Peter Welch is Head of Sales and Distribution at Bridgewater Equity Release
Knowing something about human psychology can be a bit of a double-edged sword. On the one hand it is very helpful to understand why people behave the way they do and on the other it lends itself to much soul searching and self analysis...but enough of my issues.
Anyway, when it comes to the actions of both advisory groups and individual advisers it often puzzles me why they often take the difficult route to achieving their objectives. And to make matters worse they then carry on with the same pattern of behaviour, seemingly having learnt nothing from past experiences.
Now, if you’re an adviser reading this and your ‘hackles’ are starting to rise please stay with me. You might be thinking something like, “What right has this PAYE, head office, ‘Johnny’ got to tell me whether I’m doing things right or not? After all he works for a big company and doesn’t have to juggle all the various roles of being an owner/manager/adviser/firm.”
But, let me point out that I’m on your side and fully appreciate the difficulty in juggling all the roles listed above; I know that any adviser working on their own running ‘Me plc’ has the responsibilities of CEO, FD, COO, Sales, Marketing, Compliance, HR, L&D directors and that’s without doing any of the actual advisory work.
And as well as being able to multi-task, one thing I also know to be true, is that generally advisers are resilient, resourceful and robust - and there’s the rub.
Because advisers on the whole are able to put up with all the brickbats thrown at them by amongst others, the regulator, Government, economy and consumer press, however one thing they are less inclined to do is ask for help.
Collectively I’d describe advisers as tough SOBs (I mean that in a nice way) who bravely soldier on alone using the same modus operandi and usually getting the same results.
Whether advisers like it or not, carrying on in the same manner is not always the most positive approach to take.
Indeed, it could be viewed as being in a rut – perhaps you might not think that’s the case but ask yourself a few key questions and then decide. For instance, are you always looking for the next big breakthrough solution and never finding you get breakthrough results? Do you hear yourself saying things like “if only I had” or “I could have” or “I should have” or “would have”?
If yes, then the chances are that something is going wrong in your working life.
If any of this resonates with you and you’d like to break this cycle then why not experiment by taking the following steps:
· Firstly, find someone with whom you can talk openly; a colleague, mentor, coach, a trusted BDM even - most importantly you’re looking for someone who can listen without ‘judging’ you.
· Secondly, talk about the areas of your business that you think are not strengths (it’s worth noting that naming your weaknesses only makes you stronger).
· Finally, brainstorm together how you can work around your weaknesses to free you up in order to exploit your strengths.
· Then set yourself small achievable targets for the change you want to make.
I can safely assure you that there will be positives to come out of such an exercise and, I would also suggest, that you may look at the practices you have carried on with for a number of years, and realise that perhaps they were not providing you with the results you thought they were.
Even subtle changes can deliver significant development. Don’t be afraid to poke a stick at the way you operate, particularly if you are a one-man band – after all, who else is going to do it, and you’re doing everything else so why not be your own management consultant?
