
Beverly Flaxington is a practice management consultant. She answers questions from advisors facing human resource issues. To submit yours, email us here.
Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
Dear Bev,
I work for a large financial services firm, and we are on our fourth round of training vendors to teach us how to be more effective at working with our clients. Each time, I have learned one or two new things, but nothing sticks. In fact, sometimes they have preached different things, so I am left conflicted. This time takes us out of the office and away from doing what we are paid to do. I am interested in expanding my capabilities, but how do I actually start doing things differently, and which way is the right way?
Joe F.
Dear Joe,
Thank you for writing on one of my personal favorite topics: using training to bring about behavior or cultural change. We develop and deliver customized training, so I am very familiar with your plight. The problem is that training in and of itself doesn’t bring about change. If you think about the human condition in most firms today, there isn’t enough time to do all of the things we want or need to do. So, we default back to what’s easy, the same habits we have used over and over again. We leave a great training session filled with new ideas and motivated to do something different but then we get back to our desks, look at the emails we haven’t opened, start to return phone calls and lose all the new learning. It’s not that the skills trained were not good, or that the person learning them wasn’t smart, it is just that we can’t simply integrate a new idea without some other sort of support for the change.
This is not to say that training isn’t important – continued skill development is essential to keeping up with changes, new advancements and to staying cutting edge. There are a number of things that make training more effective. If you can personally integrate any of these or encourage your employer to do so, it will not only make the training more interesting, but you’ll actually find you change some behaviors.
- Be sure there are clear next steps. We were just reviewing a program this week a client firm is using and the “take aways” are pages and pages of things to do. No one can process that much information. If this is the case in your training, try to pull out the pieces that matter most to you. Create a series of clear and easy step-by-step changes you can implement.
- Include tools for reinforcement. A nice binder filled with pages and pages of information looks expensive and worthwhile, but how do you use it on a daily basis? If tools are not supplied, create your own – even if you have to resort to post-it notes, reminders on an app or a buddy system with one of your colleagues, find some way to provide yourself with reminders of what you want to do differently.
- Reinforce with other learning or training. There is so much available online and in articles for free. Find other resources to learn new ways to apply what you have learned or different ideas to enhance it. The more you expose yourself on a continued basis, the more likely the new behaviors will take hold.
Dear Bev,
Robo is real. It’s a threat to our business. If our business is all about human behavior, as you write in this column, why are so many investors finding the computerized approach preferable?
John T.
Dear John,
This is a pretty simple one: unfortunately while computers can’t share empathy or give us knowing and caring facial expression, they can be “smart” enough to know when we are about to make a bad decision or when we need to take another look at our accounts. Imagine instead of the “set it and forget it” mindset that some retirement investors have had, a computer sending you a message to look at something and then providing a link where you could find it.
Think about the generations who are now growing up with computers. There are few people under 40 (and even few under 65!) who would not hear about something and want to “Google it” to learn more. We’re used to turning to web and apps for information and trusting that information to be right, whether it is or not. If the Robo I am using is being programmed and managed by smart investment professionals, then the information I am getting is likely fairly good.
Another element is time. No one has enough of it. Instead of spending an hour in a meeting, I can log on and in 20 minutes make decisions and learn about my accounts. The time and convenience factor is huge. In addition, people may be more “honest” with the computer. There is no threat in telling a machine my deepest secrets, but I risk embarrassment if I share something with another human being. So, for some people, computers are much safer too.
There is a place for Robo and I can’t imagine they are going away. They will likely become more and more of the preferred choice for many investors. However, Robos can never facilitate a conversation between warring spouses over legacy issues, they can’t do consultative questioning at the level to hear the emotional undertones of a given statement and they can’t recognize a life event or transition unless the investor logs in and tells them. They can’t manage events and share personalized information either. Robos are here to stay and for a certain segment of the market they may be fine, but there have always been DIYers who eschew financial advisors. It’s probably prudent to embrace the Robo approach and find ways to integrate easier, more computerized approaches into your practice but at the same time, be sure to remind clients of the value of human interaction. It can’t be underestimated in a business as sensitive as managing people’s life savings.
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. In 2016, her firm relaunched the Advisors Sales Academy. She is currently a Lecturer 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.