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 holding a client event and our focus is on climate change and what each person can do to help. We have a couple of speakers (current clients of ours) who are doing some interesting things with recyclable materials and minimizing waste. Our whole team has been really excited and engaged. We try to “live our values” and this seemed like an important topic but also something fun. I don’t want to share more details here because it is our proprietary approach but suffice to say we were really thoughtful and have worked to make it an interesting event.
The problem is a couple of my team members have chosen to make this about politics. One is talking about resigning because the participants are not aligned with his political beliefs and another is literally not speaking to most of the people involved in planning this event. They are both in roles where we didn’t need to consult with them in the planning so they weren’t involved in the decision.
My event planner is completely ticked off about being pigeon-holed and called names. The event is about to come off the rails because of the infighting.
As leader of the firm, I’m not sure what to do. I didn’t see this as political and a number of our team members who are very involved are actually not “lefties,” so it is not politically motivated. The event was supposed to raise awareness, give clients some good ideas about what they can do and, most importantly, showcase a couple of our clients who are doing some unique things. Our team and clients are looking forward to participating and I don’t want to tell them the whole thing is off.
Is there a way to bring about peace and have this event still work? I am truly shocked this erupted like it did when we were just looking for a way to have some fun and do something important.
I.C.
Dear I.C.,
Yes, we are living in an age where everything seems to be a political hotbed and every move you make gets interpreted as taking sides. Throw in the fact that the current president has raised $500k by selling plastic straws to discredit “liberal paper straws” (his words, not mine), and you can see why your event might be considered as political.
That said, you talk about trying to live your “values” so I assume there is an aspect of this event that was meaningful to some people in your firm. I don’t know if living your values is offering tips on helping with climate change and caring about the environment or on showcasing your clients. But, in any event, you did this because it was meaningful to your team.
Don’t cancel the event because of two people who are miffed about it. But this represents an opportunity to do a few things:
- Call your team into a room together and reiterate the importance of client events, the goal of showcasing what your clients are doing and the enthusiastic response (assuming you have received it) from clients who plan to attend. Explain to everyone that the purpose is to have fun and engage with clients in a unique way and that any infighting or finger pointing internally has to stop because it is unproductive for everyone.
- Focus on the entrepreneurial aspect at the event – the two new ideas you are showcasing and applaud the work your clients are doing to find answers and make change happen.
- The next time you plan an event, socialize it with everyone in your firm! Involve these two folks who would not normally have been involved to show you are being inclusive and taking everyone’s ideas into account.
- When hiring people, be clear about the values your firm holds near and dear. Clarify what these values are and make sure you are communicating these when hiring and reiterate them to team members. It sounds like there is a disconnect between team members and mismatched cultural norms could be the source of this.
These are interesting times for sure and these disagreements seem to pop up everywhere no matter how well-intended one is.
Dear Bev,
What do you do when the leader of your firm isn’t honest with people? He tells one person one thing, because that is what they want to hear; then someone else goes in and he tells them something entirely different because that is what they want to hear. Getting a decision made is next to impossible – we call it the “last person in” syndrome. He isn’t a bad guy. He is too nice but his approach makes coming to a decision next to impossible on many topics.
T.N.
Dear T.N.,
The number one reason any 12-step program asks you to admit, at the outset, that you have a problem is because if you don’t admit it, you won’t take the steps to change. I say this because you reflect that your leader is not honest with people and changes his mind. But does he believe this is true? You talk about how hard it is to make decisions, but would your leader agree? I’m not saying that your observations are wrong. But if the person in charge does not see there is a problem, you likely aren’t going to get very far.
Gather people together separately when you need to make decisions. Some teams get around this dynamic (and it is not an uncommon one) by delivering a final decision to their leader that everyone has already agreed upon. If you all can reach consensus and he doesn’t see himself in tie-breaker mode or having to choose sides, you might get more productive answers.
The problem is likely behavioral and not malicious. Some leaders are just happy people who can get engaged and enjoy what they are hearing. It’s possible he hears a new idea or has someone point out something he hadn’t thought of before and he truly changes his mind as a result. He might have positive intent but negative outcomes. Approach him with this in mind and you will likely get further than showing him how negatively his approach is impacting the firm.
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 and graduate students Leading Teams. 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.
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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. 
