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 have a new team member who joined during COVID. He is a fairly new college graduate, around 24-years old. There are some basic things we expect from him in his capacity supporting us in operations –responding to emails from the partners or coming to a Zoom discussion dressed appropriately (he often joins wearing a no-sleeve gym t-shirt). Once on Zoom, he took a call from a friend. He didn’t mute fast enough and we heard him say “Yuh, I’ll be there Saturday night – looking forward to it with all of youse.”
He doesn’t use poor grammar with us, but confirming a night out with friends while we were on a call was out of line.
One of our senior partners, a woman with a son around his age, spoke with him. He told her he’d never learned good business etiquette and so this was all new to him. He promised her he was going to “try harder to follow the rules” and she is now his biggest supporter.
However, for the rest of us, nothing has changed. Our clients are mostly all retired or older. They come from a time period of grace, class and sophistication. Most get on Zoom meetings dressed up as if they are going to an elegant dinner party. I realize his role is mostly behind the scenes, but it worries me if he is on the phone with any of our clients, or joining a Zoom call, that he won’t have enough sense to be thoughtful about how it comes across.
Is this the new generation? They don’t care about communication, dress codes or being polite? We need to uphold standards in our firm. I don’t particularly want to know what “youse” is doing over the weekend but I believe we do have a right to insist what goes on in our workplace.
H.D.
Dear H.D.,
In the conversation your senior partner had with this young man, I’ll call him “Mark” to make it easy to respond, did she lay out specifically what the requirements for “business etiquette” are in your firm? Do you have a written dress code? Have you set ground rules for communication standards in your firm? I know you might say someone should just know – and perhaps Mark should be savvy enough not to be doing the things you are pointing out here – but if there are no clear standards, in writing, who is to say what is acceptable behavior and what’s not?
Did the senior partner who spoke with Mark put any follow-up plans in place? Is there a check-in to gauge how Mark is doing and whether he is making the shift your team members require? Is there a consequence for Mark if he does not adhere to the standards your firm upholds?
And, to answer your question directly, no, this younger generation does not reject dress codes, communication standards and other firm requirements. I teach undergraduate and graduate (mostly young 20’s) students every semester. I find them to care a great deal about the requirements set forth. If we have presentations and they are required to dress up, they come in professional attire. However, if there are not standards set, then many people – older ones as well – make whatever choices they deem best.
Mark might think wearing his workout shirt with internal team members is fine – perhaps he finds time to work out during the day and doesn’t see the need to dress up for the call. I don’t know the dress of everyone else but if you are wearing a golf shirt, or some other casual attire, he might believe that’s your choice for workout gear!
What you raised needs to be addressed. I agree some of these things are basic business etiquette, but I also know many assumptions get made by firms about what people “should do” or how they “should be.” It’s frustrating to stay with the “should” approach because you can want, and wish and hope, but the behavior doesn’t change.
Many people need the clear carrot and stick to make behavioral shifts. There needs to be clear guidelines and then reinforcement of these guidelines. There should be clear next steps to take and follow-ups in place.
Perhaps you have done this, but if not, it would be the best first step to take. You didn’t mention Mark’s performance. If this is also lacking it might be time for a performance management plan. If he is a strong performer but is missing some of this basic etiquette, that’s a bigger deal and needs to be managed very closely.
In any event, until you see changes happening, make sure he isn’t communicating directly with your clients!
Dear Bev,
I know last week you received notes from young advisors asking for additional mentoring and coaching. I read it a couple of times wondering if it was someone on my own team. As an older advisor I get a bit irritated by the younger advisors we have because they never speak up in meetings, they don’t offer to run financial plans for our clients, and they don’t take initiative with helping out with client accounts.
My sense is they wait until we ask for something. There is always a lot of cross-communication between them, but not much to us. Isn’t it a two-way street? Isn’t there an expectation that they will also talk to us and let us know what’s needed?
How do you get someone to be proactive and responsive?
J.H.
Dear J.H.,
Start by letting the someone know you would like them to be proactive and responsive and then you could go further by defining exactly what proactive and responsive looks like to you. It’s interesting to me how often people will be frustrated by one another – this person wants something from that person, and vice versa but they don’t actually talk about what they want, and what their expectations might be.
That was the point of last week’s reader – wondering how to broach the topic with the older advisor. In your case, you are the more senior, seasoned person. If there is some behavior or set of behaviors you want to see from your younger advisor, outline specifically what these are for him/her.
As I said in my previous column here this week, so many assumptions get made that someone should know something, or “just do it” without the prodding or the clarity about what’s required. I think when you get into a senior role you tend to forget you are much more aware of what is happening in the firm, what’s needed, what steps there are to take and so on. It’s not a mind-meld where the senior leaders’ observations are immediately going to be planted in the mind of the junior person. And people are wired differently, what might be obvious to you might need to be laid out as a clear and precise process for your junior person. He or she perhaps needs the roadmap and the clear plan.
I don’t mean to pick words but your note even says, “My sense is….” meaning that you aren’t sure why they are acting in the manner they are. Whenever we observe behavior that we don’t like or don’t understand, we should take the time to try and see what’s underneath that behavior? The why behind the what.
Have an open conversation with your younger team members. Lay out exactly what’s expected. Develop the plan and roadmap so the steps are clear. Measure how they are doing and give them feedback on a regular basis. If then they still don’t step up and do what’s required, you have a bigger problem but give them the chance to see what’s needed, and act on it.
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.
Beverly Flaxington is a practice management consultant. She answers questions from advisors facing human resource issues. To submit yours, email us here. 
