Está en la página 1de 6

172

P R O C E E D I N G S
MP3: MP1033 CD: C1033
I
n the last 14 years, I have been fortunate enough to
look inside over 550 nancial planners businesses to
see what is working and what is not. In that time I
have discovered that these businesses fall into three cat-
egories. Tey are either in survival modein other words
not getting ahead or going backwards. Te second group
is successful at what they dothey are good at what they
do and are making money. Te nal group is great at what
they doin other words, they have become signicant in
their market place. Recognized by their clients, commu-
nity, and companies, they work with colleagues at being
great at what they do in their elds. To be signicant at
what you do, you need to create a team of loyal, passionate
people.
It is not about what other people think about you that
matters; it is about what you want from your business.
In our face-to-face search, we have found that nancial
advisors just like you have four desires from your business.
You want to enhance the value of your business, increase
your prots and revenue, increase your personal satisfac-
tion, and improve your lifestyle from this business vehicle
you have chosen. Standing in the way of that are ten
roadblocks, which are listed below. Of these ten, I want to
focus on just one, sta and support, in this session. And
in particular, I want to focus on the three keys to engag-
ing your people and creating loyal, passionate people. You
will be able to take away from this presentation some real
tactics, tools, and techniques that you can gain value from
over the next 365 days. Tis presentation has a real world
MDRT365 focus!
Te rst key is Clarify your direction. Your people
want to follow someone who knows where he or she are
going. Te second key is about creating a Culture that
brings the best out in your people. It is about identify-
ing your DNA that makes your business character. Te
nal key is about using Collaboration, moving beyond
cooperation in your team and harnessing the power of
people who want to create and be part of a dynamic
business.
Keith Abraham, CSP, has built a reputation as
one of Australias most in-demand conference
speakers, business growth catalysts and innovation
facilitators, working directly with some of the
worlds leading brands, including Toyota, Lexus,
Asteron Insurance, Toshiba and Westpac Banking
Corp. In addition, Abraham has worked with more
than 200 high-prole nancial advisors, helping
them increase their business growth an average
of 35 percent during a 12-month timeframe.
He has written three best-selling books and is a
Nevin Award winner, the highest honor given to a
professional speaker in Australia.
People Pursuing A Passion
2 Ryder Court, Robina, Queensland, 4226, Australia
Phone: 61 411 648080
E-mail: keithabraham@keithabraham.com.au
The 3 Strategies to Creating a Loyal, Passionate
Business Team
Keith Abraham, CSP
173
P R O C E E D I N G S
The 3 Strategies to Creating a Loyal, Passionate
Business Team(continued)
Clarify
Te critical factor in clarifying your direction is for
you to fall back in love with your business, refocus your
purpose, and become passionate about what you do again.
I refer to this as the big WHY. You need a big WHY to
do the uncomfortable and the inconvenient, to change
and evolve when in your eyes everything seems good. You
could call this your manifesto. What do you stand for and
where in your business is that articulated? I am not talking
about a mission statement, which has been sanitized for
client consumption. I am talking about saying it just as it
feels. What do you really stand for? What legacy do you
want to leave for others? What is a goal that is bigger than
you, that is outside of you, and that will live on after you?
Tat becomes your big WHY!
One of the best examples of a business manifesto, is
from Steve Jobs at Apple. It is called, To the Crazy Ones.
Heres to the crazy ones, the mists, the reb-
els, the troublemakers, the round pegs in
the square holesthe ones who see things
dierently. Tey are not fond of rules, and
they have no respect for the status quo.
You can quote them, disagree with them,
disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them. About
the only thing you cant do, is ignore them.
Because they change things. Tey invent. Tey
imagine. Tey heal. Tey explore. Tey cre-
ate. Tey inspire. Tey push the human race
forward. Maybe they have to be crazy. How
else can you stare at an empty canvas and see
a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song
that hasnt been written? Or gaze at a red plan-
et and see a laboratory on wheels?
We make tools for these kinds of people.
While some see them as the crazy ones, we
see genius. Because the people who are crazy
enough to think they can change the world,
are the ones who do. Tink dierently.
You see your people and the people that join you want
to belong to something special. Tey need their own rea-
sons for doing the uncomfortable and the inconvenient,
but they need an even bigger reason to put their heart and
soul into your business when they join you.
One of the nancial planners I work with at the begin-
ning of the recruitment process gives the potential new em-
ployees the planners manifesto and business plan and asks
them to read it prior to the rst interview. He asks them
to write a one-page Personal Contribution Document on
how they could best contribute to assist him and his team
to achieve the manifesto and the business of the nanical
planners dreams. You dont want resumes from people.
