Managing a growing advisory firm is never easy, and the COVID-19 pandemic has made it more difficult. While the drastic and immediate shift to remote work has created new problems, the hardest part of running a business remains the same: managing people.
You want your advisors to use their time wisely and be productive, but you also need to understand how they work and what their limits are to avoid causing burnout.
Burnout has been a persistent problem in American businesses. As far back as 2012, 40% of workers said they were so stressed that they felt burnt out. And now in 2021, the pandemic has led to new levels of exhaustion.
What's an advisory firm owner to do? The answer is found in modeling a workweek. Here's how to do it:
Begin With Your Client Experience
Before designing an action plan, it helps to understand your advisors and what they can handle. Not causing burnout is the most important thing.
If you're unsure how to gauge what an advisor on your team can handle, look at your own capacity. How many clients can you reasonably work with before your client experience begins to suffer?
For instance, you may have found that you can handle three client meetings a day without feeling stressed. At that level you still have time to address phone calls, emails and other immediate issues.
All advisory firms offer different client experiences, though, so not all firms can answer the capacity question in the same way.
