Continuing education is an important part of every advisor\u2019s development, but there\u2019s no sense taking the time to learn new skills if you\u2019re not going to put them into practice. An important thing to consider before heading off to your next conference or seminar is how you\u2019ll ensure that you actually put some of the lessons learned there to use.
The solution to this problem is simple, maintains Dan Richards, president of Toronto-based Strategic Imperatives Ltd. <\/b>and co-host of the Top Advisor Summit, held in Toronto this past June: it starts with a piece of paper, a pen and a little bit of awareness.
George Hartman, a coach and facilitator with the Covenant Group<\/b> in Toronto, agrees: a written action plan is key to making things happen. In fact, he says, the likelihood of action doubles to 40% from just 20% when an advisor moves from only acknowledging a good idea to writing it down.
Richards, who frequently presents seminars to advisors on client communication and practice management, calls the failure to put new ideas into practice \u201cthe single biggest pitfall that advisors experience in attending any educational event, conference or business-building session.\u201d
He says it\u2019s a universal problem, and the first step in solving it is to identify its causes.
\u201cThat\u2019s the first key to change: recognition that it is a problem and understanding what the barriers are,\u201d Richards says. \u201cThe two most common obstacles to overcome are old habits or resistance to change, and failing to give sufficient priority to the new activity we want to put in place.\u201d
Distraction is also a significant barrier to action, Hartman adds: \u201cWhat seems like a good idea at the time then gets lost when we get back into the day-to-day activities that we need to do to keep the business going.\u201d
Often advisors will walk out of a seminar with binders full of notes and their heads full of new ideas. But then they become overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information presented.
\u201cThe problem is almost never not enough ideas,\u201d Richards says. \u201cIt\u2019s too many.\u201d
One solution he suggests: at the end of a presentation or seminar, pare down the advice to just two or three manageable items on which to focus. That, in turn, develops into an action plan.
\u201cA written action plan doesn\u2019t have to be a 12-page document,\u201d Hartman says. \u201cIt could be a simple one-page statement that says, \u2018I will do this by this time\u2019.\u201d
Richards agrees. An action plan that focuses on the first two or three weeks after the session is a must.
\u201cIf you don\u2019t start in the near-term,\u201d he says, \u201cnothing happens.\u201d
And in order to keep that priority from shifting to the back burner, it\u2019s important to find strategies that keep you from losing steam during the first six to eight weeks spent developing the new habit.
Time-blocking is one such strategy, Richards explains. \u201cIf you say, \u2018I\u2019m going to focus on developing referrals,\u2019 then block half a day a week \u2014 say, every Thursday morning \u2014 and use that time to focus on that particular task.\u201d (For more on time-blocking, see story on page B11.)
Paul Drouin, vice president and advisor with Raymond James Ltd. <\/b>in Ottawa, says the timing of implementation depends on the type of change. Drouin\u2019s team has quarterly meetings, he says, and he wouldn\u2019t impose any sweeping new ideas for change upon his staff during the period between meetings.
\u201cWe have projects in the hopper that we are working on,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd we don\u2019t want to screw everything up for the quarter.\u201d
But that\u2019s not to say that some changes can\u2019t happen right away. For example, Drouin attended Investment Executive\u2019<\/i>s OTX (Office of the Future) conference in 2007 and was intrigued by a specific scanning technology that was presented there. He returned to the office and asked his administration staff to learn the system and start using it immediately to create the company\u2019s monthly newsletter.
It was a relatively minor change, he says, but one that made the company\u2019s newsletter system more efficient \u2014 and thus freed up a good chunk of his staff\u2019s time for other work.
Drouin points out that talking about ideas with the people with whom you work helps give substance to plans: \u201cThere are always advisors out there \u2014 a lot of Type A personalities \u2014 that want to do everything. I was one of those, and I quickly learned that I can\u2019t do everything.\u201d
@page_break@Hartman agrees that involving other people in the process of implementing new ideas is an important element of success. In fact, he says, when you tell someone about the idea and ask them to hold you accountable for your plan to implement it, the likelihood of taking action doubles to 80%, up from the 40% likelihood when you write things down.
\u201cI suggest making an appointment with the person to whom you have committed,\u201d Hartman says. \u201cSay: \u2018By the first of August, here\u2019s what I\u2019m going to have done. Let\u2019s get together at 9 a.m. on the first of August, and I\u2019m going to report to you on my progress\u2019.\u201d
Adding another person to the mix, he adds, further increases the likelihood the job will get done.
And when you do get the job done, and done on time, treat yourself! Richards says putting reasonable rewards in place to celebrate successes \u2014 whether they are as grand as a trip to Tuscany or as simple as a nice dinner out \u2014 will reinforce your desired performance.
\u201cIt\u2019s a matter of priority,\u201d says Hartman. \u201cYou know, the old \u2018important\u2019 and \u2018urgent\u2019 matrix. Something like launching a marketing strategy could be very important. But because its two or three months down the road, it\u2019s not as urgent as the client who is calling [now], looking for an adjusted cost base of his or her portfolio. Often, in an advisor\u2019s world, the advisor gets busy dealing with the urgent and not necessarily the important.\u201d
But top advisors make sure that they accomplish the important things first.\tIE<\/b>
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