Building the perfect team starts with you

The Team Director™ This is the leader of the business, and the most important member of the team-in other words, you. A team cannot function properly if they don’t understand the vision for the business. They can’t support you if they don’t know your style and approach. As team leader, this is your primary responsibility-to align your team with your process and your business vision in order to achieve your business goals. If for whatever reason you feel you lack the skills to successfully communicate a business vision to team members, you must find a partner who has these skills.

The Strategy Team Once you’ve clarified your role as Team Director, you need to establish a Strategy Team (I’ve heard some advisors refer to this group as the "growth team"). The strategy team is the group that directs big-picture business strategy, identifying business-building opportunities and defining long-term growth goals. This is the team that steers the business toward its success, helping you to assemble the ideal team which will take you where you want to go. It also monitors your progress towards those goals on a regular basis.

In addition to you, the Strategy Team can include one or all of the following:

Business coach: A like-minded, experienced expert who understands the operating challenges of the business, and can help capitalize on new opportunities

Professionals: HR professionals, business consultants, etc., who bring upper-level strategy and thinking to specific business challenges

Branch manager: A guide to help you utilize the firm’s strategic and marketing resources to build your business

Peers and mentors: A set of business owners and entrepreneurs from both inside and outside the financial industry

Marketing associate: Your internal marketing expert, who has a natural "knack" for co-ordinating and systemizing marketing efforts

Industry wholesalers: Select mutual fund company representatives who have demonstrated themselves as an excellent resource for strategic marketing and business-building ideas

Client focus group: A small group of trusted clients who can give you honest, objective feedback on what you’re doing right and what needs improvement

The Core Team These are the people who get the job done day in and day out. While the strategy team deals with higher-level strategy, your core team delivers wealth management and client service systems. In addition to you, the common positions are:

Business manager: Who ensures business processes and systems are running smoothly and who handles day-to-day issues with team members

Executive assistant: A versatile, detail-oriented assistant who can keep the team leader organized and ensures that all constituencies follow procedures

Articling advisors: These are your advisors-in-training; junior staff members who show promise and can be molded in your image

Associate advisors: Well-trained and qualified advisors who handle specific areas of your practice, and may have a small group of their own clients

General administration assistant: Who deal with paperwork, general client requests, and general office duties

Professional centres of influence (COIs): Accountants, lawyers, private bankers, and other professionals who can function as "partners" on specific client accounts

In-house specialists: Estate planning professionals, portfolio managers, and other experts who perform specific tasks for your clients Marketing associate: A key position which executes day-to-day marketing tasks and long-range marketing projects (co-ordinating the client newsletter, setting up media appointments, booking seminars, etc.)

Marketing writer/designer: Outside brand-building and positioning experts who can help you attract ideal clients and distinguish yourself from the competition

Vendors: Printers, caterers, vendors, gifting-experts, and other companies who you can count on to support your client service process and deliver world-class service to your top clients

At first glance, this list seems a bit daunting. But what’s even more daunting is the prospect of doing all of this yourself. If you can’t find a way to delegate these tasks, that’s exactly what you’ll be doing.

Keep in mind that top performers all face the same issues that you do — including the harvesting of big opportunities. And they all found a way to get there. Top performers recognize that becoming the Team Director is the secret to success: they treat team building as a strategic process, one that demands serious planning, a multitude of teams, and a good deal of investment.

(12/19/05)

Jeff Thorsteinson is the creator of the YouFoundation, an organization that helps investment advisors advisors build world-class practices through innovative concepts, tools, and systems since 1993. With over 3,000 investment advisor marketing projects and business cases behind him, Jeff has become a well respected speaker in the industry and over the last 3 years, delivered his practice-building programs to thousands of financial advisors throughout Canada. Contact strategicadvisor@youfoundation.com or 1 800-223-9332, ext. 1, for more information about YouFoundation, or visit the website at www.youfoundation.com.