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,
Our advisory firm is neither huge nor small. The more we’ve grown, the more our partners think it is important to communicate with everyone about what’s happening. I’m all for open communication, but this has turned into meeting after meeting to talk about what we’re doing, why we’re doing it and then the results of what we’re doing.
Sometimes I think we’ve forgotten we have clients to serve and all we do is talk about what we are going to do to serve them. I am not a negative person so I don’t speak up in these meetings and ask why we are there. But it has gotten out of hand. Why not make these meetings optional? Or consolidate them? Is this the byproduct of growth and I just need to resign myself to sitting and listening for hours while I really should be working?
S.T.
Dear S.T.,
Meeting mania. It’s pervasive in the largest of organizations and even the small ones. Often times when I facilitate executive or team meetings to achieve goals and we talk about obstacles, the biggest one is “time.” Then when I drill down on the time factor, I find so much of it is spent in meeting, upon meeting, upon meeting.
It sounds like your partners have a good objective, but poor execution in how they are managing the communication. Not everyone is auditory, so when everything is delivered via talking, not every member of the team understands. The key is to deliver communication in a variety of modes so everyone’s learning style is touched.
You don’t mention in your note whether you have influence and power to change this dynamic. You say you don’t speak up in the meetings but don’t note whether you have tried appealing to your partners to help them consider a different approach. I’ll assume you need some guidance on how to do that so here are a few tips on creating an effective meeting culture in your firm:
- Start by asking them the objective of the meetings. If it is to communicate updates and changes, then point out the issue around learning style and ask if they could take a more combined approach to communication. Could some things be done via meeting, like when important changes are being rolled out and the partners need buy-in, but others sent via email such as financials or updates on progress? Or maybe there is a core group who meets and then has responsibility to communicate to the rest of the team. Give them some ideas to accomplish the same goal, but adding different elements to the process while minimizing the meeting time.
- Give feedback on how to hold better meetings. Make sure there is a desired outcome set at the beginning so everyone knows what the meeting is expected to do. This goes beyond an agenda (although an agenda is necessary too) – this is more about the “walk away.” What do the partners want people to walk away doing, knowing etc. as a result of the meeting?
- Make sure there is prep and follow up to the meeting. People should know what is going to be discussed, their role and what they need to do to prepare. Notes should be sent as a follow up. Sometimes more meetings are held because what’s been decided is not captured and disseminated to the team. Don’t pile on meetings when the notes could be sufficient.
- Consider shorter meetings and stand-up meetings. If your meetings are currently an hour, for example, ask the partners if they could schedule them for 40 minutes to give enough time, but then have time back at your desk for 20 minutes worth of work. Stand-up meetings are good because people don’t get comfy sitting at the table but rather are ready to walk out as soon as the meeting is over (except the note-taker; that person should sit and finalize the notes!) Deliberating scheduling less time can force the leaders of the meeting to be more efficient and succinct.
It’s possible your partners realize the meetings aren’t as effective as they could be but they don’t know what they should do to change them. Present some options offering positive support to make some changes.
Dear Bev,
We have a number of young people in our firm now who all want to know their career trajectory over the next two to five years. While I’m not that much older than them, I might be considered old school because I never knew from one year to the next what was coming. I just did my best and moved up the ladder as a result. I didn’t expect anyone to tell me the path. I just charted my own course and made my own success.
Now that I run my own firm, I believe it is disingenuous to lay out a plan that might work for some people and not for others. We are 42 people and all of the leaders of the firm are in their early- to mid-40s, so we aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. I’m curious how other firms are dealing with this. You can’t guarantee a person a role or a promotion just because they check some boxes so what are firms doing to keep people motivated and engaged.
M.S.
Dear M.S.,
Before I answer I would so like to know more background about the question. For example, what are you doing now to communicate expectations? How do you give feedback and let team members know when they are on track or need to make changes? Do the people asking about career paths feel pushed to the side, or think they are doing menial work so they want to see where it leads?
Some of the time team members will ask “What’s next?” because they aren’t confident about what they are doing, whether they are doing it well, and how it all supports the overall efforts.
Other times, younger people want to know what opportunities there are for them longer term in the firm.
Can you give them opportunities to learn more and expand what they are doing in their current roles? Can leaders spend time sharing their own journey and what things the younger staff members need to learn in order to move up the ranks? Are there ways to help younger team members understand how important the support role they are playing really is to the overall efforts? Can you encourage development by sending them outside of the firm to conferences, or educational events?
You can’t map out a clear path in a smallish firm when there won’t be obvious openings anytime soon. But you can help team members become more interested, engaged and well-rounded so they understand the contributions they are making.
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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