Do you follow the status quo or reach for the sky?

I read a comical article the other day about a manager of a start up freight company in the USA who was upset when 3 of their employees left at the same time. Instead of reflecting on why this happened and try to rectify the issues to ensure more staff don't walk out the door, the manager ridiculed the employees via email to the entire workforce, imposed longer notice periods and conditions on future employees trying to leave. This only encouraged more people to walk out the door feeling their values were no longer aligned. Why force someone to stay somewhere they aren't happy and why not reflect and say, how can we make this a place people want to belong to and why do they want to leave?

The last few weeks I have also heard the phenomenon we have been calling The Great Resignation being flipped on it's head and called The Great Re-Set, The Great Re-Think, and much more. This is a time of change, a time of reflection and a great opportunity to ensure you have the right teams in place to take you through to the next phase of your business, especially in the advice industry where so much change is taking place.

An article written in the Financial Review on 18th April 2022 highlighted the decline in Australian's seeking Financial Advice with the The Adviser Ratings 2022 Financial Advice Landscape Report?stating that 100,000 clients became unadvised in the last year, leaving the pool of advised clients at just 10.1%. With 29% of Australians wanting Advice (AFR 2022), the crack down on Finfluencers being able to spruke advice via Social Media, the quality of advisers that remain in the industry due to education reform, it is not all doom and gloom.

If we just flip it on its head and take a glass half full approach to these changing times we can grow and thrive. Do you need to think through what you offer as a business to your employees now and in the future? Now is the time to consolidate, strengthen your team and if you can't do it alone, join forces with someone with shared values to ensure you are ready for the next phase! If we all band together through shared knowledge and economies of scale we can be successful.

Fiona Carley - CEO Stable Management Group

Stable Advisory Group are investors in personal advice businesses. Stable Management oversees these businesses to ensure they reach their full potential, promoting cohesion and collaboration across the group.