Unique Ability

What if you walked into a business, any business, a department store, an attorney's office, a dental practice and asked an associate their title and they all said the same thing...customer service representative? On the bright side, this would show you the focus of the company, but as it relates to the running of the business, this could cause some major issues. Who is in charge? Aren't there other things that need to be done?

As in these other industries, this is not uncommon in the financial services industry. Advisors are great at creating trusted relationships with their clients, they are great at helping individuals plan their future, but what they struggle with the most is processing. They often struggle with the little details that make a practice run smoothly.

As an advisor's practice grows they start to hire staff and they often focus on that one area that causes them the most pain, processing, and put all their resources into hiring "another assistant." However, the focus should be on the future state of their firm. Rather than having a team of assistants that can all do the same tasks begin to think in terms of unique abilities and unique roles you need in your firm. Marketing, operations, compliance, business development, etc.

While associates should be crossed trained, they also should have unique roles that allow them to contribute to a firm in their own unique way. One exercise to help layout a roadmap for the future growth of your firm is to create an organization chart of what you want your firm to look like 5 years from now. No names of individuals, just boxes with the roles you would like to have in your ideal firm. This will help guide the effective building of your team and help you focus on the types of roles and people you want in your future firm.