An executive coach might be just what you need to push your company to new heights.
Small financial planning businesses face lots of issues in their early years, but one of the hardest is knowing how to make and take the jump from a single planner business to a business that is supported by multiple income generators – a business with the systems and processes to maintain your unique value proposition and that will have a reliable value when you choose to sell.
The big problem when you arrive at this point of inflection is finding someone to provide the guidance and feedback to make the next jump successfully. Many businesses are turning to executive coaches with practical experience in the financial planning field.
Executive coaches can help in several distinct ways.
As a starting point, good executive coaches provide objectivity in business planning. Small business leaders tend to treat their businesses as personal investments and have an emotional attachment to their businesses that often leads to poor decision making. A good executive coach will guide business owners along the fine line between aspiration and objectivity.
Along the way, a business coach will help a business leader develop their personal style. Moving to a multiple income generating business involves the sole planner moving from thinking as a one-person operator, to the position of thinking like the leader of a team. Managing team members with different learnt experiences and styles requires the development of a new set of skills for the sole planner. The coach is there to facilitate the changes necessary to assist the sole planner fit within the business they are trying to grow, and to help them develop their leadership skills to execute their new role. There are numerous cases where excellent solo financial planners have failed to recognise and develop the skills they need to lead a team. Having someone provide objective advice on how a leader can meet these skills needs can add stability to a constantly changing business environment.
Finally, a good business coach should help a leader identify points of failure early in the change process while there is still time to correct them, and before they become a significant threat to the future of the business. The coach’s role is to help the leader and their team anticipate challenges before they become a problem by working ‘on the business’ as opposed to ‘in the business’.
Moving from a solo planning business to a multiple income stream business is not an easy path and certainly requires excellent business planning and financial forecasting. Having the services of an executive coach on the journey will provide a more objective pathway, with ongoing support for the leader as they implement the necessary changes in process, style and culture. What’s more, the executive coach will help minimise the chances of a foreseeable issue derailing the change management process.
Contact us
Interested in finding out more? Send knowIT’s executive coach, Wayne Wilson, a message using our contact coaching page.
