> Reaching The Next Stage

Advisor: You will probably love this question: “Why should I hire a coach?” I consider my practice to be quite successful, but, like everyone else, I think it could probably do better. How might a coach help me?

Coach says: I have been waiting a long time for someone to ask this question, so I can state the case for coaching. And, at the risk of being too obviously self-promoting, I have witnessed many advisors take their businesses to new heights as a result of a good coaching relationship, so I know it can have a significant impact — even on practices that are already successful. In fact, I believe that coaching works best for people who have proven they are good at what they do, yet they recognize that there is another, next stage to which they aspire.

We have recently witnessed the best possible example of this among the superb athletes who competed in the 2010 Winter Olympics. They represented the best in the world, yet I can guarantee you that every one of them has a coach (or two or three) dedicated to helping him or her become even better than he or she is already, with the goal of the athlete being as good as he or she can possibly be.

In the same way that a sports coach works with athletes to improve their strength, gain a little speed or perfect a technique, a good business coach can work with you to hone the skills and abilities that have allowed you to build the successful practice you already have. Like athletes’ coaches who yell encouragement from the sidelines, a business coach should also provide motivation and adrenalin to you to push that little bit harder, faster or further in order to realize your full potential.

Keep in mind, however, that not everyone defines success as “bigger.” Increasingly, the advi-sors I work with are seeking a better work/life balance rather than a larger practice. Many, in fact, are anticipating their eventual retirement from their business, so succession planning is foremost for them. Whatever the objective, a good coach can be invaluable to the process of change.

So, what should you expect from your coach? Coaching requires a number of qualities, and one of the fundamental ones is the ability to get you to visualize and articulate what your business will look like when it is as successful as you want it to be. What is your vision? How high is up? What about your quality of life when you get to where you want to go?

Once you have a good picture of what you want your future to look like, your coach should work with you to lay out the steps required and the timeline for accomplishing them. Your coach should be able to help you understand not only how to do something but why it is important or necessary in the pursuit of your objectives. Your coach should provide guidance, insight, feedback and, most important, accountability. One of the most gratifying compliments I have ever received came when an advisor was referred to us by one of his associates with whom we had worked.

The referring advisor had cautioned: “Be careful what you tell them you want to do because they’ll make you do it.”

To illustrate the value of a coaching relationship, here’s a real-life story about one of our clients: Madeline’s father was a very successful financial advisor, and “Maddie” grew up working in her dad’s business — part-time while at school; then, full-time after graduating from college. She became fully licensed, earned the certified financial planner designation and became a skilled financial planner, working with existing clients and any new clients her father brought to the firm.

Then, one day, her father announced that he was contemplating retirement and wanted Maddie to take over the business. He felt that since she had lived in and observed the business all her life, it was only reasonable that she would some day run the firm. Maddie was excited by the opportunity, so she agreed and they set a two-year time frame for the transition.

Maddie is a terrific advisor, but she found that although she could create great financial plans and put together excellent recommendations for clients, she did not know much about many of the things required to maintain a successful advisory practice. For example, she recognized that the current client base was aging and new, younger clients were required to ensure the ongoing viability of the business, but she didn’t know how to develop marketing strategies to attract the right type of new clients.

@page_break@Her dad offered some good advice on how he had built the business, but his sales skills weren’t something Maddie felt she had or wanted to develop; they didn’t fit with her style or personality. Besides, there didn’t seem to be enough time to learn new habits because her father was increasingly passing responsibilities on to her.

Maddie found herself working more and more hours, yet she was not getting a handle on the “business of running the business.”

Finally, Maddie realized that just as she invested her time and energy in learning to be an advisor, she also needed to learn how to be an effective business owner. She knew another advisor who appeared to have benefited significantly from working with us, so we were fortunate to receive an introduction and Maddie engaged us to coach her.

Following our process, we worked with Maddie to develop and express a clear vision of where she wanted to go with her business. We identified the skills she needed to build her practice successfully in her own image and we created both strategic and tactical plans to reach her goals. Along the way, she also discovered that her coaching relationship enabled her to see herself in ways she hadn’t before; to develop her own preferences for how the business was to be run; and to find her proper role as an entrepreneur. Maddie the great advisor became Maddie the business owner who also happened to be a terrific advisor.

What Maddie and others like her have discovered through a coaching relationship is the value of supplementing their own perspective with a coach’s objective viewpoint. This dual vision means mastering the art of keeping focused on the present and the needs of today while always keeping the goal ahead clearly in view. The overriding value of a coach is his or her ability to provide an unbiased opinion and the critical objectivity, supported by feedback and input, to assist in your progress.

Another aspect of the coach/advisor relationship that cannot be overlooked is the accountability that is provided. Research into human behaviour reveals that the likelihood of accomplishing our goals increases three to four times if we share those objectives with someone else and then strive to accomplish them together.

In a very real way, it becomes a partnership: the advisor is accountable to both himself or herself and the coach to fulfil their obligations, while the coach is accountable for facilitating the advi-sor’s experience along the way.

No one person has all the answers to the challenges faced in life or in business. But everyone can benefit from the insights, knowledge and perspective of another. This is especially true for financial advisors, who operate in a complex and dynamic industry that requires multiple skills to move beyond the place they find themselves in today.

Here is another important reason why you might consider engaging an objective outsider to help you take your business to its next level: to be really successful, you have to accept that continued growth and development will be assured only if you give your practice new direction before it is necessary. This presents a real paradox for many advisors, however, because it means making significant changes just as their practices are approaching their peaks and flourishing.

Dazzled by the excitement and financial rewards that accompany this exciting stage of your growth, you probably won’t notice the dangers lurking in the shadows of your success. As your practice expands, it inevitably becomes more complex — the number of clients increases, product offerings broaden, service standards rise, compliance tightens, the support team grows, etc.

This escalates the administrative demands to a point at which they take more of your time than the crucial duties of business development and client relations.

Because your business is cloaked in success, you won’t immediately know you have hit this “ceiling of complexity.” Nevertheless, you will one day experience a vague uneasiness that you should be doing better. You will soon realize your continued growth is outstripping your ability, both to manage effectively and still practice as a financial advisor. Your business, however, will appear extremely successful. But, eventually, its rate of expansion will slow and, ultimately, stall. Unless you act, further growth will come only from market gains, additional needs among existing clients and casual referrals. You will no longer be in charge of your organization’s momentum.

The bottom line is that whether you engage someone to help you through the investigation and re-engineering process or you go it alone, always maintain a healthy skepticism about your business and regularly challenge the assumptions on which your practice has been built. At your annual strategic planning retreat, ask yourself: “If we did not exist today, how would we invent ourselves?”

IE

George Hartman is president and CEO of Market Logics Inc. and a senior coach and facilitator with the Covenant Group. His latest book, Blunder, Wonder, Thunder: Powering Your Practice to New Heights, was published in January. Send questions, comments and opinions on any aspect of practice management to george@marketlogics.ca.