Have you ever seen a bad resume?
At that rst interview, the business owner discusses the
potential new sta members interpretation of the mani-
festo and his Personal Contribution Document to gauge
his level of excitement. If the potential new sta member
is excited by it, he will have another interview. Give po-
tential new team members your manifesto. Ask them to
read it and ask for their feedback. You want people who
are excited about contributing to your business, being part
of a bigger picture.
If they say that it sounds interesting, dont employ
them. Tat is the last interview. Te question is, Do you
want people to come to work because it is a job, or do you
want people to come to work because they can see that
what they do is making a meaningful dierence? I never
want people to have a job with me. I want passionate people
working with me!
174
P R O C E E D I N G S
In discovering your WHY, there are four parts to the
formulamessage, method, milestones, and momentum.
What message do you want to pass on to people who con-
nect with you, clients, colleagues, team members, your
professional and local community? What method are you
going to use to achieve that goal? What vehicle is going
to take you toward your WHY in the most eective way?
What are the milestones along the way that will de-
termine if you are making progress? Ten nally, what
are you going to do maintain your momentum? I love the
quotation from Lee Iacocca, Te speed of the business
is the speed of its leaders. How fast are you traveling,
changing, and developing yourself?
Most people come into your industry never knowing
what the business of their dreams looks like. Teir goal is
to survive, make enough money to replace their last job,
get past the two-year mark in the industry, rather than
designing the business of their dreams. Everyone has a
choiceyou can have a good business or a great business.
We have advisors answer 12 questions to determine what
the business of their dreams looks like around these areas:
Income and Prots Roles You Play Number of Clients
# of Sta
and Oces
# of Days
O P.A.
# of Hours
You Work
Average
Commission
Your Point of
Dierence
Level of
Excitement
Value of
Your Business
Service/Product
Oering
Niche Markets
We have had advisors and planners complete these
questions on worksheets and then frame them for their
walls. Tey can use the worksheet as the basis of their
manifestos, and share them with potential new employees.
Once you know what the big picture looks like, then it is
time to dene your goals, strategies, and tactics for the
next 12 months by creating a one-page business plan.
Tis is a 20-30 minute activity that provides you with
the foundation and milestones to measure your progress.
At this point you need to engage your people, work with
them to create this plan, gain their buy-in and input. Te
four key components of this one-page business plan are
nancial goals, marketing goals, operational goals, and
people goals.
What do you want to achieve as a business in each of
these areas over the next 12 months? What milestones
do you need to achieve in the next 30, 60, and 90 days
as a team? What projects are dierent people on your
team working on so that they are delivered within that
timeframe?
Culture
Just like each of us is designed with a variety of genetic
attributes, every business has its own type of DNA. What
is your business DNA? What characteristics, qualities, at-
tributes, and attitudes best describe your business? Both
good and bad! Is your DNA serving your business the best
as you move toward your manifesto, the business of your
dreams, and your business plan for the next 12 months? It
Tese characteristics build your culture, which continues
to shape the characteristics of your business.
We can look inside a company like Lexus to see what
its DNA is. About 21 years ago, Lexus arrived in this
country without any luxury car heritage and since then, it
has become the number one luxury car brand. Lexus has
been built around its culture, which is built around those
three letters DNA. DDynamic Way of Doing Business;
NNot-Negotiable Standards; and AAttitude of
Excellence in Everything We Do. So, whats your DNA
for your business? Where is it dened and what does it re-
ally mean? Lexus decided to do their business dierently.
It could gain cut-through in a market not ready for a new
brand. Lexus poured time, resources, and passionate peo-
ple into creating a product worth over $1 billion in R&D.
With over 100 not-negotiable standards, Lexus measures
every quarter within the dealership. Secret shoppers visit
dealerships every six months, and then they shop the two
dealerships on either side of them that are Mercedes, Audi,
or BMW to see how each dealership is tracking compared
to its competitors.
Lexus has an attitude of excellence, If we are going to
do it, we are going to do it right or we are not going to do
The 3 Strategies to Creating a Loyal, Passionate
Business Team(continued)
175
P R O C E E D I N G S
it. In Australia, we take two days to share the Lexus DNA
with people before they join the company. After those two
days, people are either excited about joining Lexus or they
go home and dont join! You see, if you dont tell a story
that engages people, if you cannot share your big WHY,
then your team will go through the motions. New people
will treat working for you as a job. I dont know about you,
but I dont want people to have a job: I want to give them
an opportunity to be passionate, a vehicle to pursue their
dreams, and a place for them to contribute.
