One of the most common issues I hear Trusted Advisor's and their office support people struggle with is "overload."  I often hear Administrative Managers say things such as, "It's almost impossible to find time to coordinate The Three Meeting Process™, The Five Critical Reports™and documenting processes using The Best Way™ with everything else I have on my plate.  To which I respond, what else do you currently have on your plate?  The resolution to "overload" lies in the response to this question.

There are two common responses I hear to this question, both of which, if unresolved, will sabotage your efforts to deliverer fully comprehensive financial services through a Best-in-Class Deliverables Team of Subject Matter Experts; the methodology we teach.

CRIPPLING HINDRANCE #1 of 2: Administrative Managers often say they cannot find time to implement the comprehensive financial services model we teach on top of their current tasks such as filling-out and tracking paperwork or other action items for clients (applications, transfer forms, distributions, etc).

Solution #1: This is a clear indication that

1. Trusted Advisor either has not committed to stepping out of their role of Subject Matter Expert (Asset allocator, Investment picker, Insurance Agent, Tax Preparer, or whatever) into the Trusted Advisor role by delegating all Subject Matter Expert work to a Deliverables Team Member recruited for that purpose... or,
   
2. The commitment or timetable for transitioning the Administrative Manager out of these tasks are not clear to the team.
   

The fact that the Administrative Manager is still filling out paperwork or tracking client issues is usually, but not always, a strong indicator that there has not been a Subject Matter Expert acquired or identified to do that work. 

Every Deliverables Team Member (money manager, financial planner, estate planning expert, tax expert & insurance experts) are responsible for obtaining all the information they need to accomplish their assigned tasks (your annual Deliverables Checkpoints™ checklist).  Whether you allow them access directly to clients or whether you request that they are asked to be on "speaker phone" during client progress meetings to clarify what they need, it is, nevertheless, their responsibility to gather all the information & documents they need to do the job within their narrow area of expertise. 

The fact that an Administrative Manager to the Trusted Advisor is doing some of that work means this hand-off has not been completed.  The solution is to set a goal date for this transition to be fully completed.  If more Ideal Clients must be acquired to afford the transition, or if licensing is required by an individual or any other transition obstacle is identified, simply be candid pinpoint the issues, create strategies and a time-table around each & re-commit to transitioning all this work away from your Administrative Manager.

I'll cover CRIPPLING HINDRANCE #2 of 2 on Thursday.