When FlexShares decided to launch The Flexible Advisor podcast, we did so as a means to share our investor and advisor research with the financial advisor community. Before we could launch our inaugural episode, however, the Coronavirus pandemic hit and our worlds changed almost overnight.
The Flexible Advisor title is more appropriate now then we could have ever imagined it would be. We are all being asked to be more flexible. Social distancing. Working remotely. Adapting to new technologies. All of these things have taken hold quickly and urgently whether we wanted them to or not.
In this first episode, my co-host, David Partain, who heads up marketing for FlexShares Exchange Traded Funds, shares insights as a manager of a now fully remote team on what helps, what doesn’t and how he attempts to motivate his staff during this strange time.
We also discuss how compassion and flexibility will be the cornerstone of creating the business culture you want during this time but also when things go back to normal. We share some cautionary tales of tactics that will probably not yield the long-term results that you really want.
There are so many things we don’t know about today, tomorrow and what our future looks like. However, the experience we create for our clients and office partners now will define who we are on the other side of this. Reaching out to see how clients are doing – beyond their investment balances will be critical. Striking a balance of flexibility while still getting the job done by your staff will be another key factor that defines who your firm is and who you are able to retain.
We hope you’ll listen to our first broadcast and come back in the coming weeks to learn about what your peers and industry experts are doing to position themselves to successfully navigate through this health and market crisis. We’ll be talking with advisors and industry experts while sharing research insights and best practices. While some of the research was conducted prior to the current turmoil, we believe that the findings are still relevant.
Plus, we would love to hear from you. If there’s something you’d like us to discuss on future episodes, drop David or me a note. We appreciate your feedback and look forward to hearing what you have to say. We hope you’ll listen to our first episode and then subscribe to gain access to our future episodes.