While advisors are on the front lines of client service, and industry groups and executives form the vanguard of regulatory debates, middle managers say they are facing the challenges of a graying financial industry head-on.

Mid-level management is adapting to guide aging advisors to be efficient, innovative and collaborative, said a panel of emerging leaders on Thursday at the SIFMA Private Client Conference in New York.

“How do we help advisors do more with the 168 hours they have every week?” asked Todd Hubley, a branch manager and financial advisor with Ameriprise Financial Services in New York. “We have to help them to take advantage of the tools and technology at their disposal and to spend more of their time face-to-face with their clients.”

That leaves managers with a difficult task -- motivating a core of advisors whose age averages in the mid-50s to adopt new ways of doing business and to serve younger generations of clients.

As advisors age, their book of business typically follows suit -- meaning older advisors often have to cope with clients who are deaccumulating their personal wealth in retirement, a sandbag for growth, said Nathan Crair, managing director of the West Los Angeles complex for Merrill Lynch Wealth Management.

“A senior advisor might not be motivated to grow, but I typically find that these people care a lot about their clients,” said Crair. “I start talking about the legacy that they’re trying to leave, who are these clients that you really care about, don’t you owe it to them to give them the best opportunity to continue this relationship that you’ve built?”

Hubley says that older advisors also have to be eased into using new technology and workflows.

“When we bring in something new, peer-to-peer learning is very powerful,” said Hubley. “Pick two to three people who are well-respected and higher profile and get them on board, then have them run focus groups or meetings where they can inspire others to change. It’s my role to lead it, moderate it, and not to lecture. That’s how we get folks to adopt new technology over time.”

The panelists said that it isn’t enough for older advisors to be trained and encouraged -- their firms are trying to hire younger. In Hubley’s case, the youth push has led to one of Ameriprise’s youngest offices -- at 37, he is his office’s oldest advisor.

A younger office staff creates a culture of growth, energy and enthusiasm, said Hubley, and presents mentoring and educational opportunities for older, more slowly growing advisors.

Mara Glassel, managing director and New York complex director for UBS, said that diversity hiring only changes office and firm culture if dialogue is encouraged.

“We want to have a culture where people can challenge each other and have debate back and forth,” Glassel said. “I like putting people who look very different from each other together in rooms on a monthly basis, people who have different experiences, different tenures, different levels of seasoning. It takes effort and a process, but people get great ideas and grow their businesses.”

At Ameriprise, Hubley said he encourages an open-door environment so that advisors will engage and collaborate with each other.

The aging industry and client base means that offices must think younger to survive -- Crair said he is hiring so that his Merrill Lynch offices have advisors representing every generation of client.

“We want to make sure that people understand what happens: 90 percent of assets leave when a client passes away,” said Crair. “One of the biggest gaps in our business is with the next generation, so we’re trying to eliminate horizontal teams and create vertical teams -- we’re trying to fill in the age gaps within our office populations. If we don’t do that, we’re going to lose assets.”

The panelists said that hiring younger advisors isn’t enough to bring the next generation of clients through their doors.

Glassel said that she’s found success hosting programs for clients’ children and grandchildren.

“We had a financial bootcamp program in New York this past week,” said Glassel. “It was great; programs help advisors bond to the next generation. More globally, next gen should be part of your planning -- if you’re doing a good job of planning and doing family wealth planning with larger clients, the next generation is going to be involved in that.”

Glassel also recommended having advisors work with the next generation of wealth through philanthropy using family foundations and donor-advised funds.

“I don’t know what the future is, but I do know that you have to embrace change,” Crair said. “If you don’t, you’re going to be left behind.”