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May 29, 2019 at 01:02 PM
In my career working with advisors, I’ve often discussed the importance of incorporating time-saving technology and selecting the right custodian. In the hunt for increased productivity, however, it can be easy to overlook the human element. For many reasons, attracting and retaining top talent to serve clients and manage operations is critical to the success of your business.
Here are three issues advisors frequently run up against when making personnel decisions, as well as some potential solutions:
1. Non-value-add tasks
If your back-office and client-service teams are little more than paper pushers, chances are your staff doesn’t feel very challenged. They may be performing administrative tasks that are necessary, but others that could easily be automated and don’t add much value.
Solution: Challenge your team to demonstrate their abilities
The key to attracting and retaining top talent is allowing your staff to do meaningful work. This means aligning employees with their skill sets and interests. It also means challenging them with activities that add value to your business. Employees who feel challenged are more likely to be fulfilled by their roles and to do high-value work that differentiates you as an advisor. While some administrative tasks may be unavoidable, there is benefit in providing meaningful responsibilities to members of your team.
2. Inefficient legacy processes
Outdated systems and processes can be traced to the entrepreneurial nature of advisors, most of whom got into this business to help people. Because their focus is serving clients, many advisors never designed their systems and processes for scale. As a result, your team members may be using outdated legacy processes that haven’t kept up with a changing regulatory environment, evolving advisory practices and a growing client roster.
Solution: Empower your employees to act as change agents
Consider empowering your team to map out current-state processes and suggest ways to improve them. In many cases, your team members already know where modifications can be made.
Mike 