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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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Dear Bev,
Lately we have been dealing with a couple of clients who are aligning themselves with outside advisors (centers-of-influence, e.g. attorneys and accountants) whom we find very difficult. The issue isn’t personality; it’s deeper than that. These advisors have an opinion about everything we do. They are not investment experts but they ask questions of their client and then the client in turn asks us. This is very divisive.
We have always approached other advisors as partners in a team working on behalf of the client. Even if I would not personally choose someone, I’m not going to question my client’s decision. I am going to work on their behalf.
Is there a way I can politely point out to my client that their accountant, for example, is not an investment expert and that we have the credentials and the experience to make our own decisions?
Gerry S.
Dear Gerry,
Your experience is not an uncommon one. Unfortunately there is so much information available on how to invest or create a financial plan that too many people think they know enough to have a perspective! Conversely, tax law and legal documents are so convoluted that few people would claim any knowledge of how they operate.
As we know, having access to information and being an expert are too vastly different things.
Your concern could stem from one of three things – the other trusted advisor is diminishing the value you add and perhaps planting seeds that your mutual client is overpaying for your services, or your client will no longer need your services because they can get advice from their accountant, or the client will lose trust and go someplace else. These are all real threats in a situation such as you describe.
The problem when someone is unjustly attacking you is that if you respond with anger, or irritation or you try and point out the error of the other advisor’s way in any overt fashion, you will look like “the bad guy.” This is the unfortunate case with many things and why the quote, “the lady doth protest too much, me thinks” (from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, c. 1600) is often used when we try and argue or push back too much on something. If you try and convey too directly why the other advisor is wrong, it could cement the idea you are doing something wrong or hiding something.
Instead, whenever under attack, I prefer using (a) the questioning route, and (b) the “elephant in the room” approach. These involve pointing out what’s happening in an objective way (elephant in the room), “Mr. or Ms. Client, this is the third time you have asked me about our investment decisions based on something your accountant said, and it is concerning me. I wasn’t aware they had financial experts in their practice.” Next you follow it up with a question, “In fact, I’m a bit curious about why they are raising these issues. Should I be concerned about how confident you are right now in our approach?” Or, “Can you help me understand exactly the nature of your concerns?” You might want to offer to sit down with the client and their accountant/attorney to go through your approach and how you are investing on behalf of this client. You definitely want to do a refresh with your client so they are armed with information about what you do and how you do it.
Staying calm and objective, and raising a concern in a more inquisitive way is often going to be your best approach in a case like this.
Dear Bev,
We have hired several advisors to work alongside our founding partner. You might get an idea of what our founding partner is like by that statement: he just can’t get along with anybody. He is belligerent and rude, insulting and crass. We try and prepare the associates coming in but most run fleeing from the building after a few months. And know that we have tried to work on his style. We paid for a very expensive executive coach who eventually told us he could not do much with someone who wasn’t open. We have tried to have some of our braver team members approach this man and try and show him how expensive it is to churn through employees but it’s always everybody else’s fault with him. He takes no responsibility whatsoever. How do we grow the firm and bring in new talent when we can’t find someone to work with him long enough to learn?
D.R.
Dear D.R.,
Thank you for not sharing your name as I guess that many of our readers will think they recognize this person! It’s a story I hear all too often, unfortunately. One of the greatest marks of a leader (in my humble opinion) is the ability to be self-reflective. We all have areas of great strength, and areas where our weaknesses trip us up. Only those who can objectively examine their areas for improvement and work on them can be characterized as leaders.
That said, the reality of life is that the person in charge, who owns the firm, writes the rules. If this advisor is like many I encounter, he is highly successful and the firm is probably very successful. Successful people often say, “What I am doing is working, so why should I change?” and this could be his mantra. He is the one with most of the money, he is the founder and the creator and he is the one still at the helm. Getting someone like this to see the error of his ways can be next to impossible.
But, you can’t just give up and give in. What I have seen work well in these situations is creating an infrastructure around this individual. Stop forcing new recruits to work directly with him and expecting it will work out. Instead, create roles and opportunities for newcomers to learn elsewhere within the firm. Provide a training and developmental path that doesn’t include your leader. Let newcomers get to know the firm, and recognize the culture. Allow them time to see your leader in action so they will understand it isn’t about them.
You will eventually come along a person, or two, who do well with your leader. They might be able to work alongside him in a different capacity and come to earn his trust. Even the most hardened leaders will find someone they find as a fit for them. Your problem right now is that new people are being thrown into the fire. Let them get used to the heat from a different vantage point and decide whether they want to step into the fire with more knowledge, background and experience in the firm.
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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