Financial Planning - January 2013

practice consultant BY
glenn g. kautt

A Winning Combination
Successful planning organizations almost always take a collaborative team
approach, building on the complementary skills of members.

You may know about Bill Hewlett and Dave Packardstarting a business in a garage, or about the Bill Gates-Paul Allen combination at Microsoft. Some might even know of Rich- ard DeVos and Jan Van Andel, the founders of Amway, who originally started a flying school together, although neither could fly. Their successes — and the success of many other businesses — happened in part because of the combination of individuals with different skills.

This kind of teamwork actually isn’t rare. I’ve come across it at every successful organization of which I’ve been a part.

Consider teamwork in general. In 1776, Adam Smith’s magnum opus, The Wealth of Nations, first evaluated the division of labor into specialized jobs. He found such division created gains in productivity and ultimately more wealth. This is teamwork at its most fundamental — and important — level. Productivity gains are available, but to get them you need to employ people who do different things well. This is true whether you are a boutique/lifestyle practice with a few support staff or growing your organization.

Most entrepreneurs don’t start a business with the goal of teaming up with other individuals with complementary skills. When it happens, it’s usually a happy accident, as it was for the founder of Savant, the firm where I work. After several years of doing everything himself, he hired a young analyst who had different skills and interests, which complemented his own. A few years later, in another happy accident, they hired the third member of the team, who brought even more skills to the partnership.

rely on one another’s strengths. The collaborative team approach was powerful. This helped develop a team-wide unique ability (using personal coach Dan Sullivan’s term) to motivate and train advisors to attract new clients, develop world-class service offerings, manage a rapidly growing business and keep a focus on clients and the firm’s vision.

They realized early on that they had different complementary skills, but not all of the ones they needed. So, they hired more advisors and additional professionals with capabilities in administration, accounting, compliance, technology, marketing, communications and human resources.

You don’t need to wait for a happy accident in hiring or partnering before your practice accelerates. It doesn’t have to be an accident.

How do we figure out who fits in what part of the team? First, we use some well-known tests to help determine the strengths, interests and abilities for all professionals. Then, we continue to offer people different tasks, projects and even jobs with different teams to see how they do.

The division of labor into specialized jobs creates gains in productivity and ultimately more wealth. This is teamwork at its most fundamental and important level.

COLLABORA TIVE APPROACH When I look at these professionals individually, none had the singular ability to do everything necessary to manage or grow a financial services firm on a national scale. What they did have was a willingness to

DOING sEVERAL THINGs REALLy WELL

But what teams do we need? Every successful business has to do several things really well. These things include creating a business focus, marketing, sales, purchasing and inventory control, manufacturing, distribution, accounting and general administration.