Leading Your Team Through Tax Season
When the going gets tough, teams look to leadership for strength, guidance, stability and direction. In the world of public accounting, no time is tougher than tax season.
As the owner or partner in a CPA firm, the onus falls squarely on your shoulders to grab hold of the wheel and safely navigate the ship to the other side of the storm. Confronting this critical responsibility head on is not a choice. It’s the only way to protect your team from the stress and burnout that, left unchecked, can lead to disastrous consequences for your firm.
Now is a time for intentional leadership, knowing when and how to apply each of the Five Positions of Leadership will keep your team at their best.
Choosing the right position for impact
Becoming the most effective leader you can be requires that you not only master each of the five positions, but recognize the appropriate circumstances for assuming each role.
Given that every leader has positions they prefer or excel at, this often means adapting into a role that is neither your favorite, nor your strong suit. But successful leaders do what needs to be done. No questions asked.
Busy season is not a time for trailblazing
Tax season is an entirely inappropriate time to forge new paths, set fresh goals, and lead your organization through change. Stability is key during this period.
If you find yourself leading out front, pull back your own reins and recognize that unnecessary distractions at the most stressful time of year, for both your staff and your valued clients, will take away from the task at hand. Any significant changes should have been made in preparation for this time of year.
By the start of tax season, any strategic visions on your part should already be in place.
You know what’s ahead of you. So does your team. Focus on the job or risk sending mixed signals to your most valuable assets.
Minimize coaching but don’t abandon it completely
For most of your team, tax season is not a time to advance skills and be mentored, but to leverage the capabilities they have already gained and perfected thus far in their careers.
But for every senior staff member who will produce best when left alone, you likely have younger employees struggling to make it through their first or second busy season.
Work hard to stay hands-off as much as possible, but be available to adapt quickly and coach those you recognize to be falling behind.
Empower the team you have built
Putting your full weight into the trust you impart on your team is vital for pushing your team to dig deep, and more importantly, to give them the confidence they need to trust their own skills and decision making.
Hesitation, second-guessing, and doubt will drag your ship’s progress like a half-dropped anchor. Now is the time to lead from behind and support your team by letting them know they are ready and capable of accomplishing anything.
Hold the line on sticky with the workflow and procedures. Allowing the cutting of corners allows for sloppy work product, excuses to prevail, and for work to slip through the cracks. If everyone does their part, trust and morale will be boosted despite rising stress levels and the ever imposing deadlines.
Roll up your sleeves and lead from the bottom
When you’re backed into a corner and falling behind, sometimes the best way to dig your team out of the hole is to grab a shovel and start digging.
Nobody in your organization is above getting dirty with hard work. And that includes you.
Think you were done pitching in on tax returns? Think again. Your willingness to hop into the trenches will be noticed immediately, and by modeling hard work, you build trust and respect.
Take care to ensure you are knocking out “extra” workload and not taking over projects in a way that could be viewed as micromanagement. Walk the difficult tightrope between helping out with day-to-day operations and dereliction of your other leadership duties.
Be there for your team when they need you most, but avoid the pitfall of positioning yourself as a crutch, who will always help out in a pinch. Reserve “rolling up your sleeves” for when your team is truly overwhelmed and leave them to push through on their own when the challenge is legitimate but surmountable. It is still key not to get bogged down in operations and lose sight of the bigger picture.
Don’t get lost in the weeds
Take a step back now and then to maintain your position as the overseer. At a CPA firm, the office can take on a hectic air during tax season, and you can’t allow your entire day to be sucked into the maelstrom.
Your oversight matters. The big picture still matters, even when small-picture tasks seem to be piling up faster than your team can handle them. Prioritize those tasks with your next level leaders and allow all to act and accomplish at their highest level. Communication throughout on tension points is critical.
Adaptive leadership is the key to a successful tax season
Mastering the five positions of leadership will prepare you to better guide your firm through the roughest stretch of the year, ensuring that you, and your entire team, escape unscathed from stress and burnout, while delivering exceptional results to the clients who are counting on your services.
Join our Leadership Lab to take the first step towards elevating your positional leadership skills to the next level.
