Implementing change in your business can be hard — and we should know, as we’re in the accounting profession. When you’re jazzed about an idea but feel like you’re constantly getting shut down, how far should you push? How do you get your team on board with it? I don’t believe in change for the sake of making change, but you should always be looking ahead at what’s coming down the pipeline — even small changes that could lead to something bigger.

As one of the co-founders of Summit virtual CFO firm, over the past 20 years I’ve developed a few key insights about how the change process should flow. As Summit has grown in revenue and employees, here’s what I’ve learned along the way.

#1 Start small

For any new idea to gain a foothold, you’ll need to start with a small group, like your leadership team. If your group gets too big, people become numb to the change, ultimately dragging their feet about a decision.

When you start with a very small group, you can collectively decide on the direction in which to go. Then, you can share that change further down your organization, giving them the autonomy to make minor changes as their department needs or wants. Encouraging these tweaks will likely make the idea more operational and, just as importantly, help get buy-in from your team.

Another example of starting with a small group might be testing a new idea on a sample group before rolling it out company-wide. For example, when we test out new software, we implement it within our own company first to make sure everyone on our team is familiar with it. That way everyone using the software knows how it works and can determine the benefits so they are equipped to discuss it with clients.

When we’re ready to go to clients, we don't try it out on all of them at once. We use it on one or two to make sure it's going to accomplish what we want it to. Then we take the opportunity to gather any feedback both from clients and employees, make further adjustments, so we can head confidently into our full-scale launch.

So, starting with a small group can work both internally (leadership team or one department) and externally (clients or customers).

#2 Present the idea with humility

When I introduce a change, I come from a place of, “I'm not sure about this. It sounded interesting; there might be something good here. Can you help me figure out what's good about it? Or, what could we learn from it?”

This shifts the perspective and gets your team invested in the change; instead of “we should do this,” you’re encouraging someone to evaluate it and provide their opinion. You need the buy-in of your team because, obviously, change can’t happen without their support.

For example, someone recently mentioned a tool they implemented in their business and that they were seeing success with it. I instantly sent it to Jake Grimm, Summit’s director of technology, and asked him to review it and let me know his feedback.

I didn’t tell him what the tool was for or how to use it. I wanted to give him the autonomy to develop his own opinion of it.

I could have said, “Hey Jake, I want you to replace our current software with this new software.” Instead, I gave it to him so he could actually do the research on his own and come up with his own conclusion — good or bad.

If he came back with something contrary to what I was thinking, I would seek out further information: “So what didn't you like about it? What was good? What was bad? Why don't you think it would work?”

Going about it this way ensures I'm educated on why he made the decision because I could be going in one direction with it and he may be going in a completely different direction. When I bring an idea for a new tool, I recognize my leadership team might have on-the-ground knowledge that changes the equation. I’ve got to be open to accepting that information, or I’ve lost a valuable opportunity to do things better (which is the whole point of change, after all).

Be sure to practice what you preach; you have to be humble enough to accept ideas from employees, too. Acknowledge that others might have ideas that are just as good, if not better, than yours.

#3 Foster a sense of curiosity

As a leader, I can’t be the only one in my organization proposing change. At Summit, we foster a culture of curiosity that means that every employee feels empowered to constantly ask themselves: How can we do things better? Since they know this kind of thinking is not just accepted but encouraged, everyone approaches their job from a perspective of continuous improvement and is willing to offer up solutions to the problems they understand best.

Provide opportunities where employees feel the autonomy to explore a new idea and cultivate a sense of curiosity that encourages them to be constant learners, continuously developing themselves personally and professionally.

Supporting autonomy holds space for their own decision making. They're not trapped into thinking they have to bring an idea up the ladder and get permission for a small change. We try not to create a barrier to change because if it's tough for people to make change, then they won't.

Employees that Embrace Change are Resilient Employees

Bottom line, the more comfortable your employees are with proposing change, the more likely they’ll adapt to the changes you propose — and the curveballs that come your way. With the economy in this uncertain place right now, we have to be prepared for the fact that we won’t be so fortunate to be in control of every change that gets made in our organization. Sometimes we get to play offense and figure out how to grow our company; other times we’ll have to react to less-than-ideal circumstances by deciding to do things differently.

If you get your employees and your leadership team used to embracing small changes, they’ll be better prepared for the big ones. And you never know, that small change you make with your leadership team might have a way bigger impact on your whole organization than you ever imagined.

For more insights from Jody, see “INCPAS Member Case Study: 4 Ways Remote Work Has Driven Client Advisory Revenue & Staff Success.”