No doubt, tax season is a rough time of year. I hope all that are enduring it find a way to decompress and rejuvenate afterwards.
While I don’t practice tax anymore, I always loved tax season. I understand that most don’t. But to a great extent, it’s as good as it gets.
Do you remember the TV show ER? It had a very successful run as a network TV drama and portrayed an emergency room in a busy Chicago hospital, and the doctors and nurses that worked there. It certainly wasn’t relaxing, in fact it was extremely stressful, but you could relate to the individual characters and to the team as they shared a common goal – to save lives!
While we aren’t saving lives as in ER, we are providing extreme value to our clients. The adrenaline rush during tax season is as good as it gets and it is exciting! Phones are ringing. Texts and e-mails are flooding in. Pulse rates rise as do the volume of our voices and the intensity of our keystrokes. We are in the moment and in a state of flow as we fulfill our common goal! We are warriors and we beat the deadline, always!
In addition to the rush, the connection with the team is enhanced. The real-time conversation and communication increases. We have that common goal and it has a deadline! Like ER, some communication is calm and civil, and some is heated. In any event, feedback is instantaneous. We commiserate together. We eat together. We spend our weekends together. We get to the other side together and are closer as a team as a result.
While tax season can be grueling, there is so much that comes together to make it a success. For example:
1. We become better communicators – Our communication with our team becomes much more direct, specific and timely. There is no time to burn time with confusion or misdirected staff. Likewise, our communication with our clients is enhanced. While casual and often ignored e-mails with questions or information requests sufficed earlier in the season, pointed phone calls and possibly visits to their offices are now utilized to ensure success.
2. We become better project managers – At other times in the year, we are victim to Parkinson’s Law which states that a project will expand in size and complexity so as to fill the time available for its completion. During tax season, that same principal becomes our ally as time available becomes scarce. We are laser focused on the calendar and due date list, and the tasks associated with our projects.
3. We become better risk managers – While quality is always job #1, perfection can not get in the way of success during a deadline crunch. Decisions get made regarding nice to have vs. must have. An element of materiality comes in to play, and the Pareto Principal or 80/20 rule is alive and well as we look to quantify 80% of exposures into 20% of the issues facing us.
I’m sure there are many others positive aspects to note. The point to ponder is whether we can bring them into our daily routines regardless of season potentially eliminating the next grueling one, or at least making it somewhat more blissful?