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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 Readers,
I recently had a thought-provoking experience with one of my favorite advisors, whom I’ve coached for several years now. He was reticent for so long to get into meetings with me because he absolutely, positively does not consider himself to be a “salesperson.” Frankly, I wish we could just stop using salesy language in our industry, because it causes more problems than it solves. But that’s an article for another day!
Now that I have won him over, we have a great time in our meetings. We might first share a few minutes of personal exchanges — he often has a great client story to tell me — and then we get into what we’re there to do. Usually, that is talk about growth activities, how they are faring, and where he might need some support.
In our most recent meeting, he had a couple of really interesting client stories that were relevant to growth because of the introductions he has received. He then noticed the time and said, “We have to start talking about my other growth activities — I don’t want to disappoint you.”
Think about the weight of the end of that sentence: He doesn’t want to disappoint me. This is a very successful advisor with numerous credentials to his name who has been doing this work for quite some time. He doesn’t want to disappoint me?
An Accountability Partner Is a ‘Must Have’
When I reflected on what he meant, I thought about the importance of having an accountability partner in whatever we do, but especially in things we are not particularly fond of doing that nevertheless will move us further along in our career. We all have them — the things we know that we should do but week after week don’t end up doing.
Think about the success of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or Weight Watchers, or any program where someone is stuck and really needs to change their behavioral approach. I’m not suggesting that learning how to sell is as difficult as overcoming an addiction, but these programs have an important component (in addition to forcing someone to admit they have a problem). That component is the buddy system. The participant knows there is someone there who cares about them and wants them to succeed.
This client — let’s call him “Scott” — knows I am in his corner. We celebrate together; I support his efforts; and I want him to win just as much as he does. He doesn’t want to disappoint me. That’s not because I hold any “stick” over him but because he knows I care about him and want him to succeed.
I’m not just advocating for coaching in this column right now. Rather, I am advocating for having a plan that team members know about, and making sure that the person who is supposed to follow through on that plan is accountable to someone for it.
Feedback: Harder Than It Looks
Instructing managers on how to provide feedback to their reports is probably one of the hardest concepts to teach. Managers will often say they don’t have the time to give feedback, so they delay doing it. Once they have the meeting and the employee has agreed to take certain steps, there has to be a plan of action put in place with markers for success.
The manager must find ways to follow through on what has been discussed. Only then can the coached person know that their manager cares and is working with them to bring about behavioral change. Having calendared check-ins and not cancelling them for any reason is key.
Those who read my column regularly know I write about my firm’s SHIFT Model. The last step is “T,” for “take disciplined action.” I consistently observe teams having great discussions about what they want to do, and maybe even how they will do it. However, I rarely get to see them following through on crucial components of the plan: Who, what, when, how much, obstacles etc.
I recently spoke with a team that had spent time together at an offsite. This is a team with over $10 million in revenue, so they command an expensive hourly rate. They told me they had great dialogue and I asked to see the commitments they made, as well as the next steps they would take. I also asked who was in charge of accountability. However, no commitments, next steps, or accountability assignments had been made. Unfortunately, talking about things without then moving to clear next steps with accountability built in isn’t worth the breath it takes.
Take the Time to Do It Correctly
Many teams and firms I work with are running at one million miles an hour. They are busy and just managing to cover the bases for everything they need to do. If you want to make change happen in the midst of the running, you must be able to clarify what that change needs to be, what behavioral steps you need to take to get there, and who is going to be your accountability partner for the process.
It’s human nature to want to default to what we’ve done and what we are comfortable with. Scott never wanted to engage in growth discussions with me in the first place. We worked hard together to forge a relationship where (I hope) he knows I would never berate him, but instead try to get him on the right track. It’s important that whoever you choose for an accountability partner does not consider their role to be punitive. You don’t want them to simply point out all the ways you are falling short of your goals!
If you are in that role, you instead can gently redirect, offer ideas to help someone get unstuck, or share options that you’ve used in the past for them consider. However, if you just tell them they are not hitting the mark, they likely never will.
Key Steps to Take
For your team or firm, consider the following:
- Be sure your goals — both quantitative and qualitative — are clear overall, and then assign tasks to individuals on your team so they know what actions they need to take to achieve those goals.
- Help each team member identify gaps and areas of focus where they need to make changes to become the best they can be at their role.
- Have them, possibly with your assistance, create a plan of action for what they need to do to implement these changes. Write this plan down!
- Gain commitment on check-ins and how you will ensure progress is made.
Upon reflection, I actually thought it was a huge compliment that Scott would care about disappointing me. I believe this means we have a strong relationship and are both operating with care to get him to where he and his firm need to 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, 2024, 2025 and 2026. Beverly is currently an adjunct professor at Suffolk University teaching Executive MBA students Leadership and Managing 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.