Performance Insights Process

Advisory Team Diagnostic Tools & Consulting Services


Professional Advisors know how important it is to conduct a thorough assessment of a client’s situation before making recommendations. They also know the benefits of asking the right questions to uncover a client’s true needs. In many cases, this type of assessment in itself can be “worth the price of admission” since it helps clients realize where the gaps are in their current financial plan or portfolio. For this same reason, we utilize assessments when building and developing a high-performance practice.

We created the Performance Insights Process™ as a development engine for cultivating high-performing advisor practices. Not merely tools for individual advisors, our Performance Insights Process™ represents a comprehensive approach to assessing individual team member strengths and attributes, identifying gaps and challenges, and developing specific practice management strategies to improve each aspect of the business. The goal of the process is to maximize the strengths of the team, thereby accelerating business growth and encouraging team member and client commitment.

Our unique and powerful suite of diagnostic tools uncovers objective insight on all aspects of a business, including the strengths of the team and how the business functions. This process is designed to help:

  • identify the potential performance barriers that are limiting the ultimate success of an advisory team
  • facilitate key decisions that need to be acted on for the future growth of the practice
  • provide a road map for specific action

ASSESSMENT TOOLS

MapMyStrengths.com Assessment:

This is a two-part questionnaire – Behavioral Strengths and Motivators. The first part of the tool helps explains how a person behaves, what their natural strengths are, what work energizes them, and their preferred work environment. It is an excellent tool for identifying roles and responsibilities and the communication style of each team member. The second part of the tool helps explain why a person does what they do, what drives them, and how they can be fulfilled in the job. This is an excellent tool for identifying the culture and chemistry of a team so that team members enjoy working with one another. These assessments help determine how best to utilize a person’s talents in the team. They can also help determine if any strengths are missing in the team and how best to fill that void. These assessments are the foundation of our work in capitalizing on an organization’s greatest asset, its PEOPLE.

Team Performance Assessment (TPA):

This assessment is focused on evaluating the team dynamic. The questionnaire allows each team member to rate overall team dynamics based on four areas:

  • Interpersonal – examines the effectiveness of relationships among team members
  • Structure – examines the effectiveness of how the team operates
  • Management Approach – examines the effectiveness of how strategies and tasks are determined, managed, and executed
  • Leadership Approach – examines the effectiveness of how the team is led

This is assessment is critical in identifying areas of opportunity for improvement in each of the four categories as well as team strengths to perpetuate into the future. The tool also provides the option for each team member to include comments, thoughts, and suggestions for improvement.

Business Performance Assessment (BPA):

This assessment allows each team member to rate the core functions of the practice utilizing our FIND-GRIND-MIND® Model.

  • Find examines the effectiveness of the Marketing and Sales functions
  • Grind examines the effectiveness of the Financial Solutions, Administration & Operations and Ongoing Performance Analysis & Reporting functions
  • Mind examines the effectiveness of the Client Management and Practice Management functions

The insight gained from this assessment can be utilized as the foundation for future decision making and as a plan for immediate action for each of the building blocks of the practice. The Business Performance Assessment can help identify areas of weakness and gaps of coverage; it can be utilized as the basis for creating functional roles and responsibilities and improving time and task management; and, it can be used as a mechanism to systematize the practice through our Client Relationship Lifecycle™. Ultimately, this assessment will help drive team productivity within the practice.

PROCESS

Step 1. Business Bio and Team Structure:
Time commitment: 15-30 minutes per team
The principal(s) will need to complete the online “Business Profile.” This form takes a snapshot of your business to give us a better understanding of its current structure and needs. The more information you provide, the more we will be able to assist you in achieving the results you seek. Once we receive your completed online Business Profile, we will continue the process as detailed below.

Step 2. Data Collection:
Time commitment: 30-60 minutes per team member and principal estimation
Each individual is emailed instructions for completing three online data collection assessments:

  1. MapMyStrengths.com Assessment
  2. Team Performance Assessment (TPA)
  3. Business Performance Assessment (BPA)

Step 3. Analysis & Summary:
After all team members have completed the online forms, we will generate team summaries: Team Success Insights Wheel, Team Motivators, Team Performance Summary, and Business Performance Summary. These reports will provide a comprehensive analysis of the team’s input and will be utilized during Step 4.

Step 4. Certified Consultation:
During three team telephone consultations, we will review the findings from our discovery. These telephone sessions will not only educate each team member, but will also provide specific action items for the team to take to eliminate their performance barriers and design a plan for future success. Managers, coaches, and any individuals who have the greatest impact on the success of a team’s execution should be included in these sessions. Each of the three sessions will last approximately 60-90 minutes.

Once we have worked through this process with a team, ongoing coaching and consulting is available from us or our network of industry expert Performance Strategists. In addition, we have a wealth of business building tools available for use based on each team’s specific needs.

DELIVERABLES

    Reports include:

    • Strengths and Motivators (one for each individual on the team)
    • Team Success Insights Wheel
    • Team Performance Summary (Snapshot and Full Reports)
    • Business Performance Summary (Snapshot and Full Reports)

    Three 60-90 minute consultations

    Industry specific practice management expertise