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,
My advisors need coaching. We have advisors who are very successful but they don’t follow our firm’s process and create difficulty for our internal staff. How do you push someone who is doing well – from a financial and “numbers” perspective – to do things differently? The response is, “Why should I change?” What are your secrets to get people to change behavior?
K.R.
Dear K.R.,
Talk about a loaded question – if I gave you my secrets, they would not be secret anymore. Truthfully, this is an ongoing challenge for even the best coaches.
I often use the analogy that most change-management processes require a person to say at the outset, “I have a problem” or “I have something I want to change.” If a person doesn’t admit there is something wrong, they won’t be willing to focus on what needs to be different. It’s hard enough for human beings to make shifts and next to impossible if they don’t see the need or aren’t willing to try something new.
I often encounter the dynamic you described. This is an industry where people can get paid very, very well and many times don’t practice the fundamentals you might want to see – or read about in the bestselling business books. Some advisors are poor at communication – they do well at asset-based pricing, but are poor at business development – they have clients or COIs who refer friends and family members. Some aren’t good with internal teams – their clients still love them and pay the fees. The behaviors might not be what you as a leader want to see, but it is hard to argue with the successful outcomes they are experiencing.
That said, you will have to find some ways to insert a carrot and/or a stick if you want to see this behavior change. You need to answer his question, “Why should I change?” and have an answer that is motivating or fear-inducing to him. Humans generally have a hard time making change happen – we seek stasis. To get someone to move, it has to hurt or be attractive enough to do so.
Define what’s wrong. You say he creates difficulty for internal staff but what is the result of his behavior? I always think impact – what’s the harm someone is causing and how specific can you get in outlining the impact? He may think you are overreacting, or saying things the rest of the staff doesn’t agree with so you need to be crystal clear. “When you do this, this is what happens to the team, and to our clients and to the bottom line.” Make a connection between his behavior and outcomes otherwise it is – in his view – probably just your opinion there is a problem.
Before you do any of this, make sure you have a problem. Make sure the team isn’t being overly tough on him because they just don’t like him or he doesn’t play by their rules. In many cases it is not really a problem; it is a like-versus-dislike situation. As the leader you want to wade through and make sure you are solving a problem that actually exists.
Dear Bev,
I have an opportunity to write for a local periodical on retirement issues. The editor is being very specific about the topics he wants – very narrowly focused in my opinion. I believe I can add value by writing more broadly and covering more areas of interest – including the emotional aspects of retiring. He sees this as “fluff” and wants me to bring my technical skills to bear.
Will I lose credibility with my audience in doing this? Can I incorporate some of my personal ideas and combine it with technical areas of focus?
T.T.
Dear T.T.,
Yes and yes!
The articles will be your thought leadership, views and expertise. The editor is probably communicating what he might hear from readers and what he believes is most important. But he isn’t the expert – you are. Stand firm and let him know you are going to write about technical pieces, but you will also be incorporating some of the other things you know to be important.
You could ask him to “test” it – let you write the way you want to write and see how the readers respond. I’m going to guess you will find an interested audience with the direction you are taking. In this business you can’t really separate the technical from the emotional and behavioral. They are both important elements so find ways to weave them both in together.
Eventually he will see how much better this approach can be!
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 and graduate students Entrepreneurship and 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 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. 
