Tax Extension Made Easy

Training new employees can be taxing

Katie, Manager of a Lake Oswego based CPA firm, told Session 9B of Turbo Leadership System's Leadership Development Lab (LDL):

"We have a new intern in our office. She started earlier this month and I haven't had a chance to get to know her other than introducing myself. So at session 6A, we learned what was, for me, and easy to follow 3-step approach to on the job training, I knew she would be a good candidate.

"I scheduled a time for the two of us to grab coffee. As we visited over coffee, I utilized turbo's 'art of conversation' to practice being genuinely interested.

The art of conversation questions from Session 1 of the LDL made getting to know her very natural for both of us. After getting to know her, I decided that when we got back to the office I would teach her how to pull and prepare tax extensions for our clients.

"I followed the 3 steps we learned at Session 6 for on the job training. First, I carefully talked through each of the seven steps required to file an extension while she watched me prepare one. Next, I asked her to prepare an extension while I talked her through each of the steps. Finally, I asked her to prepare an extension while she explained the process out loud back to me. She prepared an extension but did not vocalize the steps. She did ask me several questions along the way. I thought that we should go through another extension for practice and I recommended she verbalize each of the steps out loud. I told her it would further reinforce the somewhat complicated process in her mind. She vocalized the steps this second time through and is now quite proficient with our extension preparation process.

"The lesson I learned from this experience is that it is important when I am training anyone on a new process to carefully follow all 3 steps of Turbo's training process with clear, concise, precise directions.

"The action I call you to take is to employ Turbo Leadership Systems' 3 step on the job training process, when you are training anyone on a new procedure.

"The benefit you will gain is seeing healthy growth in your team members, your relationships and your reputation."

This story is a great example of the importance of pro-activity, establishing rapport before providing feedback of any kind. People, all of us tend to be defensive, push back, like we have all the answers. By first establishing rapport, you will find that your associates are far more receptive to on the job training, coaching and even praise.