The great writer C.S Lewis once said “It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.”
Part of this message is that if you aren’t prepared to change, you’ll “go bad.” But deeper than that, it’s a message about taking the change journey one step at a time and, when the time is right, taking advantage of the situation.
Let’s look at some practical approaches for how to recognise when change approaches and what to do when it does.
Whether change comes from without or within, it means you need to do things differently
As change is taking place, first and foremost, you need to diagnose: what is proposed to change? Why? What does this mean for me? What does this mean for my business?
You’ll notice I’ve separated the diagnosis phase into two. I firmly believe evaluating what the change means for your business is important: but perhaps most importantly of all is evaluating what the change means for you personally.
Sometimes change is so fundamental that it means you may decide to re-evaluate where you are with your own business and life goals. This is a normal part of the change process and if you’re feeling this anxiety, that’s OK! The key is not to let this anxiety stifle you into inertia. Seeking clarity on where you’d like to be once the change process is over is a really important part of navigating a successful change process.
How do I make sense of this?
Once you know:
- Where the change is coming from;
- Why?
- What it means for you personally; and
- What it means for your business;
You can start to make some key decisions.
Assuming like the vast majority of us in the industry you want to stay in the industry and deliver quality financial advice for your clients in a sustainable way for years to come, here are some tips:
Find a good ‘coach’
The first step is to find someone who can help you through.
Have you ever found exercising in a group is much more motivating that on your own? Going through a change process is no different. Your ‘coach’ should be someone who holds you accountable as you diagnose, develop and implement strategies to help you through the change.
Know how you provide advice today and map an efficient, compliant process for the future
With change, your business practices (i.e. how you’ve provided advice) need to adjust. Whether you’re self-licensed or with a dealer group, making sure your processes help you to be compliant is a basic building block of operating sustainably.
Changing your business practices involves some business process mapping. This can be as simple as documenting how you provide advice today and how you intend to provide quality advice into the future. If you have a good dealer group they will help you with this; or alternatively, you can seek assistance from a business coach.
Documenting your ‘future’ advice process means you have a ‘new model’ for providing advice. Getting this bedded down in your business is a key to successfully navigating change.
Use smart technology to make the change a success
Importantly, good CRM, advice generation, practice management and client engagement technology will allow you to operate in an efficient and compliant manner in a fundamentally changing environment. Get this right and your business will have a running start on the competition.
Stay the course
Once you are providing advice under your ‘new model’, it is about ensuring you adhere to this in each and every advice conversation and business process. The habits of a lifetime are hard to change so this will need constant thinking, practice and reflection: remembering “the neurons that fire together, wire together”. Importantly, it also requires you to be honest with yourself. It’s natural to stray back into old habits, but if you find yourself doing this, make sure you (or your dealer group or business coach) are committed to getting you back on track for future success.
Rod Bristow is the managing director of Infocus Wealth Management. He has 18 years’ experience in the financial services, consulting and agribusiness fields, including over 8 years’ experience as a director of public and private enterprises.
