
Don’t miss Bev Flaxington's upcoming APViewpoint webinar, The Difficult Client: Five Strategies for Resolving Challenges and Conflicts, on Thursday, April 13 at 4:15 pm.
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 asset management organization and have 25 years of experience. I have very strong credentials for the financial work that I do. Recently my new boss was hired. This guy is about 15 years younger than I am and thinks he knows more than he does. The most irritating thing about him is that he continually refers to the “next gen” in our department and in our organization. There are many of us, like me, in our late 40sand early 50s. We believe we are contributing quite a bit to the organization and take umbrage at the fact that only the next gen can save us.
I don’t know if it is time for me to move on, or if I should tell this guy he is alienating people. Is it possible to appeal to someone who doesn’t get it and might think I am annoyed I’m working for someone so much younger than I am? I really enjoy what I do and I’m making good money so I don’t want to walk out if I can avoid it. But don’t want to be treated like someone’s old news.
P.O.
Dear P.O.,
We are living in interesting times when you consider there are four or five generations working side-by-side in the workforce. Each generation has its own norms, beliefs and approaches and bridging communication is a current challenge that is only going to grow. In your specific case, you aren’t the boss so finding ways to build team and bring everyone together can’t be your goal individually.
You might start by adopting an air of curiosity with your boss – “As an older employee, I’m wondering who you are referring to when you talk about the company’s future? Do you mean to imply that people like me are not contributing or won’t be able to in the future?” Instead of being angry or defensive, you might pose questions like this that allow your boss to consider the impact his words are having. In many cases when people are offensive, especially to team members or employees they need to be successful, it’s a matter of ignorance, not intention. If you can call his attention to it, and possibly help him reflect on the impact, he might have an “a-hah!” reaction and recognize that what he is saying isn’t very useful to him.
Generally though, the best approach is to treat him like he is the boss – because he is. Treat him respectfully and offer your support. He is probably also struggling in his role to figure out the right balance between being directive and in charge, to being a team player. If he is considerably younger, he might be dealing with his own confidence issues. I have people tell me all the time they are happy to find themselves in management, but then realize how woefully unprepared they were for the role. Most organizations don’t do a good job of training or offering support to help their new managers navigate and rise to a leadership challenge. Try and understand his struggles and become a partner, or supporter to him instead of a detractor.
In most large organizations things move in cycles and someone today who is your boss, may be transferred or move out and on to a role in another firm. Try to see every relationship like this as temporary – it could be months, or years, but eventually things will shift. If you view it as impermanent you can be more objective and more conciliatory. I don’t mean, as I often say, you excuse bad behavior – use the questioning process to help him see the impact – but try and align with him more closely so you can get on his side of the table instead of approaching him as an adversary.
Good luck!
Dear Bev,
What are some of the best interview questions you have developed over your career? We need to update our process and have become stale in our approach.
David T.
Dear David,
The best interview questions are those that reveal the behaviors someone has taken to be successful (or not). When you focus solely on experience, someone can hide behind results that might not have been their own. For example a salesperson who says “I was able to beat first year goals by 35%” may not share that the firm had an excellent lead generation program and the portfolio managers came to every sales meeting as SME’s (Subject Matter Experts) and were the ones who actually won over the prospects. Yes, that salesperson was involved, but odds may have been in their favor to be successful given other factors.
I like questions such as:
- Tell me about the best boss you ever had. How did you interact and why did you enjoy working for him/her?
- Conversely tell me about the worst boss you ever had.
- Describe the kind of culture within which you thrive – why? What elements are most important to you?
- Describe a time you really felt stuck and were unsure what to do in your role. What did you do to become unstuck? Walk me through the process in detail.
- Tell me about your greatest work accomplishment. What exactly did you do – give me a window as if I were watching you go through the steps and stages to achieve success.
Try to avoid the earlier example of rehashing and also pat questions like “Where do you want to be in 5 years?” What does this really tell you about someone? It’s so easy to come up with a prepared response. Instead, ask questions that elicit deeper responses about who the person is, what they care about and how they have been successful. Be curious and follow up with another question whenever the candidate says something interesting you want to explore.
Too many people approach interviews as a check-the-box exercise. Treat it as a quest to learn as much as you can about not only the experiences of the person, but really what makes them tick.
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.
Read more articles by Beverly Flaxington