The Pluses and Minuses of Staying— Or Leaving

Dear T.I.,

I wish I had the crystal ball to answer your two questions – where are things headed and should you make a move. These are not areas I am comfortable offering an opinion on, because I don’t think anyone could tell you the answers to this! If they say they can, don’t trust it.

I’ve had numerous conversations with advisors in the fourth quarter who are unhappy with their current situations. There are as many reasons for this as there are advisors talking to me, but I can say the one consistent theme is the experience of being undervalued by their boss or employer. I teach graduate classes on leadership, and I underscore all the time how much your top performers need to hear they are top performing. You can’t assume they know, and you definitely don’t want to give negative feedback without balancing it with what has gone well.

I honestly don’t know whether you should stay or go. I can advise you to create a pro and con list of your options. On the pro side, ask yourself questions like the following: What benefits accrue to you from staying where you are? What do you like about your current firm, role, colleagues and clients? What would you miss were you to leave?

Then, in the con column, ask yourself some different questions: What things at your firm irritate you? What would you like to move away from if given a better opportunity? What would be important to you in a new role?

Before you can make any decision about what’s best for you, you will want to take the time to step back and examine the following:

• What your desired outcome really is. (What would success look like for you either where you are now or in a new place?)
• What obstacles you currently face and which ones you can control
• What you can influence and what’s out of your control
• What would be involved for you personally, either staying or going

No one can tell you what’s right for you, so don’t take advice from well-meaning people around you. Do your own due diligence and then decide. Often there are no “right” answers — there are only best answers with all things considered.

Dear Bev,

We have a team member who is going through medical treatments for a very rare condition. Historically, she has not been the greatest contributor on our team. Now, with her issues she is basically operating at 10%. We don’t want to fire her (we’re not even sure if we can with her situation), but she isn’t doing what’s needed. That is putting a strain on the rest of the team.

It seems unfair to take care of one person at the expense of everyone else. We are not cold people and care deeply about her situation, but we’re struggling to run a business with an important piece missing. How do other firms handle this type of thing?

Anonymous

Dear Advisor,

This is a difficult situation, and you have my heartfelt concern both for your team member and for you and your team, who are navigating this while trying to be respectful and supportive. There are no easy answers.

I have a client who gave one of his most important team members four months off for her maternity leave — a very generous amount of time for a very small team. He addressed the problem by bringing in a virtual administrative team member from the larger company with which he is associated. The virtual resource worked with the team member headed out for parental leave so she was clear on what needed to be done in advance.

Often the best approach is to outsource some of the activities, but you have to be careful about which activities, for client confidentiality purposes. You may have other people who are doing basic administrative things that could be outsourced. That could free up those team members to take on some of the work of your ailing team member as she navigates her appointments and health concerns.

It would make sense to sit down with this person — and the team around her — and talk about:

1. How to re-allocate responsibilities.
2. What things are top priority
3. Which are most challenging for her
4. Where training is needed for team members to take on some of her confidential work

This is the type of scenario that is hard to address, because you don’t want her to feel the spotlight is on her and her condition. At the same time, you are running a business, and clients deserve the best of the best in terms of responses and support. This leaves you with little choice other than to address head-on what’s happening and ask the entire team to work together to figure out the best solution.

To our readers — as we engage in the holiday season, I wish you and yours all of the best in terms of health and happiness. We are always seeking complex questions to answer to keep the column fresh and interesting. My request to you: during whatever break you may have over the holidays, please ponder on an obstacle for us to consider in this column! Thank you for your continued support and for reading!

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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