranteed.  This lack of insurance created serious concerns amongst depositors, and we basically witnessed an old-fashioned run on a bank.  Although slightly different, Signature Bank had similar difficulties. In response to the crisis and the risk of contagion, the US authorities responded quickly and aggressively.  First, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen instructed the FDIC to make whole all depositors with both SVB and Signature Bank out of its Deposit Insurance Fund.  The aim was to shore up confidence among depositors at US banks. Concerns about moral hazard are being ignored for the moment. Second, the Federal Reserve introduced a new lending facility to provide additional funding to banks that run into liquidity problems.  The new Bank Term Lending Program (BTLP) will operate alongside the Federal Reserve’s existing repo facility and will provide loans at a duration of 12 months.  Crucially, the qualifying assets for access to these loans will be valued at par (rather than marked to market).  This should ensure access for institutions sitting on unrealised losses in their held-to-maturity security portfolios. Developments in Europe Recent banking problems have not been confined to the US. In Europe, CSFB has had to be acquired by its larger competitor, UBS.  In the case of CSFB, the vultures have been circling for some time due to a series of scandals in recent years. These have included the largest trading loss in its 167-year history after the implosion of Archegos Capital, and the closure of $10 billion of investment funds linked to a collapsed financial firm, Greensill.  It was revealed that the bank’s auditor, PwC, had identified material weaknesses in its financial reporting controls, which delayed the publication of its annual report.  It is possible to go through each of the troubled banks in turn and conclude that the problems are somewhat unique and are not reflective of the global banking system in general, but the list is getting longer. The heavy concentration of bonds on the SVB balance sheet created the main vulnerability for that institution, but there is once again a more general concern about bank regulation, and particularly the deregulation engineered by Trump in 2018 in response to intense lobbying and a somewhat warped ideological belief system.  His reforms basically reduced the regulatory supervision of smaller banks and indeed the CEO of SVB lobbied heavily for such a relaxation of supervisory standards in the past. The reality is that all banks need to be heavily regulated.  Central banks will continue to respond aggressively to seek to contain any banking problems that might arise in the months ahead.  The likelihood is that further problems will emerge given the move away from the intoxicating effects of artificially low interest rates. A decade of Quantitative Easing was always going to give rise to challenges.  The recent problems for Deutsche Bank clearly illustrate just how nervous the markets are at the moment and how an apparently relatively stable bank can get into difficulty.  Irish banking system For the Irish banking system, the main risks are more likely to be caused by global contagion rather than any inherent balance sheet problems.  In fact, the balance sheets of the Irish banks look relatively solid due to quite stringent capital requirements and other regulatory requirements introduced over the past decade.  We should be thankful for this, but also recognise that the radically changed monetary policy environment has the potential to cause difficulties in areas that might not appear obvious.  The current banking difficulties are likely to increase the cost of funding for banks, pressurise profitability, lead to tighter lending standards, reduced credit availability, and result in more expensive banking services.  Given the fundamentally important role played by banking from an overall economic perspective, such outcomes would undermine activity and damage growth prospects.  Perhaps, it will now take some momentum out of central bank interest rate tightening.  It is not 2008, but it still feels uncomfortable. Banking volatility can now be added to the long list of global economic risks we are facing. 

Apr 11, 2023
READ MORE
Comment
(?)

The President’s welcome - April 2023

Welcome to the April edition of Accountancy Ireland At the time of writing, in advance of our Ulster Society Annual Dinner in Belfast, we optimistically await the next steps in the process to bring stability and certainty to Northern Ireland in the wake of the Windsor Framework, and hopefully a positive impact on the way our 5,000-plus members there do business into the future.   By the time you read this we will have welcomed an additional 265 members to the fold following our Spring conferring ceremonies in Belfast and Dublin, and I wish you all success in your careers within our community of Chartered Accountants. Outreach visit to the US and Canada In March, I had the honour of being invited to meet a gathering of our members in Toronto, before joining a small delegation from the Institute in New York.  We were invited to participate in roundtables with Ireland Inc., which included senior business leaders, US Congressman Richie Neal, US special envoy on the economy to Northern Ireland, Joe Kennedy III, and Minister for Education Norma Foley.  It was a privilege to attend the ringing of the opening bell on the NYSE and it is testament to our influence as a small country that Ireland got to open the day there, having seen the EY Ireland Entrepreneur of the Year delegation do the same some months ago.  The Minister then spoke at our own hosted event at the Irish Consulate General in New York where we welcomed our US based members and also heard from Ken Bishop of NASBA on the recently extended Mutual Recognition Agreement that Irish Chartered Accountants in the US can and do benefit from working there.  We were also delighted to attend the American Chamber evening where we met Tánaiste Micheál Martin. Moving to Washington DC, it was fantastic to see the political leaders of all the North’s main parties together attend the Ireland Funds dinner and the NI Bureau breakfast.  Council member Pamela McCreedy, Director of Public Affairs Brian Keegan, and I had a chance to catch up with them at these events and to emphasise the importance of stability to our members doing business in the local economy and in the wider spheres of the all-island of Ireland, UK, and broader global economies.  With over 1,000 Irish Chartered Accountants based in North America, we are incredibly proud of the impact they make on business there and how well they represent the Institute in everything they do. Reform of Leaving Certificate accounting syllabus In January, we had significant media coverage in respect of our call for reform of the Leaving Certificate accounting syllabus across national print media, on radio and online.  In February, Brian Feighan, representing CCAB-I, the Institute’s Brid Heffernan and I were invited to meet officials from the Department of Education to discuss ways in which the profession could work with the Department to improve the experience of our young people with accounting at second level.   A number of positive avenues were explored and we will continue to engage over the next number of months to advance the agenda in this regard.   It was positive to note that the Department is planning a Partners’ forum on syllabus reform which would welcome interaction with bodies like ours who wish to offer assistance in ensuring that, amongst other things, the system is supporting the real economic need for financial skills capacity in our business community. International Women’s Day The Chartered Accountants Worldwide global ED&I task force published the first global study to map career journeys of women in the accounting profession, exploring existing barriers on that journey and opportunities for employers to open career pathways for women to progress into more senior positions.  It indicates that while progress has been made, there is still a challenge for the profession in retaining female talent.  Most women surveyed felt they had a lot to offer the profession despite being a parent and are confident they can obtain a senior position. Barriers identified to overcome are a lack of confidence to progress careers, management style of superiors/company culture, and a lack of time off to care for children. Fantastic to be represented at the launch event by our very own Deputy President. Annual Dinner This is the first time I have had the opportunity in Accountancy Ireland to reflect on our Annual Dinner in January at the Convention Centre.   It was fantastic to see everyone gather again in person and to welcome newly appointed Minister for Finance Michael McGrath TD who addressed attendees, and Rachael Blackmore and Anne Heraty who offered great insights into their successful careers.  My thanks to all the businesses who supported the event by hosting tables and to the Institute team who ensured the evening ran so smoothly.  Pat O’Neill FCA President  

