“Speed up” in your final years

Here is my issue, however: I have a very successful business that, right now, pretty much runs on autopilot. I enjoy a high personal profile and good reputation in our community and we are in the enviable position of accepting new clients only through referrals from existing clients and centres of influence.

My team has been with me for a long time and I think they can do their jobs blindfolded. In fact, therein lies the root of my concern. I believe my staff is looking forward to my retirement more than I am. I don’t think any of them plans to stay on, if asked, with whomever takes over my practice. My sense is that my staff intend to glide toward retirement, which means they will be thinking “slow down” at the exact time I want to “speed up.”

I really don’t want to consider replacing any of them this late in the game, so how can I get them aligned with my vision of growth over, say, the next five years until I begin my transition?

Coach says: There is a theory in professional football that suggests a disengaged team led by a superstar quarterback will almost always lose to a team that is aligned behind an average quarterback. In my view, the same rule applies in business.

It sounds to me like you were the superstar quarterback of a highly effective and engaged team – right up to the moment you announced your succession plan. At that point, your team’s vision of the future diverged from your own.

If you are a regular reader of this column, you know that I often write about the importance of having a well-defined vision for your business. Your vision sets the direction and momentum for your practice and drives your strategy, which, in turn, determines the tactics you will use to achieve your objectives. Because of the importance of your vision, you cannot let your team define your vision; your vision should define your team.

I know you indicated you did not want to change any team members so “late in the game.” However, the reality is that a lot can happen in the few years until your exit that could affect the value of your business significantly – upward or downward. Consequently, there is a lot that could affect your retirement lifestyle, as well as your legacy. There is too much at stake for you to limit your options. You must have people on your team who are dedicated to achieving the vision you aspire to as the business’s leader.

With that in mind, here is the approach with respect to staffing that I recommend to advisors, whether they are early in their careers, planning their succession or somewhere in between.

– Step 1: A to-do list

List the things that must be done to make your business function. Start by identifying all the broad-based functions that need to be performed within any financial advisory practice. At a minimum, these will include strategy, marketing, sales, operations and finance. Some of these functions may have one or more secondary functions associated with them. For example, sales might include research and financial plan preparation.

– Step 2: make a chart

Create an organizational chart based on functions – not people.

Most advisors, when asked to draw an org chart of their practices, will do so based on the people they have in place rather than on the functions listed in Step 1. While that method might show the current reality, it may not reflect what is required to achieve your vision. So, for now, do not put anyone’s name (including yours) in any box. Just draw your chart based on the jobs that must be done.

– Step 3: Define functions

With the functional areas and reporting hierarchy for your business laid out, define the requirements and qualifications for each position. Identify the experience, credentials, aptitudes, attitudes, etc., required for someone to be considered as a candidate for each position.

– Step 4: evaluate staff

Bearing in mind what has to be done and what is required to qualify to do a job, look at your existing team and see who fits where – including yourself. Put the names of your current staff (you, too) into the appropriate boxes on your org chart – but only in those functions for which each person is fully qualified. Be ruthless in your assessment of people’s qualifications. There are things that can be done to improve a team member’s suitability if he or she doesn’t fit; but, for the purposes of this exercise, do not put a team member’s name in any box if that person is a not fully qualified.

A few things will become evident as a result of this exercise:

– some people will have their names in more than one box (as always, one of them will be you);

– some boxes will not have any names in them;

– some people will not have their names in any boxes.

– Step 5: Check workloads

Analyze the workloads of people who have their names in more than one box. Think about these team members’ capacity, core capabilities and interest in the job. Can you do something to ease their workload? Is each job the best use of their time? Can you make the job more interesting or important to them?

– Step 6: the empty boxes

Assuming the boxes with no names in them represent functions that are critical to your business, determine the best way to get those jobs done. The options include:

– delegate to an existing staff member who has capacity and ability to do the job;

– train an existing staff member who has capacity and ability to learn;

– hire additional qualified people;

– outsource to a third party.

– Step 7: Square pegs

Evaluate people who do not have their names in any boxes.

Your business cannot be better than the sum of its parts.

If you have team members who are not qualified to perform any of the critical functions of your business, they must be trained to meet the qualifications for a job that is open or they must be retired from the firm.

In every instance of termination, you must consider your legal responsibilities as well as your moral obligations, particularly for long-serving team members. Keep in mind the old saying, “Hire with your head; fire with your heart.”

Aside from the process outlined above, I offer a few further recommendations to help to engage and align your team with your vision.

The first is to make sure your team members know what you are trying to accomplish – and why. Unless they see the wisdom in “speeding up,” they may assume you want to pursue the more common “slowing down” transition to your retirement. If your staff understand how they can be part of the growth process (and the excitement) in the final chapter of your career, they are more likely to be co-operative and collaborative.

You also can improve the chances of your staff sharing in your vision if you equip them, through training, technology and tools, to perform at a high level. Similarly, empowering your staff to act in the best interests of achieving your vision without requiring approval from you for every initiative will motivate them to accelerated levels of performance.

Finally, of course, there is the opportunity to improve engagement through recognition and reward. If you create opportunities for your team members to be acknowledged for their contributions to the achievement of your renewed vision, they are more likely to “buy in” and work to meet the challenge. Rewards should be both tangible (bonuses, share of sale proceeds) and intangible (congratulations).

Back to my football analogy: no successful coach limits his or her vision by basing it on current players who can’t take them there. The successful coach has a vision, then surrounds him- or herself with the team that can achieve it.

George Hartman is CEO of Market Logics Inc. in Toronto. Send questions and comments regarding this column to george@marketlogics.ca. George’s practice-management videos can be viewed on www.investmentexecutive.com.

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