When she looks through your phone

I get that tax people sometimes get desperate. So much work. Always change. Begging for budget. Endless complexity. If that’s not enough, suboptimal collaboration and a lot of manual work 🫣🤯😵‍💫…

But hey, there is hope.

And no, you don’t need to google it…

Here are some tips:

– Invest in strong relationships with your (local) stakeholders. The quality of your relationships determines the quality of your life. It is true;

– Focus on context. Focus on the WHY. Explain, over and over again;

– Focus on clear and effective ways of communication. Have you ever tried Loom videos to spread the word? Works really well! You record it once, and your stakeholders can watch it async whenever they want. Make them part of your policies;

– Identify “what’s in it for them”. If you understand the value for say local finance, and you can properly pitch it, they will accept the new way of working;
Step by step. Not from 0 to 100. Incremental improvements. It takes time to break up with old habits;

– Put tax on the map. Be proud about your function. Spread tax awareness. Organize recurring tax info sessions (eg lunches). Keep it light. Keep it funny. Sure, you can use our memes ;-)

– Process excellence will benefit all stakeholders involved;

– First the process. Subsequently tools, like workflow engines…

I can go on and on. The most important message is to every now and then step back and look at the state of your tax function with a bird's eye view… It will pay off…