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,
Our lead advisor tells us every year that we will all sit down together and plan for next year. Then, December comes. It is a really busy time for us both in the office and personally. He uses this as an excuse every single year (I have been here for five years) and so we never do the planning. We just go into next year with the same outdated approaches we have always used. Is there a way to help him see the importance of sitting down together and planning? It’s his firm and I get that, but he is the one who keeps bringing up that we need to do this!
S.T.
Dear S.T.,
If only we had the ability to easily get others to see the error of their ways! In this case, it sounds to me like your owner is saying what he thinks you want to hear (and may, deep down, know is right for him too), but for whatever reason he doesn’t want to open the discussion so he creates a reason why it can’t happen.
He is offering up a form of resistance. People resist because of a number of factors – most are usually based in some sort of fear. There is a great quote by international mediator Douglas E Noll that I usein a lot of my trainings: “The truth is that we are 98 percent emotional and about two percent rational.”
What does this mean? It means we approach people with logical, reasoned arguments about something we care about only to find they have an emotional reaction to what we’ve said. Your leader is likely harboring some sort of negative feelings about this exercise - it could be fear, mistrust, lack of confidence in the people he needs to count upon (yes, this could mean you and your colleagues), underlying concerns he doesn’t don’t want to voice (i.e. if you pose a great idea and it costs money, how would he say he doesn’t have the funds?), concern about changes that are agreed to by the group but not by him and on and on. The idea of planning sounds “logical” but there is likely some underlying emotional reason he offers resistance. Remember, resistance can be very passive; ignoring someone is resistance!
I encourage you to watch the way you and possibly others are approaching your boss, too. Your note refers to the “outdated approaches” you believe are in place now. You might be creating resistance without realizing it by diminishing what he has done to be successful so far. “Just wait until we get you in a room and show you how smart WE are, and how stupid your ideas have been!” Of course I don’t expect you would do this, or that you’re even consciously thinking it, but you might be subtly communicating that this planning session will mean big changes ahead for him.
I suggest a couple of things:
- If you and/or your colleagues have some specific ideas, don’t wait for a formal planning session. Present them clearly (and respectfully) and outline what you suggest, why you are suggesting it, how it would impact the firm, how much it might cost, etc. Perhaps the best approach here is just to deal with him directly and get his feedback on your thinking.
- A planning session firm wide is a nice way to go – I recommend this wholeheartedly no matter what size the firm, so another option would be to simply put a few dates/times on the calendar for this (confirm availability with others) and then just ask him which one works for him? This is an old sales technique but it works to give people options instead of letting them opt out entirely.
- Ask him if you could help to plan an agenda. Let him know how important it is to keep a lot of what’s working in place and simply talk about some new ideas. If you could show him somehow that you aren’t talking about wholesale changes (assuming you are not), he might be more agreeable.
Dear Bev,
I work for a considerably sized organization. We are trying to reach some agreements on how we want to talk to our clients about our process. I believe we should be client-first but one of my colleagues is of the mindset that clients hire us to be their intelligence so they want it to be about us. What’s your view?
Doug S.
Dear Doug,
It all depends on what you say and how you say it! This sounds like a philosophical issue and semantics more than an important decision that needs to be made. For example, why can’t you have a process that honors the client and puts them at the center but that also outlines how you do it and – in doing so – illustrates your expertise and your “intelligence”?
When people argue over words, but fundamentally they agree in concept, there needs to be a more process-oriented approach to coming to agreement. I suggest you try the following:
- Define what you want the client experience to be. Come to agreement collectively on this.
- Choose a set of words that are important to all of you – 7-10 descriptors.
- Create the actual process. What happens to a client from the start of an engagement on through? Be clear on steps.
- Review your ideal experience, the actual process and the words you want.
- Find ways to weave the words into your process, and check that your process is consistent with your expected client experience.
Sometimes having a step-by-step approach allows you to see that you aren’t in as much disagreement as you might think. Of course if you are in major disagreement, it will come out by using this process.
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.
Read more articles by Beverly Flaxington
Beverly Flaxington is a practice management consultant. She answers questions from advisors facing human resource issues. To submit yours, email us here. 
