The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
Advisors training their future leadership team should be taking the long view — preparing to steadily nurture talent over the years so clients and other employees feel comfortable with your succession plans.
“First and foremost, I think that you’ve got to be prepared to find someone and prioritize the kind of persona and values you want for your firm,” Sandra Cho, founder and president of Pointwealth Capital Management, shared.
“The training, in my opinion, will take five to 10 years, because you want to train them in the way that you service your clients. It’s just as big of a commitment on their part as it is for you,” Cho said.
Within the wealth management industry, a large segment of the advisor workforce is set to retire in the next decade, emphasizing the importance of workforce training and succession plans.
Some 46% of advisors are planning to retire within 10 years, a J.D. Power study found. Additionally, 26% of current advisors are 65 or older, according to the survey.
“The wealth management industry is experiencing a significant generational shift in which the demographics, ways of working and priorities of both clients and advisors are changing rapidly,” said Mike Foy, managing director of the wealth management practice at J.D. Power, in a statement for the study’s release.
Inform Employees of Overarching Business Plan
Cho at Pointwealth Capital noted that, even for employees who don’t have a desire to become leadership, it’s important to outline a clear path for their future within the organization — especially if they are a significant value add to the practice.
“It’s important to be flexible and be able to pivot,” Cho said. “You [should] have a business plan. Even if it’s just three people at your firm, you have an organizational chart. We have about eight people at our organization. No matter how big or small you are, you need a clear path for employees’ different career desires.”
Having an org chart will also help leadership to account for unforeseeable changes, including opportunities that open up in the form of new talent.
“I think you have to be open to meeting (new) people,” Cho said. “It’s so difficult to find raw, high-level talent. A person had reached out to me and solicited me via email, and at the time I didn’t have an open position. After meeting with them a couple of times, I decided I absolutely needed to make a position for them. And they would become a part of that next generation talent.”
