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Dear Readers,
As 2025 comes to a close, I am using this column to offer high-impact strategies for you and your team to implement before the year ends. While you are likely focused on tax planning, Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs), and the other client necessities, it is equally important to address the operational and strategic health of your practice.
Here are six areas to focus on before December 31.
1. Evaluate Your Team Structure and Performance
Take a good look at your team and determine whether you have the right people in the right roles, doing the right things, and working together effectively. When a team is busy, it can be so easy to overlook the people who are not producing at a high level because there is a surplus of work to be done. However, over time, individuals who operate inefficiently can erode the confidence and energy of the rest of the team.
I have participated in dozens of conversations this year with teams in which an employee is known to be lagging. Often, accountability is lacking, and the team leader fails to intervene. I frequently hear leaders say, “Not everyone can be an ‘A’ player”.
While this may be true, if you do not align people with their strengths and hold them accountable, they will never reach that high-performance status. You won’t even know if they are capable of it!
Use the end of the year to reflect on each individual beyond the standard performance review. Consider their character and whether they are a strong, contributing member or if they should be replaced by someone eager to take on the role. I know firing and hiring is expensive, but retaining an employee who underperforms is often more expensive — not just in salary, but in terms of the impact on the wider team.
2. Audit Technology for Efficiency
Determine how to better incorporate technology to increase efficiency. I have a former client who dedicates hours each and every day to learning about digital assets, using technology for client engagement, and finding ways for advisors to improve their practices with artificial intelligence (AI). I will write a future column devoted to this topic leveraging his expertise.
If you aren’t familiar with all of the tools available to you, dedicate time to research what could complement your existing practice. To maximize effectiveness, you must segment your clients, align the client experience, and ensure your processes are clear and repeatable.
The more you can automate, the more time you can dedicate to finding new clients and working with the ones you have. AI will not replace the human experience, but it can enhance it by automating tasks that you and your team members should no longer be doing manually.
3. Prioritize Succession Planning and Talent Development
Whether you are 40 or 65, you must consider the future of your firm. Your goal should be to create a sustainable team that can span generations for your clients.
It can be hard to imagine a time you don’t want to do something you love so much (and most advisors I work with truly love what they do and how they work with their clients). However, it’s important to at least start visualizing where you want to be in five, 10, or even 20 years. Ask yourself:
- What’s most important to you in terms of your brand and your client experience?
- You discuss legacy with your clients; what is your legacy?
The end of the year is a great time to map out your ideal outcomes. Allow yourself to imagine the future, and then think about what it would take to get there.
4. Address Stalled Initiatives
Review the objectives you have wanted to accomplish over the last two to five years that remain undone. You have likely made progress on many things, but there are almost certainly initiatives that keep moving from one year to the next without advancement.
Consider involving your team in a discussion about the obstacles you’ve faced regarding these goals and what’s required to overcome them. At The Collaborative, we have a process called SHIFT, which we have used with thousands of teams to facilitate these conversations.
Having a plan — a really clear plan — to start the year can be energizing, especially regarding a goal you have wanted to accomplish for a long time. A precise focus allows each team member to understand exactly how they can contribute to the solution.
5. Conduct a Self-Assessment
As a leader, take the time for introspection. Advisors often move at such a fast pace, receiving well-deserved accolades from clients, that it can be hard to step back and objectively evaluate your own performance.
Consider where you have excelled and where you could use some course correction. Think about things like:
- Your communication style and effectiveness;
- Leadership approach;
- Willingness to try new things;
- Ability to delegate and let others try (and sometimes fail); and
- Openness to feedback and willingness to learn.
We all benefit from taking a little time to be introspective. As I tell my graduate students when I teach Leadership: This is one of the few jobs where you never reach a pinnacle and rest. You must always grow, change, and develop.
6. Celebrate Your Wins
While the previous points focus on future improvement, it is essential for hard-working, dedicated professionals to stop, observe, and reward a job well done.
Let each member of your team know specifically why you appreciate their contribution. Furthermore, take time to acknowledge your personal successes. Identify where you met or exceeded goals you set for yourself. Take a moment to breathe in the feeling of success and accomplishment. Slow down to say “Thank you” to the universe for allowing you to do what you’ve done.
Gratitude often gets lost in the busyness. If you are healthy enough to be here at the end of the year, have surrounded yourself with a capable team, and have been financially rewarded, you are better off than most! Take time to enjoy that success, then move on to the next phase!
With a few weeks left in the year, I hope this sparks new ideas and areas for focus for you. Ours is an ever-changing industry, and the world moves fast. I hope you will take the time to execute just one thing here to position yourself for what’s coming next in 2026.
Beverly Flaxington co-founded The Collaborative, a consulting firm devoted to business building for the financial services industry, in 1995. The firm also founded and manages the Advisors Sales Academy. The firm has won the Wealthbriefing WealthTech award for Best Training Solution for 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. Beverly is currently an adjunct professor at Suffolk University teaching undergraduate and graduate students Entrepreneurship and Leading Teams. She is a Certified Professional Behavioral Analyst (CPBA) and Certified Professional Values Analyst (CPVA).
She has spent over 25 years in the investment industry and has been featured in Selling Power Magazine and quoted in hundreds of media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, MSNBC.com, Investment News and Solutions Magazine for the FPA. She speaks frequently at investment industry conferences and is a speaker for the CFA Institute.
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Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
