The Dispatch

Best Practices

5 Questions to Delegate More Effectively

Running an efficient advisory practice often means getting work done through others. If your practice has scale (with many clients and accounts, active opening and closing of accounts, standing trade and cash management instructions, a proactive service model, portfolio management due diligence, and ongoing, regularly scheduled client plan reviews), the need to delegate non-advisory work is amplified exponentially.

Unfortunately, advisors often make requests of others without taking the time to clearly define what they want. Consequently, the person receiving the request moves forward without a complete understanding of direction, purpose or priority.

If you are frequently frustrated when others don’t meet your expectations, take time to address the following questions:

1. What is the desired outcome? In other words, what does success look like? For example, if a client wants to update beneficiary information, success means that the new information is documented and appropriately registered in the system.
2. Why is this task important? To create context, it can be helpful to clarify the big picture. Using the example of updating beneficiary information, you may explain that the client has remarried and wants to make sure that the previous spouse doesn’t inherit the account in the event of his untimely death.
3. How will the task be performed? Determine whether you need to provide guidance on how to complete the task. In some cases, you may not care about the details as long as the task gets done correctly, while in other situations it may be important to provide detailed instructions.
4. By when does this task need to be completed? By sharing the timeframe or priority, you enable the other person to appropriately manage their time and other tasks to complete your request when you need it.
5. Who needs to be informed or have input? Do you want to know or make sure your client knows that the task was completed? If the task has multiple steps do you or your client need periodic updates or the opportunity to provide feedback? If so, be explicit with your expectations.

The answers to these questions don’t need to be long or drawn out. However, taking the time to be intentional and precise with your requests will lead to better results.

One final item to consider: sometimes it has less to do with how to delegate, but to whom. If you have little interest, experience or ability to find, hire and manage a quality support team in your office, your best solution might be to find an outside partner to handle some or all of your non-advisory work.

Brought to you by Pathfinder Coaching & Consulting, https://pathfinderadvisor.com/.

The representations and opinions herein are the opinions and view of Pathfinder Coaching & Consulting and are not the opinions or views of EQIS. The information is believed to be reliable but is neither guaranteed by EQIS nor any of its affiliates. EQIS and Pathfinder Coaching & Consulting are not affiliated.

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• EQIS News   |   EQIS Acquires 3D/L to Form Freedom Advisors
• Manager Spotlight   |   Why “Market” Returns Can Be Misleading
• Your EQIS Team   |   Meet Sammy Viani
• Best Practices   |   5 Questions to Delegate More Effectively

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