Practice Management Shadow Now to Expand Your Expertise for Next Tax Season Read the Article Open Share Drawer Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) Written by Daniele Griffith, JD Modified Mar 2, 2018 3 min read Whether you partner with a peer from another firm or a colleague in your practice, shadowing can be one way to grow your knowledge and skills. From learning about a new niche of tax law so you can better serve as an advisor for your clients, to learning about new processes and tools so you can become more efficient in your firm, shadowing provides a great way to learn from your peers. Our teams here at Intuit® have experimented with shadowing to help us share our expertise and grow our employees, and have found a lot of success. Here are some best practices we’ve learned from shadowing our own peers that we hope can help you expand your expertise for next tax season. Share Your Goals Around Shadowing Are you looking for new tools to help your practice workflow or hoping to learn how to better serve your self-employed clients? No matter your goal, be open with the person you’re shadowing about what you’d like to learn. This will enable your peer to tailor their day to help you meet your goals, or suggest days and times to visit their office when they plan on focusing on related tasks so that you can see them in action. If Possible, Shadow in Person Sometimes, the people you can learn from aren’t located in your backyard, so it is possible to try to shadow someone using remove communications tools. However, we’ve found that it’s easier to learn from people in their natural work environment and for both parties to be able to be “hands on” with the project, which often means its best for both parties to be in the same location. This may mean taking a bit more time away from your own office, but it’s worth it if you can get away. In Intuit’s experiments with shadowing, several of the teams were remote shadows conducted through live video conferencing. While live shadowing is ideal, remote shadowers still found the experience valuable. Technology allowed the guests to sit in meetings just like they were there in person. Remote shadowing may open many more shadow opportunities that can be very beneficial with some planning. Stay in Touch Learning a new tax niche or a new tool is hard to do in a day or even a week of shadowing one of your peers. Stay in touch with your peer if you have questions. As you integrate your new knowledge into your day-to-day activities in your own practice, building a long-term relationship will enable you to leverage them as an ongoing resource. Be Willing to Trade Places Chances are, you have some unique knowledge or skills that your peer doesn’t have. Be open to sharing these things with your peers via shadowing as well. They will appreciate you returning the favor! We hope you meet your goals of learning something new that can help you improve your practice next season during a shadowing session! If you have any of your own shadowing best practices to share, please leave a comment below. Previous Post Social Media During Tax Season? Why Not? Next Post Keys to Growing Your Tax and Accounting Practice Written by Daniele Griffith, JD Danielle Griffith is an attorney who has been with Intuit since December 2010. She also has her own small tax practice. She has been a member of the Center of Tax Excellence steering committee since the Center was formed in 2016. More from Daniele Griffith, JD Comments are closed. Browse Related Articles Grow your practice Sales Skills for Tax Pros Practice Management Don’t Go at it Alone This Off-Season Grow your practice 7 reasons to hire new graduates in your firm Practice Management How Training Events Can Help You Ramp Up for Next Seaso… Practice Management Prepare your firm for the reality of tax season 2022 wi… Practice Management Infographic: Taxonomy of the Tax Pro Workflow tools ProConnect™ Tax rated top corporate tax software Grow your practice Using Your Tax Blog for Recruitment and Retention Advisory Services What kind of firm owner will you be? Intuit® Accountants News ProAdvisor Profile: Susan Tinel, EA