Everyone Needs R&R (Roles & Responsibilities)

At the risk of replacing your daily jolt of caffeine, I pose the question: What is your role within your firm? 

Many financial advisers wince when they are fielding such an inquiry. Typically, the initial response to this simple question will avoid the heart of the question and range from “I do everything around here” to “I try to stay out of everybody else’s way, so that they can finish their work.” When I press the issue by reframing the question in pursuit of a business-oriented response, most advisers will launch into a laundry list of tasks they recall performing on a daily basis. This recital of responsibilities brings us no closer to communicating the adviser’s role than does the initial glib response.  

In my experience coaching financial service teams, the above scenario is commonplace. I have come to accept as the “norm” this lack of distinction that a financial adviser who leads a team will place on his own role and responsibilities. However, the financial adviser (leader) who fails to clearly define roles and responsibilities for all other members of his own team is a manager in dire need of productivity coaching.  

Most people are not interested in being average at their job and have every intention of performing at a level somewhere between above average and exceptional. The question becomes, “What initiative have you (as their leader) taken to make sure that your people know exactly what you expect from them?”  

There are countless demands placed on the time, expertise, and resources of your staff. The positions of producer, administrative assistant, office manager, or analyst come with a unique set of expectations for each. Expectations among the staff are different, yet equally complex, for internal customers and the external clients. How well have you defined the specific role for each member of your staff?  

When conducting interviews with a financial adviser’s staff, I all too frequently uncover that the team leader (who is usually the largest producer) has failed to define a specific role for each individual of the team. I am astounded to learn that the team members are required to know what is going on inside the head of the team leader. Since everyone is interviewing and hiring from the same talent pool, it becomes increasingly difficult to find that knowledgeable, trustworthy, skilled individual who is also clairvoyant.  

I suggest that each of you who manages a staff consider how effective you are in communicating the following three points for your team: 

1. Articulating the outcomes you need and desire; 
2. Defining, for all staff members, their specific roles on the team;  
3. Defining the responsibilities associated with each role (this should be worked on in concert with the staff member). 

If your response when considering points two or three was, “I think corporate has something on that” or “I know that I have seen that document somewhere around here,” then you can rest assured that you can improve greatly on how you communicate roles and responsibilities throughout the team. 

For those financial advisers who deflect this advice by stating, “We do not have clearly defined roles and responsibilities among our group; however, everybody is really good about lending a hand or pitching in when someone on the team needs help,” I offer this advice: “Teamwork” should never be the phrase that serves to mask the manager who fails to assign organizational roles and responsibilities for the team. 

Steff C. Chalk is Founder and President of CHALK 401(k) Advisory Board, with a client list that includes corporations, nonprofits, and governmental units. A judge for thePLANSPONSORRetirement Plan Adviser of the Year award, and a faculty member of thePLANSPONSORInstitute, he is also the co-author of How to Build a Successful 401(k) and Retirement Plan Advisory Business.