Page 38 - Investment Advisor June 2022

a good way to ensure that you’ll be rid-
ing the employee management hamster
wheel in perpetuity.
The best advisory-firm leaders I’ve
worked with over the past two decades
understand that leading clients and
leading employees are very different
competencies. They understand that
client communication is distinct from
employee communication. And they
know how to pivot between the two
types of communication.
In leading employees, it’s necessary
to understand and accept that employ-
ees are rarely asking for your advice.
The language of non-advice leadership Productive leaders spend time being
might sound like: “What do you think?”
“How can I help you solve it?” When an still — thinking, strategizing, analyzing
employee approaches a leader seeking potential outcomes of strategic decisions.
help, you’ll hear the language of redirec-
tion: “This is a decision I think you can The delegation of employee management
make. I trust you.” back to the employees themselves allows
When you have conversations with
employees but avoid telling them what leaders to create the space they need for
to do, it encourages their independence
and frees up your time. this critical “non-busy” work.
Choose productive capacity over
useless busyness. One mistake that When an employee tells a busy manager deep-seated human need to contribute
many leaders of advisory firms make they have a problem, the manager likely to the success of something larger than
is believing that everyone needs to be won’t want to delve into a conversa- ourselves, and contributing is even more
busy, including themselves. Some lead- tion about what possible solutions the satisfying if we feel like we are working
ers believe that the firm is more produc- employee sees. The most expedient way with a trusted decision-maker rather
tive when employees are actively talking for that leader to get back to what they than someone who gives or takes orders.
with clients, running financial scenarios, are doing is to give the employee advice, To grow organically and sustainably,
conducting meetings, etc. On the flip tell the employee what to do, and send organizations need to add capacity. But
side, leaders believe they need to be run- them on their way. before layering on more hiring, we can
ning financial pro formas, updating client In doing this, of course, managers find capacity in the people we have. The
experiences, etc. But productivity doesn’t shoot themselves in the foot. They have key is training and pushing decision-
necessarily mean being in motion. not only missed an opportunity to encour- making throughout the organization
Productive leaders for their firm spend age independent judgment and decision- rather than keeping it centralized with
time being still — thinking, strategizing, making, but have also reinforced the idea one or two leaders.
analyzing potential outcomes of strategic that the way for employees to get things Doing so unlocks efficiency and the
decisions. The delegation of employee done is to go to you for solutions. It capacity to serve more clients. And when
management back to the employees might seem paradoxical at first, but if you it’s eventually time to add more advisors,
themselves (i.e., managing themselves) stop being busy with busywork, you’ll bringing in the right ones and giving them
allows leaders to create the space they be available to train employees to solve autonomy within a decentralized organi-
need for this critical “non-busy” work. problems on their own. zation will make them more engaged
Having space also allows leaders to Choose to slow down to speed and motivated, creating extra value and
simply be available to employees who things up. Who won the race, the tor- further impetus for growth.
might be struggling with finding a par- toise or the hare? When leaders slow
ticular solution. A leader who is “busy” down to help others, employees get more Angie Herbers is an independent consultant to
all the time doesn’t have time to help engaged, more creative in solving prob- the advisory industry. She can be reached at Adobe Stock
employees be their best. Think about it: lems and more loyal to the firm. It’s a [email protected].

36 INVESTMENT ADVISOR JUNE 2022 | ThinkAdvisor.com