delegate or die, sir!

Prefer to listen instead?

Die from stress that is...

Value = Meaning = Responsibility = Stress

Your life becomes meaningful in precise proportion to the depths of the responsibility you are willing to shoulder. Jordan Peterson

We all want to add value and lead meaningful lives. Shouldering more responsibility is part of this journey, but increased responsibility results in more stress. One way to manage stress is through effective delegation.

Imagine with me a small RIA org. chart - there's the lead advisor, maybe a junior advisor, a paraplanner, and a CSA. Tasks flow from the lead advisor stair-stepping down like a waterfall.

Responsibility, value, and pay increase as one moves up the chart. Whereas the CSA is just responsible for his/her paycheck, the Lead Advisor is responsible for four paychecks and ultimately responsible for all the firm's clients' financial well-being. Sure, it comes with significantly higher pay, but the load that they are shouldering is much, much, much heavier. And, in most cases, they would be thrilled to pass some of that responsibility down and trust that their team can do things exactly how they would like.

Herein lies the golden opportunity for a CSA. Now it certainly isn't easy moving up and to the right, it's kind of like a salmon swimming against the waterfall. But it is meaningful and it is rewarding.

If a CSA does just the work they are expected to, their value to the business won't increase. Revisiting "The Law of Value" from the last post:

Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment.

However, if they give more value than is expected, it's like dominos - that imbalance of value will lead to an increase of responsibility, meaning, and value. And if they do it again, it will lead to an increase of responsibility, meaning, and value. That's how you move up and to the right.

For the most part, CSAs increase their compensation by taking on more tasks. They become able to take on more tasks by becoming more efficient at the ones they do. Everyone wins. Andrew Burgess

Here's where the hard part is, becoming more efficient / effective. In order to start the domino effect of moving up, one has to become a continuous improver - always seeking ways to do things better / faster / cheaper.

And also stop doing things that don't add value. This is a big piece of the puzzle. I love this definition of simplicity from the Agile Manifesto.

Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is essential.

I'd like to finish by giving some concrete examples from Andrew Burgess on how they manage the delegation thought process from advisors to CSAs:

"The biggest piece of the equation in my opinion is that "effort/sacrifice" piece from the advisor. I break it down in our organization based on the expected hourly rate of the advisor. Assuming 2000 working hours and $500,000 in production, each hour of that advisor's time is worth $250 per hour at a minimum. In reality that number is much higher when you only factor in client meetings and prospecting time. Every task that a CSA can take off the advisor's plate is worth $200-$220 per hour (Advisor hourly rate - CSA hourly rate) because that gives the advisor time back in their day to focus on the high revenue driving activities. As you increase in role to an Ops Manager or Director of Ops in a large organization, the $$ we can create in a organization by allowing Advisors to focus on client/prospect meetings multiplies by the # of CSAs you train and support.

In some cases, multiple team members are deployed to take even more non-revenue driving tasks off his/her plate. The only thing our Advisors do is client facing conversations. Every other task from scheduling, trading, financial plan creation, service follow ups, personal touches on special days, appointment preparation, etc are all done by my team of admins. I am constantly going to advisors and asking "Is that something you should be doing or can that be delegated?"

Some things are non-negotiable and we don't give the Advisor the option and other things we encourage our Advisors to live by the 80% rule. If someone can do that task 80% as good as you, delegate it. Most operational tasks (I say all but that gets me in trouble) fall in that 80%.

Regarding motivation for the CSA: It is motivating to take work off someone else's plate so YOU can make more money though. My philosophy, back to the discussion of the value add, is that every task that a CSA takes on increases the revenue driving potential of the Advisor by some determined $$ value and therefore that task delegation to the CSA also has a $$ value assigned to it. If you're saving the firm $200 an hour on a task that takes an Advisor on average 5 hours a week to do, there should be a financial benefit to the CSA as well. Money motivates everyone. I have one team member who is exceptional but I have to tell her, 'No-you don't have any capacity to take that over.' We also will provide compensation adjustments based on inflation/cost of living but for the most part, CSA's increase their compensation by taking on more tasks. They become able to take on more tasks by becoming more efficient at the ones they do. Everyone wins."

It's the makings of a value and meaning flywheel: the lead advisor shoulders a heavy load, the CSA sees an opportunity and steps up to take some of the responsibility which frees up the advisor to serve more clients and grow the business which opens up more opportunities for delegation and the passing down of responsibility, which the CSA (now an Ops Manager) steps up to take on, and the flywheel picks up speed.