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 Readers,
As we close out another holiday season and 2022, it’s time to think about how to gracefully end one segment and plan thoughtfully for another. In teaching my graduate class on leading teams, when we examine Bruce Tuckman’s model of team evolution, I’m always struck but how he added the last stage – adjourning. In our culture, we are always focused on “what is next?” and very little on the endings – the mourning of a closing chapter and the reflection on successes and learnings.
In preparation for the new year, let’s look at the importance of celebrating what’s been done and learning from mistakes made.
Let’s review 2022. The holidays coincide with the end of a 12-month effort of teams, firms and companies working together. It’s a busy time professionally and personally as businesses close their books, while planning family time and celebrations. It can be easy for the necessity of closure to get lost. Here are some ideas to celebrate and reflect on what has happened:
- The holiday party is not the best place to do it, so hold a “year in review” meeting right after the first of the year. Do this on January 3 or 4, assuming your team has returned to work. Ask everyone to bring three considerations: Two “wins” for the year (things they are proud of and want to celebrate) and one “I wish we’d” (where if they had the magic wand. they would have done something differently).
- Have each person present their views on these three items. Take time for each person to share, entertain questions and have an open dialogue about their views. Depending on the size of your team, this could be an hour-long effort or a one-day offsite structure. Allow for consideration and reflection. We go forward most effectively by clearly seeing where we’ve been and what we need to learn.
- Wrap up the discussion by collecting a “we need to” list of things the team agrees should be areas of focus. This provides a good starting list for your next meeting to plan for 2023.
- Have each team member acknowledge a colleague for something they appreciate about them. During virtual work, I had one of my client firms do this online. We randomly assigned a colleague to each person. Everyone was to come to the meeting with one reflection on what they appreciated about working with that person, what the person did exceptionally well or why they were pleased to work with this person. It had to be specific; it couldn’t just be “you are a great team member.” It was a very uplifting and validating experience for the team. Doing this in person is a nice way to wrap up your year in a positive way.
Let’s turn to where we are going and our plans for 2023. Looking backwards won’t get you where you need to be in the coming year. It will ground your discussion, but you need to look ahead and figure out what your short- and long-term plans will be. Separate this meeting from the previous one. While it is normal to take charge right at January 2 or 3 upon returning to the office, have the look-back meeting the first week, and then wait two to three weeks for ideas to settle in. Have the planning meeting the third or fourth week of January.
- This should be a dedicated meeting in offsite format with a clear agenda distributed in advance to all team members. At the outset of the meeting, reinforce your vision, mission and values. Check in with everyone and ensure they are still relevant, and team members believe they can uphold them.
- Apply the SHIFT model®, which I have written about previously and is an important planning process. Specify your desired outcome. What will success look like to your team by the end of 2023? Include both quantitative and qualitative considerations. How does the team want to be known? How do they want to be working together? What do they want clients to be saying about them? Fully vet out the result – this could even be a picture the team creates that you memorialize for everyone.
- Review the obstacles that arose from your previous meeting where team members brought the “I wish we’d” statements and ideas. What could this team do differently or better to avoid past obstacles? What obstacles are controllable? What can be influenced? What needs to be put to the side for now?
- Have the team discuss their own roles, areas of responsibility and how they’d like to be working together most effectively. I call this “I” – Identify the ”human factor.” Focus on the team, not just what the team needs to accomplish together. The biggest gift you can give your colleagues is time spent considering who they are, what they each care about and how they’d like to work together most effectively. Even high quality teams don’t spend enough time on the human factor – start the year by talking about it and identifying how you can support one another.
- Create alternatives and a specific plan for implementation. End the meeting by sourcing ideas about what you could do. Go through a process whereby you apply criteria for choosing which ones you will do. Determine your what/who/when/how/how much plan for implementation. Do this for short- and long-term goals. This will give your team a working plan whereby you can check-in, have accountability. Start the year with a collaborative process to pull the team together rather than have high-performing individuals each doing their own thing.
Combining these two discussions will allow your team to close out one year and enter a new one open minded and ready for 2023!
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. She is currently an adjunct professor at Suffolk University teaching undergraduate and graduate students Entrepreneurship and Leading Teams. 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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