Beverly Flaxington is a practice management consultant. She answers questions from advisors facing human resource issues. To submit yours, email us here.
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As an industry, we lack communication and people skills. A number of meetings over the last few months prompted me to devote this week’s column to six tips to complement your technical and financial abilities with communication skills. These tips will make you a more effective leader.
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Learn how to present with confidence. Do you know your information really well and expect that everyone will understand why it’s important? This is all too common. Remember that an audience doesn’t see what you see and know what you know. Learn how to read your audience, be it one person or thousands, and deliver information to them in a context that allows them to fully understand the material and its consequences.
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Remember that they can work elsewhere. I hear far too many leaders say, “If they don’t like it, they can go somewhere else!” The worst nightmare for any boss should be that instead of going elsewhere, your employees decide to sabotage your organization in other ways. No organization can run well -- and succeed for the long term -- without motivated and enthused staff members. Yes, you can make money and have good financials, but a consistently top-performing organization needs committed employees to make it really hum.
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You can never communicate enough. Sent the email and given the bullet points about what the company is doing next? Think you’re done? This is a common failing. Many people in top offices – with firms large and small – think that just because they put a message out there, everyone knows it and receives it. Adult learners need to receive information in a variety of ways – written, auditory, visual – and they need to connect it to their day-to-day lives. What does the next big change mean to them, in their role? How should they understand it and think about it? Be clear and communicate in a variety of ways to ensure a message is heard.
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Learn what the people below you do every day. How can leader make decisions when they only think they know the jobs people are doing? You can’t possibly understand impact, or what it will take to get something done, without seeing first hand what’s going on. Take the time to sit and observe your staff members. Run focus groups to learn about obstacles. Consider doing the job of someone else to get a feel for what they deal with every day. There is nothing that means more than a staff member than realizing the boss understands.
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Let them bring forth both problems and solutions. I hear so many people in top roles say, “They should bring me solutions, not problems.” Yes, you want to have staff that sees an issue and suggests a way to fix it. But many people have never learned good problem-solving skills and don’t know how. Listen to what’s wrong with an open mind and then guide them to find solutions. Teach collaborative problem-solving throughout the organization.
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Recognize that it’s not all about the money – or assets. This business allows people to become very, very wealthy, and asset growth and performance are key indicators. But people are still at the root of what we do and how we do it. Value the people in your organization as much as you do the assets they take care of. Most employees want nothing more than to be valued and appreciated. Find ways to show appreciation and thanks to those who work for you.
Small tweaks to your communication routines could yield big changes in how your organization functions and how your employees receive and respond to your leadership.
Beverly Flaxington co-founded The Collaborative, a consulting firm devoted to business building for the financial services industry in 1995; in 2008 she co-founded Advisors Trusted Advisor to offer dedicated practice management resources to advisors, planners and wealth managers. She is currently an adjunct professor at Suffolk University teaching undergraduate students Leadership & Social Responsibility. Beverly is a Certified Professional Behavioral Analyst (CPBA) and Certified Professional Values Analyst (CPVA).
She has spent over 25 years in the investment industry and has been featured in Selling Power Magazine and quoted in hundreds of media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, MSNBC.com, Investment News and Solutions Magazine for the FPA. She speaks frequently at investment industry conferences and is a speaker for the CFA Institute.
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