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 Readers,
When this column runs, I will be in Italy traveling and enjoying time with my youngest daughter, who is studying there. Because I won’t be home to take questions, I’m writing a column to address a very common topic that comes up with my advisor clients. Often when I do training or consulting to implement new ideas for growth and deepening relationships, advisors tell me they don’t have time to focus on what they need (and often want) to do.
Here are my best tips for finding time when you don’t think you have any:
1. Review your behavioral style to understand your areas of weakness when you get pressed for time and have too much to do. People who are quick to get tasks done often move too quickly and don’t focus on the details or the specifics. They end up re-doing work they could have done right the first time. Advisors who enjoy the talking and interacting part of client- or team-related work can lose track of time because they are just enjoying the engagement, leaving them less time to follow up and get things done. Advisors who prefer a strong process and like to accommodate when others need help can find themselves working longer hours to make sure everything is done to their satisfaction. Those who are rules- and detail-oriented might take too much time making sure everything is right. Of the four styles, all have a weakness when it comes to time management. Figure out yours and focus on shifting it.
2. Be sure goals are clearly defined and that you and your team members know what the priorities are that align with the goals. Too often advisors focus on the small stuff and lose sight of the overall objectives and outcomes. Whenever you are feeling entrenched in just too much stuff, pick up your head and remember where you are headed. Write it down. Communicate it. Return to it over and over again.
3. Put the right people in right roles. An advisor said to me today, “My partner thinks we should be able to do it all to be successful and I disagree.” This advisor was right. When I teach small business management, I underscore the importance of playing to your strengths. You must identify those things you are good at and focus on improving strengths rather than trying to be mediocre at things you don’t know how to do, don’t like to do and may never be good at. Doing things that you don’t have aptitude for takes longer because you have to get out of your comfort zone and shift your behavior. Find others who can handle the tasks you don’t like to, or want to, do.
4. Learn to chunk. Sometimes when I deliver training, advisors tell me this was one of the most important take-aways. Large tasks can sit on a to-do list because quite frankly they are daunting to address when so many other things are also floating around that need to get done. Review your to-do list and “chunk” any task that is more than two steps into its smallest form. Identify each of the individual pieces and then put them into a who/what/when/how/how much format so you can see them in small, bite-sized pieces. When you have the task chunked, you might find yourself with 15 extra minutes while you wait online for someone to join a meeting, and use that time to knock off a 15-minute chunk so you continue to make progress in increments.
5. Recognize the Zeigarnik effect. We have a tendency to focus on unfinished tasks much more than finished ones. When you feel time crunched, your mind will grab onto the lack of time, and all you have to do in the waning minutes, hours or days to get whatever is needed, done. Give yourself a break and list out at least once a day what you have accomplished. Remind yourself as often as possible, you are making progress.
6. Try the “one thing at a time” approach. I developed this years ago when my three children were small. I was running my business, teaching 2-3 classes every semester, doing volunteer work and spending time with family. There would be an endless list of things that just got longer and longer. Sometimes I would freeze, not knowing what to do next. I developed a mantra – “I can do one thing at a time, and right now I will focus on X.” It helped me to clear my mind of everything else and put my attention on the one thing. That allowed me to be more efficient and get more done too.
7. Don’t fall into the fallacy of multi-tasking. No, you cannot be as effective and efficient when you are listening to a podcast, responding to emails, texting your child and trying to set up a new CRM system. Sound crazy? Professionals do this all of the time – move from thing to thing or try to do too many things at once. Focus. Focus. Focus.
8. Complete a time-tracking spreadsheet at least twice a year, for two weeks back-to-back. Track in 15-minute increments to see what you are doing and where your time is going. Review after the end of the two weeks and categorize the red (Should not have been doing this!), yellow (Is there a better way to do this?) and the green (Right on!), so you can see how your time is spent, where it goes and how you can clearly try to shift some of your behaviors.
Hopefully some of these ideas will help you become more time efficient and personally productive!
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. 
