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,
We are grooming three young people to be successors to our founder. He (the founder) keeps telling me that they don’t display the right leadership characteristics. As COO of the firm, I am charged with their career path and preparing them for future leadership roles. But when I push him to clarify what leadership characteristics they need, I get vague answers. Can you give me some guidance? These are CFP®s, well educated (two have graduate degrees) and are all excellent with clients. What other things should we be expecting of them?
L.S.
Dear L.S.,
Your founder’s feedback goes in the category of “Do it like I do it,” “Just show more enthusiasm” or “You don’t talk enough!” This type of feedback is very hard to implement because you don’t know exactly what the person wants you to do differently. It’s amorphous and clear only in the mind of the person giving the admonitions!
Do you believe the founder is a good leader? Is he hoping one of these three, or all of them, will do it like he does it? Are there specific things he thinks helped him to succeed that he wants them to imitate or practice?
I would probe him and see if you can get him to define what he is hoping to see that’s not there now. Try and help him be granular – give examples – or ask him for a specific scenario where they might do something “leader-like.” I can give you my view on what makes a great leader but you will need to get inside your founder’s head to understand what he needs to see if you want these folks to be successful.
In addition, consider some of the following that I consider to be key leadership traits:
- They possess the ability to communicate effectively both in writing and verbally. True leaders are able to take ideas, concepts and vision and communicate them in a clear and concise way so their constituents can “see” and experience the vision. They paint pictures of the way it could be, and they are able to communicate these to everyone on the team.
- They know how to translate a vision and get team members working together in order to implement it. It’s not enough to just have an idea or a creative thought. Leaders need to have a clear idea about how things can get done. They choose the right people to implement, and they delegate activities – they don’t look over the shoulders and criticize, but rather empower and support.
- They take an interest in the business beyond what it takes to get the day-to-day work done. It’s not enough for a leader to do what needs to be done; they are always learning and exploring and thinking about what’s next. They are ardent students of the business they lead. Earning CE credits is not enough; leaders are always looking out to see what else they can learn and understand.
- They know their own strengths and areas for improvement and they play to those strengths. Leaders don’t waste time doing things at which they aren’t really good. Rather they focus on those areas that contribute the most to the firm and those around them. They outsource, hire or find ways to support the areas they are weak and build a strong team to complement them.
- They support their team. They don’t disparage or gossip. When someone needs to be terminated, they do so but those who are chosen to stay are supported and embraced. True leaders give their team members every opportunity to improve and play significant roles.
I’m not sure whether any of these things are germane to your firm and your founder but they could provide a basis for a discussion with your founder on the activities and approaches he’d like to see from this trio.
Dear Bev,
I’m trying to get my advisors to stop wasting their time on smaller accounts. We have a model portfolio that is well-run and perfect for accounts under $1 million. Why won’t they use it? Fear?
A.H.
Dear A.H.,
Why don’t human beings generally do the things they know they are supposed to do? People for the most part are wired to reject change. Most people only embrace change when they can see a clear path for doing so.
Is it possible you haven’t communicated exactly what your advisors need to do to transition their clients? Could they be struggling with how to communicate the change to clients, or worried about the client feeling rejected or thinking the firm no longer supports them?
Are there compensation issues for moving these clients? One firm I worked with recently wanted to make a change to “free up” their advisors to spend more time on sales, but in the mean time moving the clients to an other smaller accounts group meant they were taking a pay hit. The future grass might look green but the current state didn’t look so good.
Be sure you have created a process and implementation plan for making this change, you’ve crafted a good story to tell the clients that your advisors can say with confidence and that you aren’t penalizing your advisors for doing the very thing you are asking of them.
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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