Southwest Airlines has been very successful at provid-
ing a quality service at a low cost. One of the ways the
company have achieved this is through its DNA. A cul-
ture that has made Southwest look outside the industry to
learn from the best of the best. One of the critical factors
in a low-cost model in the airline industry is the turn-
around time of an aircraft. It costs money when planes are
sitting on the tarmac, not ying. So what does Southwest
do when it is best in its industry at turning around air-
crafts and it wants to do it better? It looks outside its
industry and asks, Whom can we learn from? So who
turns vehicles around quicker than anyone? NASCAR pit
crew teams. Southwest studied these teams to learn how
to save seconds getting people and luggage on and o their
planes. Southwests DNA lets it look outside its industry
to continuously nd ways to save time.
If we look at the Ritz Carlton to see the drivers of its
DNA, which it calls the Gold Standards, we see a motto,
the three steps of service, service values, and Te Employee
Promise.
At Te Ritz-Carlton, our Ladies and Gentle-
men are the most important resource in our
service commitment to our guests.
By applying the principles of trust, honesty,
respect, integrity and commitment, we nur-
ture and maximize talent to the benet of each
individual and the company.
Te Ritz-Carlton fosters a work environ-
ment where diversity is valued, quality of
life is enhanced, individual aspirations are
fullled, and Te Ritz-Carlton Mystique is
strengthened.
DNA conveys the importance of their peopleLadies
and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen. You
know what you are signing up for when you join this or-
ganization and what you need to contribute in order to be
successful in your role.
Ten you have one of my favorite productsnot
that I own one, want to own one, or have ever been on
onebut I love the culture that has built their tribe of
loyal, passionate followers. When the past CEO of Harley
Davison, Richard Teerlink, was asked the question by a
journalist, Whats it like to be a motorbike manufactur-
er? His response was, We have never been a motorbike
manufacturer. What we sell is the ability for a 43-year-old
accountant to dress in black leather, ride through small
towns, and have people be afraid of him. We are a lifestyle
company, not a manufacturing company. You see, Harley
Davidsons DNA is so strong that people want to be a part
of it, dress in the brand, join the over 230 groups of people
saying, Its a free country, lets ride, to join the 7,188
people who have gone online to record their Freedom
Statements and countless number of people who tattoo
the Harley Davidson logo onto their skin.
You need to take some time out to identify your DNA.
What characteristics do you want to inject new people
with when they join you, when they become part of your
team? To give you just an example, one of my nancial
planning clients in Canberra took this information to
heart. At their annual two-day business retreat, he and
his whole team spent the morning of the rst day dening
their DNAwhat their culture was going to look like,
how they wanted to be regarded by their clients, who they
wanted to do business with in the future, what they stood
for in their business, Tey also dened what they did not
do in their business and what their not-negotiable stan-
dards were.
I wish you could have been there as the team of ten
people got involved, got onboard, and made a transition
from His Business to Our Business. Te power comes
The 3 Strategies to Creating a Loyal, Passionate
Business Team(continued)
176
P R O C E E D I N G S
from involvement, engagement, and the collaborative ef-
forts of your team members. As you engage your people
in the same process as my clients, you will move one step
closer to having more passionate people working with you
and fewer employees going through the motions of just
doing their jobs.
Collaboration
Tere are four levels that most teams operate on; they
are in conict, they are confused, they cooperate with one
another, or they collaborate with one another. You may
wonder what the dierence is between cooperate and
collaborate. Te best way to describe cooperation is that
most teams get along, do whats required, and work well
together. Collaboration is about harnessing the power,
ideas, and synergy that come from people working toward
common goals, nding better ways to improve your busi-
ness, and channeling intellectual property into innovative
strategies that create a better service experience and solve
the recurring challenges that enhance the operational ef-
fectiveness of your business.
Te piece of the puzzle is identifying where your people
are in your business and to do that, I have a simple model
that assists you in mapping out where your people are.
On the right-hand side of the model are people who
genuinely care about your business. Tey genuinely care
about you, they genuinely care about your clients, and
they genuinely care about excellence. Ten on the left-
hand side of the model are people who are in turn up
mode. Tey turn up and do their job and that is it! Tey
are really great at going to lunch on time and going home
on time. Tey turn up and go through the motions; they
do whats required and thats it. Ideas, input, innovation,
and thinking outside the box are not part of their job de-
scriptions. On the top of the model, most people tend to
be okay. When you ask them, How are things going?
