CEO FINANCIAL ADVISOR™
The evolution from Financial Advisor to CEO is about entrepreneurship and the ability to run a strong business and be a great business owner. As a leader of a firm you are tasked with a multitude of responsibilities each day to manage the entire infrastructure of an organization. As a business grows and people are hired into the company, the communication, processes, and systems can increase in complexity. This is where the concept for the evolution from Financial Advisor to CEO originates. The journey starts as a financial advisor and as that develops, you build and grow a business around it. With each new hire the responsibilities as a business owner increase which moves you toward being a CEO. This is the transformation or evolution into the CEO Financial Advisor.
For a firm to continue its growth momentum it must strengthen all the key areas of the business. As the owner of a developing firm it is important to define the role you play in the overall business structure and how to best allocate time. This is the balance of working “on” the business with working “in” it to maximize your growth potential.
Early career financial advisors may not see themselves as CEOs but nevertheless are business owners. In order to break through barriers to growth they must be forward thinking on what they are trying to build and most importantly where to spend their most valuable time.
For seasoned firms, strengthening the key areas of the business is essential for the growth and sustainability of the firm. Creating an organizational structure with a leadership team will help to divide and conquer to effectively run the business and evolve it.
For transitioning advisors nearing retirement and handing the reigns off to the next generation owner, these tools and concept will be exceptionally powerful. The first- and second-generation owners are many times two vastly different types of people. The first-generation founder built the firm from the ground up and have already successfully passed through growth plateaus while building the firm. The next generation in many cases are coming in to run and grow the firm. Strong entrepreneurial skills will be necessary to support the transition and allow for continued growth momentum.
TIME ALLOCATION & FOCUS
Wherever you are in the evolution of your firm, you will inevitably hit time capacity thresholds. For the business to evolve you will have to let go of certain items. Striving to do it all will hold you back. Effective delegation is necessary so you can elevate into your areas of strength.
Start to delegate the things you do not like to do but are still good at doing. Entrepreneurs can struggle with what is referred to as “letting go of the vine.” When you spend your time, money, and resources growing a business sometimes it can be tough to hand over any part of it to someone else. However, as a result, you can end up burning out or hitting a ceiling as a result.
Delegation is about identifying where the most valuable and best use of your time as the CEO Financial Advisor should be spent. The goal is to work more and more within your “sweet spot” of strengths, experience, and personality. Working within your talents gives you more energy and passion for your job and everyone benefits.
Click Here For The Time Catalog
The Time Catalog is a simple but powerful exercise to help with this. Over time, delegate the things you are doing in the bottom two quadrants. These are some of the first items that should come off your plate. Then elevate to focus on the top priorities where your most valuable time should be spent and delegate the rest to another qualified person to perform those duties.
WHY ACCOUNTABILITY AND STRUCTURE MATTER
An organizational structure is the foundation from which a firm grows upon and is an essential element to a business. At points along the journey a business owner must ask themselves, is our current structure the right one and will this get us to the next level?
Building a strong foundation will help the business to clarify and simplify to achieve goals and provide a pathway to overcome obstacles and recognize valuable opportunities. It will help define where the most valuable time should be spent and how to create a team to support that. Building a strong foundation allows expectations, processes, and goals to be defined and executed upon. It will help to ensure job roles are clearly defined and that the right people are in the right seats.
HOW TO STRUCTURE
The first step in creating structure is to identify the major functions within the firm. At a basic level, regardless of industry, every business has 3 major functions (shown below).
1. Sales and Marketing function is to go out into the market, create demand and turn that demand into new clients.
2. Operations function is to build a product, deliver a service, or do both.
3. Finance function tracks money flowing in and out of the organization.
Each firm must then decide how many and what major functions it has within its unique business. To consistently grow the business must be strong in each. For example, you cannot be strong in Sales and weak in Operations. As a result, you will have new business coming in the front door then going right out the back.
THE VISIONARY AND INTEGRATOR RELATIONSHIP
The Visionary and Integrator are the next two essential roles within an organizational structure. Having these two distinctly different types of leaders at the helm of firm will help it to grow. Many entrepreneurs tend to be strong Visionaries which make them great leaders, have lots of ideas on how to grow the business, ability to inspire, and be great with relationships. On the other hand, due to their drive and passion they can many times have the foot on the gas pedal all the time and want to implement every idea immediately. Trying to do it all at once or lack of focus can hold you back. Therefore, it is essential to recognize your strengths then build a team around you to support that.
Traditional Integrators tend to be great managers. They are good at holding people accountable and creating consistency in a firm. The Integrator is detail-oriented and can articulate, identify, and resolve problems to keep the team harmonious and productive. They are the person who can create order out of chaos. Unfortunately, they are also tasked with being the bearer of bad news or having to say no.
When you have them both you can do great things. The Visionary and the Integrator are a key ingredient in an entrepreneurial company to get to the next level. If you are interested in how you score as a Visionary and Integrator take the Assessments at StrategicAdvisorSolutions.com. For more on this dynamic relationship read the book Rocket Fuel.
BENEFITS OF RUNNING A STRONG BUSINESS
When you are running a strong business, you can then devote time and energy into the top priorities that mean the most to your firm. Building a strong foundation allows expectations, processes, and goals to be defined and executed upon. When a firm is structured properly then everyone can stay focused on the goals to grow and develop the business. This will drive employee satisfaction, retention, as well as organizational performance. Developing structure leads to building a valuable business. As a CEO in a company this process starts with you.
To learn more about how we support this evolution visit strategicadvisorsolutions.com.