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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.
Dear Bev,
I work for a large organization undergoing a lot of change. I’m not in a leadership role, but I have been here for many decades. People come to me because they know they can trust me and I know my way around the company.
Recently, we have had a number of layoffs. Some were shocking, to be honest. It included people in senior roles who have been here for a long time. Everyone is scared and worried about “who is next?” Quite a few have come to me as if I have inside information, but even with as many people as I know, I have no idea what might be happening here next.
Is it appropriate for me to tell my coworkers to simply stop asking me because I don’t know what’s happening? I don’t want to be rude, but I am as scared as everyone else. I’m in a role that could easily be eliminated, and trying to be everyone’s cheerleader is wearing on me.
T.K.
Dear T.K.,
Your note takes me back to a situation I was in once: In my corporate career I was in a leadership role at one time, and had a number of people working for me. However, I had no power to influence the people above me who were making very poor decisions. People would stream in and out of my office every day asking me what I knew or asking me to intervene and do something. That was the most helpless experience I’ve ever had in my professional life. It is wearing and emotionally draining to go through that type of experience.
I believe your perspective is right in that it might be time for you to be less helpful to others and more focused on your own career and decisions. In situations like you describe, I never want anyone to feel overly alarmed. However, I do think it is smart to protect yourself by doing things like refreshing your resume, talking to people you trust in the industry to find out what other opportunities there are, reviewing LinkedIn job openings and so on.
This doesn’t mean you need to — or even should — jump, especially after the years you have invested in this company. It means you should remember there is another world outside and there are other companies and other roles. You might find something that better suits you if you look. Taking action also means you don’t feel as helpless and you are taking steps to position yourself well no matter what happens.
With your colleagues, I think you can be truthful. I might say something like: “The truth is I don’t know any more than anyone else around here, and I actually feel helpless myself. Having everyone ask me about what’s happening makes it worse for me. I would really appreciate it if we could talk about something else.”
Those are my words and are not meant to be a script for you. It’s just an example to give you an idea about how you could respond the next time a valued colleague puts you on the spot about what’s going on. Right now, you don’t want to burn any bridges anywhere, as you don’t know how things will unfold. Be professional and be kind. But you also have every right to set boundaries and to protect yourself!
Dear Bev,
I work in a small RIA firm with only 12 people. Our founder is a great guy — totally engaging, with a huge heart. The problem is that he moves at 100 miles an hour and neglects to fill the rest of us in on what’s going on. He just hired a new advisor, and no one on the team even knew we had a role to fill!
We are asked to onboard this advisor without understanding how she will be integrated and whether she will be working with our founder or with the other existing advisors. It’s maddening, because we all take our jobs very seriously and want to do our best work. However, with limited information we can make mistakes, and then our founder gets mad at us.
Is it possible to get someone like this to see he is making more trouble with his approach?
S.E.
Dear S.E.,
This is one of those scenarios I have seen dozens and dozens of times. Your founder is probably an entrepreneurial person wired to make changes, move quickly, be fearless and just get stuff done. He probably has many things on his desk at any given time and is finding new business and trying to grow the firm by hiring more advisors.
Unfortunately, the people who end up surrounding the entrepreneur are often those who need process, clarity on priorities, and information about what they need to do, when and how. It isn’t that there is anything wrong with either approach, but they are a bit like oil and water when working together. He wants the best out of all of you, but he isn’t approaching you in a way that sets you up for success to help him!
Your team might be served by running a profile called DISC (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Compliance) to see how you are the same (and different) behaviorally. I use this tool with every team who engages me. It’s often a game-changer, because it is an objective lens through which to view one another’s behavior. The process takes the judgement and accusations out of the discussion. You will need to find a coach or firm who distributes these, but a Google search in your local area should help with this.
Hopefully, you can help your leader see he isn’t getting what he needs because he isn’t collaborating and coordinating with all of you in a way that allows you to be the best you 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. 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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Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
