Great money can be made in financial services without being amazing at your job, so why bother? asks Michelle Hoskin, managing director, Standards International.
Why do you get out of bed of a morning? To pay the bills, because you can’t just laze around all day? Or because you love what you do and want to really make a difference?
I can’t disagree one bit that financial services is probably one of the best and easiest professions in which to ‘make a difference’. Every day, every little thing that you do has a direct impact on the lives of those around you – be it your fellow team members or, more obviously, your clients.
But what is it all for and why does it really matter?
Some of us (and I include myself in that ‘us’) are just not designed to work in non/low-impactful industries and professions. They don’t float our boat probably because deep down we know that we were built to do more.
Over the past 25 years I have continued to do some really great work with firms, but more recently there has been a shift in the essence of what firms are trying to achieve. Similar work, projects and changes but with a totally different agenda and meaning behind them.
Most firms go through the motions and quite honestly who would blame them? Many have a healthy-looking balance sheet, their assets under management are building nicely, they have successfully weathered the Covid storm, their teams are in the main happy and they’ve not lost a single client in years – so why do we need more?
I get that many firms would say ‘what else matters?’ But I’ve met a lot of people who tick all these boxes and yet are still not happy, are still not fulfilled in their work. Why? Well, I believe it’s a question of impact.
I am yet to find a planner, paraplanner or even a business owner who didn’t come into our magical profession to make a difference, to change lives, to help those who appear to need it the most – and if along the way they are financially rewarded for their efforts, then it’s a win/win.
I don’t mean to come across as too controversial (however, that’s never stopped me before) but there is really great money to be made in financial services/financial advice without being that amazing. It’s a fruitful profession which means that, once the hard yards have been put in, it’s pretty easy to sit very comfortably on the recurring income which comes trickling in each month.
But is that enough? I’m not talking about enough money. I’m talking about whether you, your fellow team members and the business you work within are making enough of an impact: a real impact; an impact that really makes a difference; an impact that will live on long after you.
Throughout the past year and a half, we have taken and will continue to take a long hard look at the impact that WE are making as a business and as a team. We have concluded that as the only standards, training and consultancy business in the sector, we have a lifetime of work if we are to truly change the world, one financial adviser at a time! Add to this that we all know that working in this profession is not easy; it’s emotionally draining and physically exhausting at times, and I have no doubt that each of you will have, and still are, making many personal sacrifices on a day-to-day basis – many with irreversible consequences. So, my question is: Is the impact you are having worth the sacrifices you are making?
Only you can answer that question honestly; however, I think the only solution to all of this is to be clear about what impact you are trying to make in the first place.
Your commitment
If you could define your commitment statement and, as a whole team, hang your hat on one promise, what would that be?
As individuals, and collectively as a team, ours is a commitment to excellence. It forms the basis of everything that we do: how we hire, how we choose our clients, how we select the opportunities to explore and how we say no to some of the many opportunities that cross our path.
At our core sits Our Commitment to Excellence Policy. It stands proud in our office and on our website. It takes centre stage on the home page of our intranet and forms the basis of our team’s one-to-one appraisals and development plans.
So, now let’s talk about the impact. During the review of our 2030 vision and the defining of our 2021/22 goals, we focused on the impact that we were committed to making and we are thrilled with what we have designed.
But what about you? I encourage you to sit down as a whole team (and yes, I mean all of them – and yes, you can do this remotely) and ask the following question:
‘By 2030* what impact will we have made?’
Get the flip chart ready or the whiteboard loaded and capture it all. Write everything down: the crazy, the creative and the constructive. If you have the right team in place, they will get what you are trying to do and will totally buy in – it will be one of the best team meetings you have ever run!
As it has with us – it will excite you all. It will sharpen your focus on what really matters. It will drive activity and release a passion for the job that you have probably never seen before. And by far the best thing about it is, if you can really nail this and do it right, everyone wins!
*You can pick whatever year you like – but make it far enough away that it is slightly scary!
