Prepare for next tax season by looking in the rearview mirror.

• Author: Lagarde, Brandon

Tax professionals spend much time and effort on ways to improve the busy season experience. Much of that effort is focused on relieving the pressure and compression of the season. From massages to happy hours to taco bar Tuesdays--or even dress-up days--there is a constant search for the magic formula to get through tax season. All the pressure leads up to the big day, April 15. On that day, an almost audible sigh of relief can be heard from tax preparation professionals across the country. Oftentimes, the days following April 15 are overlooked while celebrations are had, vacations are taken, and catching up on sleep takes top priority. This is the time, though, when it is imperative to conduct a well-organized and well-planned tax season recap and debrief.

A successful post-busy season debrief requires three things: careful planning, a skilled facilitator, and post-meeting follow-through.

Planning the debrief

Planning for the post-busy season debrief should include key stakeholders from technical staff and support staff as well as management. A planning meeting should focus on three issues: how to structure the debrief, when and where to hold it, and who should be invited to participate.

How to structure the debrief

Although firm owners and managers often develop a sense of the good and bad of tax season, it is vital to seek feedback from all who participated. An efficient way to gather information from the team is to use a survey. An automated survey tool, such as Survey Monkey, helps provide anonymity for responses (although the true level of anonymity may vary depending on the firm's size). An online tool can also assist by providing the survey questions in advance and communicating the timing of the survey (when it will be available, when the survey will close, etc.). Generally, a survey should be used in tandem with a debrief meeting.

Try to circulate the survey questions in advance so that staff members can ponder them. According to Tony Alessandra's book The Platinum Rule (Warner Books, 1996), there are four basic personality types: relater, thinker, socializer, and director. Each is likely to approach a post-busy season survey differently.

* Relaters: Incorporate others' feedback heard throughout the season into responses.

* Thinkers: Analyze the season in order to share meticulous, well-thought-out feedback.

* Socializers: Contemplate the growth of relationships during busy season.

* Directors: Provide facts and data in short...