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,
You facilitated an offsite for a firm where I used to work. We made a lot of progress and identified some good next steps. I joined a new firm about 14 months ago and we are talking about having an offsite. The partners want to do it internally. I have suggested using an outside facilitator because I saw the benefit first hand.
If we do an offsite on our own, can you share any tips about how to make it most effective? Over my career I have been to a number of these where we have fun but nothing happens next, and other times when we talked about many things but didn’t do anything. We are all very busy and I’m not looking forward to spending a day or more without a benefit to me and the firm. Thanks for any ideas or direction you can offer.
T.F.
Dear T.F.,
I’m glad you had a positive experience with your prior firm. Facilitation and running offsites for client firms is one of the most fun and fulfilling things I do. But, yes, you can run an effective one on your own. Here are some ideas to make it an enjoyable and beneficial experience:
1. Have stated goals at the outset and get all participants to agree to them. Is the purpose just “to bond” or have fun? Is the purpose to set goals for the upcoming year or to create an implementation plan to meet goals that have been set? Be clear about what success will look like to the team as a result of spending the time together. The more specific you can be, the easier it is to drive to the hoped-for outcomes.
2. If you insert teambuilding activities, tie them back to something. I’ve spent far too much of my career doing things that are “fun” in the interest of teambuilding, but afterwards the team still has many of the same issues or obstacles and the brief break for fun has not solved anything. While I am a behaviorist and I enjoy fun as much as the next person, I’m also a business person and believe anytime you ask people to devote time to something there should be a clear payoff. If your goal is fun, then by all means pick activities that are fun. But if your goal is deeper and more business-related, make sure the breakouts and teambuilding connect back those goals. Exercises in working together, listening and learning about different communication styles can be useful and practical. Some groups benefit from working together for a charitable endeavor and giving back to their community – this could be part of your core values and can be a nice way to engage.
3. Have an agenda. Stick to the agenda as much as possible. People like to know what to expect. They need to know what time to allocate to each activity. Conversations can veer way off at offsites where people become unusually talkative, so it is important to time-bound sections so you can get folks back on track and ensure the topics get covered. You can always do the old consultant trick of creating a “parking lot” to put issues you aren’t able to address so people know you take them seriously but you don’t spend the time covering them.
4. Assign a note taker! This is an overlooked, yet important role. Make sure someone takes notes on poster paper for everyone to see, but also make sure someone is capturing separate notes for follow ups. Have this person confirm, out loud, any agreed-upon next steps.
5. On the topic of next steps, make sure you have some that are specific and owned by individuals with dates and timelines. This is the number one complaint I hear from people who spend their time at offsites – there are no specific next steps. Be sure to have some, with check-ins established, and you will find people very receptive when you talk about your next offsite.
On the other hand, if you decide you want a great, facilitated offset at a reasonable cost, give me a call.
Dear Bev,
We need branding past our founder. He is “Mr. Everything” for our firm. Every time we try to define our value proposition, it is all about how he came from nothing, became an entrepreneur and wants to help others succeed financially too. We agree with the mission, but we’d like to have our own way of telling the story. Is this common with advisory firms and how do we move past it to make our story and branding more inclusive so we all believe we are part of it?
S.F.
Dear S.F.,
This is a common issue for many advisory firms where the leader/founder/creator is the firm. They may have their name in the firm title and have grown the firm telling their own personal story over and over for many years (sometimes decades!). Their values, investment approach and way of managing client relationships is the foundation for the firm. They don’t see a negative disconnect between their and the firm’s stories.
Practice adopting some of the points your founder makes that you can own. For example, why did you join the firm? What about the way they serve clients and do business were inviting to you? Examine whether, after being there for a while, there are company values in which you believe. How do these play out day-to-day and with clients? What stories can you tell about working with clients that are yours, or general stories about the firm?
Rather than try and get the founder to see that he needs to expand his approach, find ways you can embrace what’s being done today and make it your own. The founder’s story may still resonate with others. But develop and tell your own stories too – and align them to the firm’s overall values and business approach.
Beverly Flaxington co-founded The Collaborative, a consulting firm devoted to business building for the financial services industry in 1995. The firm also founded and manages the Advisors Sales Academy. She is currently an adjunct professor at Suffolk University teaching undergraduate students Entrepreneurship. 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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Beverly Flaxington is a practice management consultant. She answers questions from advisors facing human resource issues. To submit yours, email us here. 
