“Fresh insights and new approaches exist in the minds of nearly all employees. The question is: Are they being shared?” asks Sanjiv Mirchandani, president of National Financial, a Fidelity Investments company.

“Fostering cultures of innovation, which create the energy and openness to enable people to share and promote new ideas, may ultimately help drive the greatest growth in the financial advice business,” he adds.

Only about half (55 percent) of the executives polled say they feel their firms are more innovative than others in the industry.

“This is interesting because the number one concern for firms for the last two years has been the increasing competition and the need to differentiate themselves and yet only 55 percent feel they are more innovative than the competition,” Durbin says. This shows firms have an opportunity to spend more time on energizing new thinking, Fidelity says. All of the executives say they look to customers and peers, as well as employees, to draw new ideas.

“Financial advisors are going to be compelled to alter their practices because the new generations want to be communicated with differently,” Durbin says. “They want to have a holistic approach to financial planning and be communicated with more often and more fluidly.”

Executives should consider applying the innovations from game designs, loyalty programs and behavioral economics to establish best practices for doing business.

Fidelity recommends executives create an environment that allows risk-taking for employees and harness the power of collective thinking both inside and outside the firm rather than relying on the thoughts of a few executives.

“Even the youngest junior associate should feel free to try and idea with a few clients, make a quick assessment to see if it is working and scrap it if it is not,” says Durbin.

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