Apr 11, 2023
READ MORE
Comment
(?)

The coach's corner - February 2023

Julia Rowan answers your management, leadership and team development questions I feel I need to constantly prove myself, meaning I work very long hours. I spend hours drafting reports, checking other people’s work and preparing for meetings. I’ve been aware of this for a long time and my boss and others tell me that I don’t need to do it, but I don’t seem to be able to change. First, it’s important to acknowledge that changing our behaviour and habits can be really difficult. For you, it sounds like there is an unaddressed fear (possibly unconscious) at play here.  A great way to become conscious of what is unconscious is to write about it. Whether you feel very stressed or just a bit anxious, stop what you are doing and write about what is happening and how you are feeling. Then keep writing and see what comes up.  You are not attempting to analyse or rationalise what is happening—you are simply describing it to see what thoughts arise.   Over time, your fears will come out in your writing. Our fears can seem ridiculous—”people will laugh/I’m letting the side down/they’ll find me out”—so we hide the fear, letting it have all the power.  By getting the fear down on paper, we lessen its power and then we can interrogate the fear—”when is the last time people laughed at me/I let the side down?”.   In my experience with clients, they don’t have any examples. In fact, they will often come up with examples of the opposite: “people took me seriously, I was complimented for my contribution”.  If acknowledging and addressing the fear through writing doesn’t enable you to change your habits, it may be worth talking to a professional to help you through it.  I am heading up a cross-functional project team which will have high-level impact. People turn up for meetings, the discussions are constructive and polite, but there is little or no follow through. Everyone is very busy, but getting this project over the line is one of my key objectives and I worry I might fail. Many factors could be causing this blockage, including people’s core responsibilities, personal motivation, support for the project objectives, commitment to the project, team norms that have been formed, or your chairing style, etc.  I suggest that you organise a meeting to examine the progress on this project, face-to-face, in a nice room. This gives you the opportunity to have a very open discussion with the team. You need to lean into the reality of what is (and is not) happening and get very curious. Leave any hurt or defensiveness aside. The usual ‘stop, start, continue’ approach may be useful to get the conversation going. Make sure to pay attention to what is working. This gives people the psychological permission to address what’s not.   You may need to go a bit deeper and explore some of the issues mentioned above, which may feel awkward. Design the process so that people feel safe answering the questions—getting small groups to explore questions, for example, or providing post-its and pens for people to write. Even if you feel a bit hurt by some of the feedback, lean into it.  If the project is paramount, getting support from HR or a professional could be useful either in helping you to prepare or in running the session for you. Julia Rowan is Principal Consultant at Performance Matters, a leadership and team  development consultancy. Email questions to julia@performancematters.ie

Feb 08, 2023
READ MORE
12345678910...

The latest news to your inbox

Useful links

  • Current students
  • Becoming a student
  • Knowledge centre
  • Shop
  • District societies

Get in touch

Dublin HQ

Chartered Accountants
House, 47-49 Pearse St,
Dublin 2, Ireland

TEL: +353 1 637 7200
Belfast HQ

The Linenhall
32-38 Linenhall Street, Belfast
Antrim BT2 8BG, United Kingdom.

TEL: +44 28 9043 5840

Connect with us

CAW Footer Logo-min
GAA Footer Logo-min
CARB Footer Logo-min
CCAB-I Footer Logo-min

© Copyright Chartered Accountants Ireland 2020. All Rights Reserved.

☰
  • Terms & conditions
  • Privacy statement
  • Event privacy notice
LOADING...

Please wait while the page loads.