Beverly Flaxington is a practice management consultant. She answers questions from advisors facing human resource issues. To submit yours, email us here.
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Dear readers,
A recent conversation with a highly successful advisor prompted me to write on the importance of understanding “behavioral style.” Behavioral style encompasses our preferences or tendencies to choose one approach over the other when it comes to different aspects of what we do each day. There are four styles: how we handle problems and challenges, how much energy we get from verbalizing and being around people, how we deal with steady pace and logical structure and what preference we have for data and quality control.
The advisor I was speaking with, to use an example, was trying to figure out how best to align his team of six people. He has a very strong COO and the two are closely aligned in their values and their view of the world. However, the COO is wired very differently. She has a preference to thinking things through and watching and waiting until she makes a final decision.
He just wants to decide and get on with it!
We were speaking because he is frustrated that no matter how many times he tells her the “right way” to approach things, she continues (in his view) to ignore his pleas and preferences.
Behavioral style fits us the same way our clothes and shoes fit us. We all have a size that is comfortable and when we are wearing clothes that fit, we are more confident, comfortable and calm. If we were forced to wear someone else’s clothing or shoes that are too small or too big, we could manage but we’d spend the day feeling very out of sorts. This is what it is like when someone asks us to behave in a way that is contrary to your natural style. I may know you want me to do something differently, but I sincerely, truly cannot figure out exactly what that means for me! And just as you could lose weight, or work out in order to fit into a different size of clothing, you can also spend time modifying your behavioral approach to make it fit.
But it takes a lot of effort, focus and energy to do so.
If you are running a team, understanding behavioral differences is key because it manifests in communication style. I teach this concept to sales and relationship people because it also comes into play when they are working to influence another person. If your styles are very dissimilar, I can’t “hear” what you are saying. I’m so focused on the approach you take (tone of voice, pace of speech, etc.) that the words might get lost. Difference in style is often at the root of why we decide we don’t like someone else or they rub us the wrong way.
When you are forming a team, or hoping to make a team more effective, it is important to ensure that the right people are in the right roles and you are not asking your team members to do things they are not confident in doing. In the case of the advisor I originally referenced, a few take aways from our discussion will help you learn more about behavioral style and utilize it effectively with your team:
- As a leader, become self-aware of your style and preferences. If you tend to be a quick learner, fast mover, or, by contrast, someone who wants to listen, think and digest – know this. Identify it to yourself and also to your team. Help your colleagues understand your approach. We often communicate the technical aspects, but seldom the behavioral aspects of how we operate. Instead of just talking about the project plan, for example, talk about how each person will most likely approach the creation and implementation of the project plan.
- Know that the complement is important – but challenging. A team made up of people who are all wired the same is not going to be effective, for obvious reasons. If we all rush to the answer and no one stands up to say, “Maybe we should wait….” You have the possibility of taking a mis-step. Or, if you have all talkers on your team, and no one listens and takes notes in meetings, you might miss important information. Or if you are all low on the “rules” scale and don’t pay much attention to quality control, your client materials might be fraught with mistakes. Every style has positive attributes and contributes in some way. While it can be hard to organize people who are different, you get better results when you do so.
- As much as you can, don’t push someone to do something they are clearly not wired to be able to do. For example, if you have someone who is really low on the rules/quality control scale, you don’t want to put them in an auditing role within your firm! All of us have the ability to adapt, and we do so on a regular basis throughout the day, but asking someone to put on the wrong-sized clothing and shoes repeatedly means you are not setting them up for success. Be sure you are matching the requirements of the role from a behavioral perspective to the talents of the people. Experience is good, but behavioral fit is better!
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Beverly Flaxington co-founded The Collaborative, a consulting firm devoted to business building for the financial services industry in 1995. The firm launched www.advisorssalesacademy.com in 2018. She is currently an adjunct professor at Suffolk University teaching undergraduate students Entrepreneurship 101. Beverly is a Certified Professional Behavioral Analyst (CPBA) and Certified Professional Values Analyst (CPVA).
She has spent over 25 years in the investment industry and has been featured in Selling Power Magazine and quoted in hundreds of media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, MSNBC.com, Investment News and Solutions Magazine for the FPA. She speaks frequently at investment industry conferences and is a speaker for the CFA Institute.
Read more articles by Beverly Flaxington
Beverly Flaxington is a practice management consultant. She answers questions from advisors facing human resource issues. To submit yours, email us here. 
