How to Maximize the Benefits of a Coach

Dear R.T.,

Thank you for your feedback – I do hear this a lot. We tend to do things differently than most others in our industry. I think it has to do with a deep understanding of the human factor and how it integrates into everything. To that end, I’ll share some of our best secrets. Hopefully this will provide the guidance you need to implement effectively. It sounds like you have two objectives: to hire the right coach and to have an ongoing program to reinforce what you have learned and what you want your advisors to do. I’ll take each one separately:

In choosing the right coach:

1. No coach is going to be able to work well with your team unless you are very clear about expected outcomes. What will success look like in working with the coach? I can’t count the number of times my team has been asked to begin coaching someone while the success definition has remained vague. Write out your quantitative and qualitative objectives and when and how you will measure these during the process.
2. Be sure you have a cultural fit and it isn’t just the hiring person who likes the coach. You want them to understand your advisors and their style and approach. Therefore, it’s important to allow your advisors to be involved in the process and to “interview” the person to ensure the match is a good one. Having someone who has been approved by your team is critical.
3. Be careful about having your coach become too involved and too engaged in the dynamics and inner workings of your firm. This is what I call the “gossip-coach.” Coaches can try and embed themselves so they are almost like an employee of the firm. Depending on the objectives, this can be difficult to navigate because they start to make assumptions about team members and can lose their objectivity. The coach should know what’s happening in the firm and should work closely with your management but should stay agnostic and objective in each and every interaction with team members.

For ongoing sustainability:

1. For any learning experiences to work, especially if they involve behavior change, you must weave them into your culture. This means adding a discussion to an agenda for a weekly meeting; or having a once per month get-together where you review progress; or sending out questions and updates on a regular basis. When it comes to behavior change, the old adage about “one and done” just does not work! You want to find ways to make the ongoing support feel like part of the day-to-day.
2. Consider implementing an effort toward storytelling in the firm for keeping the ideas alive and reinforced. Ask an advisor once per month to tell a story about a client they helped. But instead of just having them share the story, ask them to break down the steps and align what they did with the new behaviors you are working to implement. Make the connection clear.
3. Have ongoing brown bag lunch sessions whereby team members share insights and ideas about how they are implementing the new concepts. Make it casual and conversational rather than feeling like a training exercise. This can also help to keep the ideas top of mind and team members engaged.

It all requires a focus, but more importantly it requires doing something! Put just a few steps in place, and see whether the new ideas start to take hold. Commitment to the change is important.

Dear Bev,

Our senior leader (call him “Jim”) has been working with a coach (call her “Mel”) for two years now. Mel just asked us all to participate in a 360 survey focused on him. [A 360 survey is an evaluation process that asks peers, team members and upward/downward reporting lines to provide input on the strengths and areas for improvement of the person being assessed.]

Jim has a very high opinion of himself and believes he is always right. He only has a coach to validate what he believes to be true about himself. Mel has joined our meetings and frequently will try to explain Jim’s view of how we are changing our financial planning approach or what we need to do to improve client engagement. She has become his translator, because he is also a poor communicator.

The issue is that we don’t want to participate in this process. There are only seven of us in the firm who would be included, and we are fearful we are going to get vilified by both Jim and Mel for saying what we observe. We would not have a lot of positive things to say about Jim. But we all love our jobs; we adore our clients; and we like working here otherwise. Should we approach Mel about this? She doesn’t want to lose a well-paying gig I’m sure, so she won’t rock the boat with Jim. However, we want to push back on this idea.

Anonymous

Dear Anonymous,

I will share the positive aspects of what’s happening here: Mel obviously knows you and the other six people have some important insights to share, and she is seeking these to help in the coaching with Jim. Jim has to have agreed to the 360 and might also be open to hear the feedback directly. He has a coach who can help him wade through the assessment and help shift behavior where necessary. Jim might even recognize his limitations. If he is a person with a big ego but is letting Mel “translate” for him, he might want to understand how to get better.

I would not avoid the opportunity to participate in this process. I would engage, be honest and let Mel handle any fallout that comes from it. All seven of you are likely not going to be fired if the results are unpleasant! I think any leader who is willing to seek input and ask how they are doing is showing their team they do care about what they think. Reframe this and accept it as a positive invitation.

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. The firm has won the Wealthbriefing WealthTech award for Best Training Solution for 2022, 2023 and 2024. Beverly is currently an adjunct professor at Suffolk University teaching undergraduate and graduate students Entrepreneurship and Leading Teams. She 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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