Tey reply, Im okay. Whats the opposite of that? I am
not happy. I am not happy at work, with my life, with my
partner, or with the world.
So, where do your people t? If they are okayish and
they care, I would call them Volunteers and when prob-
lems come up, they say, How do we do x it? What can
I do to help? How can we, as a team, resolve it, Boss?
What can we do to make it work better? What happens
if your people are okayish but are in turn up mode. We
call them Survivors. So when problems come up, they say,
Hey Boss, what do you want me to do about it? Boss, you
pay me to do my job, you dont pay me to thinkthats an
optional extra. Tey want you to tell them exactly what
you want them to do. Tey will go away and do it to the
letter, and when it doesnt work, youre to blame because
you told them what to do. What happens when survivors
get ticked o at your business? Tey become a Prisoner:
they sabotage your eorts, and they create problems
for you.
When you approach them and ask them, Why are you
not happy? Teir response is that they are ne. Tey try
to inuence their colleagues in a negative way. Ten what
happens when people who genuinely care are unhappy?
We call them Complainers. Why do we call them com-
plainers? Because they come into work, make a beeline
for you, and tell you about everything that is not working
in your business without ever considering the solutions to
the challenge.
You want your people to come to you with two solu-
tions that they have thought about. Tey may not be the
right solutions, but they are thinking about how to solve
it. To engage your people, you need to create time to
connect with them, not just to communicate with them.
Involve them in the process of working on your business
so that they can take ownership of the challenges and
The 3 Strategies to Creating a Loyal, Passionate
Business Team(continued)
177
P R O C E E D I N G S
The 3 Strategies to Creating a Loyal, Passionate
Business Team
the successes. Tis is one way to create volunteers for
your business.
One company that has done this exceptionally well
globally is Toyota. Over the past eight years I have been
fortunate enough to work with Toyota globally, and one of
the great things about that organization is it has a wonder-
ful culture of collaboration. Part of the Toyota Way listed
below is KaizenContinuous Improvement.
Each year Toyota engages its 60,000 employees world-
wide, through collaboration, to create over 900,000 ideas
to improve Toyotas businessthat is just over one idea a
month, 15 ideas per person per year. And the great part
about it is that 97% of them are implemented within 12
months. If your people feel like they are contributing,
then they feel like they are engaged, and when they feel
engaged with your business, their colleagues and collabo-
ration are the byproduct with the payo being that you
can go and work on the high payo activities.
It was interesting that one of my nancial planner
clients who attended my two-day Business Accelerator
Program took this concept to heart. Now every Friday
morning he brings in a temporary sta member to look af-
ter the telephones, so that he and his team of eight people
can work on their business.
Tey have whiteboards all around their boardroom
with the ideas they have created, the ideas that are a work
in progress, the ideas they have implemented, and the re-
sults they are achieving. His team is excited as they see
their ideas being implemented and thus achieving a better
result for their business and their clients.
I will give you some examples of what they created in
the rst six months after the program: His team members
designed a new welcome pack for clients. Tey created a
process for those prospects who dont do business with
them. Tey have totally redesigned the seminar presenta-
tion he delivers to prospects. Tey have looked at every
single step of their sales and service process to develop a
better client experience that is memorable, repeatable, and
referable. Tis type of eort requires a commitment, but
rst it requires a decision on the behalf of the business
owner to let go and involve their people in order to create
Volunteers.
I have spoken to you about the three CsClarify,
Culture, and Collaboration. Now, this is where the rubber
meets the road for you. After this conference, if you are go-
ing to have the business of your dreams, then you need to
engage your people. Whether you have one team member
or hundreds of team members, these strategies work. Will
they work for you? Only if you are deliberate in your im-
plementation plan, focus on the right outcomes, and have
a big enough WHY for doing it. Take a moment now and
list down what ideas are going to form your MDRT365 list
of ideas to implement and gain value from all year round.
It all starts with how big your WHY is and your reason
for doing it. You see, any excuse will do when the reason
is not big enough. My nal message to you today is this, if
you want to plant for days, then plant owers. If you want
to plant for years, plant trees, and if you want to plant
for eternity, then plant ideas! Hopefully I have given you
enough ideas, but the thing about ideas is that you need
to do something with them. You see, if its not you, then
who? And if its now, then when? If it is not you that imple-
ments your ideas, who is going to do it? And if its not now
and its not a good time to implement them, then when?
How many more times do you need to hear the ideas you
already know before you say, Enough is Enough!

También podría gustarte