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,
I have an employee who is a strong performer but she has a very annoying habit of chewing on her nails. She does not just bite them, she actually gnaws on them in meetings, in one-on-one interactions and sitting in her cubicle. A number of people have mentioned something to me and I have, in a joking sense, suggested she needs to get herself chewing gum. She just says, “It’s a nervous habit” and then goes on doing it. Do I have a right to insist she stop?
We sit in front of clients who have multiple millions invested with us and most are too polite to say anything. But I can tell they notice. I haven’t had a client complain but do I want to run the risk she will annoy one of them? I’m an older man and she is a younger woman and I don’t know how to approach this.
S.K.
Dear S.K.,
Ah, the joys of being the boss! I’d suggest you hand this off to your HR group, but you are probably like most of my advisor clients and don’t have someone officially assigned to HR. This is a delicate issue but it does need to be addressed. Whenever you need to address something that is serious, you don’t want to approach it in a joking manner. It lets the other person off the hook and they don’t need to respond seriously, if you are not taking it serious.
In the case of nail biting, this is a habit that has deep psychological roots. Nail biting is often an obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and not just a nasty habit. She is probably telling you the truth when she says she is “nervous,” as it can also be a sign of anxiety or worry.
But you can’t let it continue. It is distracting and it sends a poor message to clients, and to employees. There are a few things you can do:
- Have a formal meeting with her. No joking and no kidding. Explain to her, from the seat of the client, that her habit detracts from how intelligent she comes across. Try and get her to see what the experience is like on the other side of the table. Explain that any habit – feet tapping, pencil chewing, nail biting, excessive sniffling, etc. can distract an audience such that they cease to focus on what’s important and focus only on the habit. Maybe if she understands what it is like on the “outside,” she will be more conscious of it.
- Let her know you care about her and have read up on nail biting. You’ve seen that it can be a response to worry or anxiety (don’t accuse her of being OCD, which requires a medical diagnosis) and ask her if there is anything you can to help alleviate her stress by providing her with a coach, or a shorter work day from time to time, or help with time management. You might first have to ask her about obstacles and what she perceives as stressful in order to help manage it.
- Buy her a product for nail biting. These can be found at local pharmacies. You could give this to her when meeting and ask her to try using it for a few days.
- Create a plan with her for meetings. When she starts to nail bite, have a signal you both agree on such as clearing your throat or stepping on her foot (gently!) under the table. Sometimes the habit is so ingrained, something needs to happen to break the cycle.
This all presumes she admits this is a difficult habit and is willing to do something about it. I don’t know what role she plays in your advisory firm, but if she isn’t willing to try and correct this you might have to keep her out of some client meetings. It sounds a bit like Russian roulette right now as to when a client will get irritated and complain so it’s risky to keep ignoring it.
Dear Bev,
We just lost a client due to performance. The overall portfolio was doing pretty well, but relative to the benchmark we were using, which wasn’t apples-to-apples in comparison, the numbers were weak.
We are a planning firm and don’t sell what we do based on performance. But we do need to show clients how they fare and compare this to a benchmark. The client was large and so it has ignited a conversation in our firm about how we display performance and whether we should change our reports and approach.
Even though we talk full-service planning, clients focus on their numbers – not just numbers against goals but numbers against benchmarks. Could we do a better job of explaining why the benchmark isn’t apples-to-apples? Would this make a difference?
T.F.
Dear T.F.,
One of the things I enjoy most about the financial business is that it is complex and challenging. One of the things I like least about the financial business is, well, the same. When it comes to clients, advisors will either err on the side of providing too much hard-to-understand information or too little.
It is time to talk about risk-adjusted returns with your clients. It sounds like you are showing only the performance, the numbers side-by-side but are you discussing the risk aspects with your clients? For example, if you know a client is risk adverse are you able to share the standard deviation of the benchmark versus their portfolio (assuming of course, the benchmark is riskier!) and explain that you’re doing better than their benchmark when risk is considered. Sophisticated clients will get it, but even those who are wary of financial terms, or have a hard time grasping difficult concepts can learn if you explain information to them in a lay-person’s manner.
The other thing you could think about doing is removing the benchmarks altogether – especially if your performance measurement system can’t portray a blended benchmark specific to a client’s asset allocation. I know some clients want to see their performance measured against something, but isn’t the main “measurement” their own goals as you note? Wouldn’t it make sense to create some sort of growth chart that shows where they need to be to reach their objectives, and where they are today and projections about what return they need to have each year to accomplish their objectives? The only real “measurement” is against what they want and need. Are they on track or off track?
If you are truly a planning-oriented firm, I side with the portion of your team questioning the value of providing a benchmark. It may not be an accurate depiction and may be creating negative flags for clients you don’t want them to wave!
Beverly Flaxington co-founded The Collaborative, a consulting firm devoted to business building for the financial services industry in 1995. In 2008, she co-founded Advisors Trusted Advisor to offer dedicated practice management resources to advisors, planners and wealth managers. She is currently an adjunct professor at Suffolk University teaching undergraduate students Leadership & Social Responsibility. 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.
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