 | IN THIS
ISSUE |
|
|
|
LPL Financial offers unprecedented benefits for financial advisors,
such as group health insurance, reduced transaction fees, a deferred
compensation plan, unbiased research, superior technology and more. LPL
Financial is the broker/dealer of choice for more than 11,000 advisors.
Visit joinlpl.com.
Member FINRA/SIPC
|
|
FEATURE STORY
|
Challenging Times Require Creativity
By Matt Oechsli
Orlando: "I feel like I'm banging my head against the
wall when it comes to implementing any type of change within our team,"
Mary moaned as we walked down the hall following a team leadership
workshop I'd just delivered. "We talk about it in concept and then
continue to do the same old things— almost as if we have team habits
we can't break," she further explained.
Change is difficult under any circumstances, but being able to implement
radical and creative change under pressure seems virtually impossible
… Or is it?
(Continued after ad)
Fortunately, just prior to my conversation with Mary, I had read an
article in Fast Company's October 2006 issue titled Rewiring the
Creative Mind by Emory University professor Gregory Berns. According to
Berns, our brains are wired to engage in repetitive thinking and to
generate new ideas; we just need to adjust the wiring to get the
synapses to behave differently. He goes on to clarify how unplanned
encounters and new environments are the best way to "jolt the neurons"
into new wiring.
What does all of this have to do with your team and these turbulent
times? A lot— if you want to capitalize on these challenging times.
Nothing, if you want to keep doing the same old thing. If you're with a
major firm, how much of an impact are your weekly branch meetings having
in terms of generating radical change? I'm sure it’s not much. How
about your weekly team meetings?
Back to Top ^
|
Ready…to improve employee performance? As your
business growth expert, Securities America is constantly looking for
ways to provide financial advisors with proven tools and solutions for
their unique business needs. Our recently published book, Managing
for Performance: The Cycle of Success, is the perfect example.
This popular new book provides financial advisors with management
strategies to improve employee performance and increase job
satisfaction.
Click
here to download a FREE Chapter - "Training and Professional
Development" - which covers adult learning and demonstrates how
workplace adult learning varies from the typical classroom.
|
I began to apply Berns' ideas to Mary and her team’s scenario. It
was then that I realized that these challenging times require radical
change, and radical change requires creativity. Here is what I
suggested:
- Engage in a NEW group activity—I suggested to Mary that she take
her team on a group activity—such as a bowling retreat, bird watching
or leaf collecting— that is completely out of the norm. She opted for
an afternoon hike with her team.
- Hold a group pow-wow: After two or three hours of out-of-the-box
activity, you'll want to gather everyone together for a brainstorming
session. This can range from a picnic in the park (Mary's idea) to pizza
and beer after bowling; the idea is to radically change the team meeting
venue.
- Engage all team members: As I explained to Mary, this cannot be a
command performance by the team leader. She's exercising her leadership
by organizing the hike and picnic. The idea is to frame this pow-wow
around a pure free flow of ideas, which is always easier with a change
in environment.
- Develop a Radical Change Action Plan: The idea that brainstorming is
one of those 35,000 activities that has no practical value is true—if
these ideas are not formulated into an action plan.
Back to Top ^
|
Hanging your shingle is easier when you can trust the
foundation. TD AMERITRADE provides the tools to help you make the
leap. Giving you more time to focus on what's important. Your clients.
Learn more at www.TDAINSTITUTIONAL.com.
|
Mary determined that she was going to facilitate steps three and four.
To do so, she created what she referred to as a “Creativity Agenda”
on her team's most topical issues:
- Serving Clients
- Wealth Management Process
- Roles and Responsibilities
- Rainmaking (affluent client acquisition)
You will have to determine what is important for your team, but
hopefully you get the idea. The main idea is to rewire the conventional
thinking of your entire team. By radically changing your environment,
Professor Berns tells us that it will change the way everyone thinks.
The next step is transitioning these new and improved ideas into
action.
Mary's team responded quite well. They determined that holding breakfast
“Market Updates” three times a week for their top clients and
friends in groups of eight to 10 was a good fit. They had 60 top
clients, so this was going to take a few weeks and would require
everyone to get involved. The three partners contacted the clients (20
apiece) and presented this as a valuable service, and permitted each
client to bring along an interested friend or colleague. They created
market update overviews and provided each client with a Financial
Organizer at the breakfast. The prospects—friends of the top
clients—would only get the update.
Back to Top ^
New
From The Registered Rep Bookstore...
Concepts for Professionals is the first book many advisors turn
to when questions arise and they need quick answers. It contains an
overview of more than 400 essential concepts and strategies used daily
by financial professionals in their work with wealthy clients. Meets
current NASD/FINRA compliance guidelines. Visit our bookstore to examine the table of contents or view
sample pages…
|
Mary created the market update and every team member would attend
each breakfast. One team member volunteered to assume responsibility for
the Financial Organizers, another team member—who was an excellent
cook—prepared take-home sweets for everyone and another partner was
scheduling individual appointments for prospects (clients were to
schedule appointments with the support personnel handling the
organizers).
Wow!! For Mary, that was a serious rewiring of her team.
The results are not in yet, but after their first breakfast three
affluent prospects asked if they could meet with one of the partners. I
expect good things are going to happen.
To ensure you are creatively moving your business into a new and
improved direction, especially during these challenging times, visit our
FREE download page for our Creativity Action
Plan.
Once again, we want to thank all of you who have emailed comments and
questions to us. We will continue to do our best to answer each one. If
you have any topic suggestions or special requests, please contact Rich
Santos, publisher of Registered Rep. and Trust & Estates
magazines, at rich.santos@penton.com.
Back to Top ^
|
|
|
