Achieving real, long-lasting change in your organization is tricky business. As an RIA, you already know from working with your clients how emotions and competing motivations can get in the way of reaching goals.
But understanding how to get behavior change from your own people and getting them to care about the change you want to implement in your firm can be even more difficult.
We’ve been helping financial institutions implement digital transformation solutions for decades, and today we’ll outline for you how our experts at Skience approach organizational behavior change.
The Five Stages of RIA Behavior Change
Successful change management for financial advisors requires the implementation of a business plan that establishes new processes and procedures and secures buy-in throughout an organization.
To guide this top-to-bottom organizational behavior change, Skience consultants use a five-stage approach to ensure the change lasts long after your project has finished.
Stage 1: Awareness
Does everyone on your team know change is necessary? It may seem obvious to you, but you need to make everyone not only aware but also make it relevant to them and their position.
Communication and connection is key. Fail here, and it will be harder at the next stage to get folks motivated.
Stage 2: Desire
Each person in your organization has to have the desire to be part of the change. And, yes, this step of behavior change is often the most difficult for RIA firm owners.
Building on the action of making change relevant to each team member shows them the benefits of the change and how changes relate to them individually.
Stage 3: Knowledge
Once you’ve done the assessment and planning, it’s time to focus on training and adoption.
This stage is where the training starts. You have to help each person see the “how” in addition to the “why” behind the change. They have to know what’s going on and their part in the success of the entire organization.
Unanswered questions are your enemy. Without the knowledge, the desire will burn out.
Stage 4: Ability
It’s not just enough to know that change is needed; you also need the skills to make it happen. If you don’t have the skills on your team needed to make your change successful, it’s never going to come to fruition.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to hire people to acquire the right skills. The right training can help level-up abilities or help others acquire new skills to get you to the right place. Just make sure you have identified gaps and have filled them.
Stage 5: Reinforcement
Change is hard to enact. But it is even harder to stay committed to. You will need to reinforce new processes with ongoing training and other motivations.
Keep desire, knowledge, and ability in mind always. What do your people need from you? Try to anticipate needs and gaps to keep things moving.
The Skience Blueprint for RIA Behavior Change
Listen to Senior Vice President Greg Starr talk about leading change management initiatives for dozens of financial organizations using the Skience Blueprint on our CRM Unlocked podcast.
Need a hand in moving your team to change? Contact us to talk about the Skience Blueprint, where we fully evaluate your firm and build a roadmap for success custom-built for your needs and budget.