Red light, green light

How do you stop and reset in an industry that's always on the move?

Clients. Markets. Products. Regulation. Admin. Technology. More regulation. Arrrrgh! Financial services businesses sure do have a lot to keep up with. Is stopping the bus and getting off ever an option? Look at successful start-ups - they’re usually led by people who have had a chance to step back, stop, rethink and then make a move. That’s tricky to do in an established business where long-term thinking can give way to pressures that come from short-term targets - like getting new customers through the door. So what can you do?

How do you hit stop and reset in an industry that is always on the move?

Executive life coach Jason Bernic works with successful financial planners that have reached a point and are looking to see what’s next. Through coaching, he helps them realise their best potential and performance.

Jason joined the Upfront podcast to talk about how financial services leaders can find the time, vision and guts to stop and change what they’re doing today for a chance at something even bigger tomorrow.

So stop what you’re doing and read on for what he had to say. It’s even more inspiring when you hear him say it so listen in full to the Upfront podcast.

How do you stop and reset in an industry that is always on the move?

Jason Slow down. Take stock of where you as an individual and you as a business are. Step out. Look back in. Understand the current reality like you would with your client. Create the goals, objectives or the place that you want to be as an individual and as a business. Come up with a strategy in order to get there and create actual actions that you, your business, your people can take in pursuit of hitting those goals. That could be the vision, the mission, the objective, the purpose, whatever it is. So much of this is about slowing down, taking a breath, planning and moving forward.

So much of this is about slowing down, taking a breath, planning and moving forward.

You coach leaders in financial services to be their best. What does it take to be a great leader today?

Jason Leadership nowadays is so much more a way of being than a way of doing. There are a few marks of great leadership, empathy is one of them. Screaming and shouting don't work. Siding with or almost physically standing hip to hip or shoulder to shoulder with someone is far more effective than the way that they used to do it years ago. Empowering the other leaders or up-and-coming leaders of an organisation is incredibly powerful. Creating a culture that begins with leadership at the top and cascades down to the respective levels, so much so that the company or the business could create subcultures within it. All of these things contribute to great leadership, and not all of these things were points of conversation even two decades ago.

What’s the main challenge people come to you for help with?

Jason They want to create more time. They say that they don't have any time and they want more of it. I always turn it around and talk about the creation of time. It's not about finding time because we all have 24 hours a day. It's about creating time and that's about improving your relationship with time - also with tasks but there's a lot more to that. Creating capacity in terms of time is one of the biggest opportunities you can do for yourself. But it's very hard for people because they often weigh time up against everything else.

What’s your advice to help leaders cope with constant change and demands?

Jason There’s this thing called ‘grit’ and it’s defined as courage, perseverance, adaptability and resilience. It’s what helps people navigate the challenges they have. Resilience is about dealing with the emotional experience of whatever’s thrown at you. And when a lot of stuff is thrown at you, the goals should never change - we just need to find different ways of going at those goals and that’s adapting, right? Perseverance is also incredibly important because you really just have to keep going and going. And to keep going, you need courage. Grit has helped us through the time of the pandemic and sets the stage for anyone in leadership - or anyone with any kind of goal - to just keep going. The great thing is that we know on the other side of any crisis is the opportunity to grow, and we always come out okay. We just have to have some optimism and keep going.

To create capacity in terms of time is one of the biggest opportunities you can do for yourself.

The great thing is that we know on the other side of any crisis is the opportunity to grow, and we always come out okay.

Are there any leaders that inspire you?

Jason I am inspired by so many of my clients. The pandemic messed with the minds of financial advisers a lot. But those financial planners that didn’t sit back and wait it out, those that continued to grow and adapt and find different ways of doing things, they did well. There are many financial planners that report back that those were the biggest two years they ever had. Their income increased, their profitability and assets under management increased, they’ve got more of the best clients and now have a national or even international footprint. Guess what? They looked at what was happening and saw opportunity. That’s perspective. That’s character. That’s drive.

HOW TO LEAD A FINANCIAL SERVICES BUSINESS PEOPLE LOVE

Financial planners, as do many other professions, get in their own way too much.

You need to be a sloth in an on demand world

What bad habits do you think leaders in the profession should break?

Jason Making time an excuse and making admin an excuse. Financial planners, as do many other professions, get in their own way too much. There is a lot of pressure on the profession and they sit in the middle of pressures that come from all angles. They may have performance pressures, like the delivery of financial plans and sales, they have to keep up with legislation, markets, products, admin and they may be business owners so they're managing people and seeing or engaging with clients. There is a lot, but it's all possible. It is so important to improve one's relationship with time, improve one's relationship with being busy and admin and get out of your own way and ask what’s possible because that's when the growth will happen.

What advice do you give to CEOs that are pulled in different directions?

Jason Slow down. Anyone that feels under pressure so often feel like they need to speed up to keep up. That is the wrong thing to do. You need to slow it down. I read something the other day that said: you need to be a sloth in an on-demand world, because if you are trying to keep up with the pace of everything at the same time, you will dilute your efforts. But if you slow down and tackle one thing at a time with full focus and attention, giving it your best at any given time, then you'll deal with it and then you move on. People and the business need you strategically, they need your insight, they need your perspective, they need your thoughts. You can't do that if you're running around like the Tasmanian devil.

Listen to the episode Red light, green light in full and follow Upfront wherever you get your podcasts.

Red light, green light

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