Ep. 16 - Kristen Rampe: Founder&CEO of Kristen Rampe Consulting - a podcast by Peter Margaritis, CPA & C-Suite Radio

I’m sitting with Kristen Rampe today, an expert in the soft skills of public accounting. Kristen founded Kristen Rampe Consulting, a company that elevates CPA and professional service firm practices through workshops and projects focused on the soft skills that lead to success.
Kristen studied accounting in college, and she joined the Big 4 after graduation. She didn’t like the work-life balance of her public accounting job, so she took an industry position. Soon, Kristen was back into public accounting and tasked with forming a SOX compliance team from the ground up. 
After working with CPAs for over a decade, Kristen realized that her strengths were the soft skills that many public accountants lacked: communication, client service, building great teams, etc. Kristen embraced her strengths and started Kristen Rampe Consulting to bring these essential skills back to the industry she spent so much time inside. 
“I started to notice I was really adept at working with the clients and providing great service, and achieving great financial results as a result of that, so I just continued to use those skills more and more, because to me they were more beneficial, not to substitute the technical. They were the things that really differentiated happy clients: good service and great teams.” 
It’s not always easy to sell CPAs on the value of communication, especially if you are valuing communication above technical skills. While the industry tends to agree that communication is important, what’s challenging is finding the right leadership that doesn’t just say it’s important, but actually understands the value of making a conscious effort to develop communication skills. 
Some public accounting firms view soft skills training as a cost, but they should look at it as an investment. There is a return on that investment, and there is a distinct lack of return if you don’t make the investment. Accountants are in the people business, and the job is all about building relationships. 
Good communication within a team can improve work-life balance for everyone by making work a more pleasant place to be. One of the biggest communication challenges is embracing what some might call a “difficult conversation.” If someone does something that makes you mad, or underperforms, there are great ways to see these as opportunities to connect. The end result is less negativity about work, and more positivity. 
There is a framework that we can use to have these conversations. One of the keys is to separate your observations from your judgments: being able to point to really specific, indisputable facts, instead of making generalizations. It’s the difference between, “You always turn in your work late,” and, “The last four times you were assigned work due Tuesday, you turned it in Wednesday.” 
Separately, if there is no judgment being passed and everyone agrees about the facts, we can bring in how we are feeling in this situation. The manager in this hypothetical might be frustrated, because the manager needs to meet their deadlines and one of the manager’s needs is finishing work in a timely fashion. 
“It’s good to get the air clear when it matters.” 
It’s time for accountants to get out from behind our desks. Talk to your clients, and learn more about their business. Learn all aspects of the business so that you can be their trusted business advisor, not just an accountant. Kristen has a list of questions that you can ask your clients, some are for the partner level and some are at the staff level, that she is happy to share with the Improv is no Joke audience. Send Kristen an email if you’d like a copy of those questions. 
Kristen also has a wonderful book, Accounting Dreams and Delusions, which is not only helpful, but also really, really funny. I think every CPA should have a copy of it. 
“When you see something that’s not working, take the time to make the change. It might not be today, today might not be the right day, but don’t let yourself sit in a situation that’s not working for you. Pick up what you need to do and go make that change.” 
I thank Kristen for sitting down and having this wonderful conversationwith me. I greatly appreciate her taking the time to share her wisdom and insight about the soft skills of public accounting.
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What To Listen For In This Episode:Why CPAs need soft skills like communication and client service
How soft skills training for CPAs is an investment in a firm’s futureHow having the difficult conversations at work can improve the work-life balance for everyone
Why accountants need to get out from behind their desks 
Resources:Learn more about Kristen: Website | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn
Contact Kristen: Kristen@KristenRampe.comAccounting Dreams and Delusions: Scenes From Professional Paradise, and What Really Happens in the Accounting Industry by Kristen Rampe
“It’s Time To Get Out From Behind Your Desk” 
Production&Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters
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