Beverly Flaxington is a practice management consultant. She answers questions from advisors facing human resource issues. To submit yours, email us here.
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Dear Bev,
As a female owner of an advisory firm, often times I find myself telling my male colleagues to do what I do naturally – listen, be empathic, solve problems, etc. Do you think that women are wired to be more effective financial advisors than men?
G.P.
Financial Advisors
Dear G.P.,
Are your male colleagues responding and able to put your advice into practice? While they don’t do it naturally, do they understand what you are asking them to do and can they do it? If so, the skills are cross-gender. In fact, based on the work we do around behavioral style, some women can have more traditional male traits, while some men are able to flex and be very female oriented in their approach. There are many women who are wired to be caring, empathic, good listeners that are generally interested in others. There are also women who are so ego-centered they have a hard time listening and focusing on others and vice versa for men.
You probably do many of the things you are coaching on naturally. We all do. What is clear and apparent to me, however, might not be so clear and apparent to you. It’s a great gift that you are able to help your team with ways they can deepen relationships, but in order to be most effective, I would be careful about generalizations. Instead, pay attention to what your colleagues do well. What can you learn from them? How can you incorporate your teachings into what they are already doing?
When we have any sort of aptitude we tend to think, “It’s easy – if I can do it, someone else can do it.” We lose sight of the fact that we all have our strengths and our areas for improvement. It seems you could be most helpful to your colleagues but focusing on what they do well, and enhancing those skills by sharing insights about what you know. If there is cross-sharing, everyone wins.
By Beverly Flaxington, read the full article here.
