This is the new bar that the professional must jump over, the new standard in practice excellence. It's not just about how much I am managing and being paid, but how well I am being rewarded emotionally, spiritually and relationally in my labors. Does my work feel more like a mission than a job? In the ROL model of business, those working a job will only be working with the crumbs that fall off of the table of those who are motivated by a mission to improve the lives of their clients.
The ROL model of practice requires just as much discipline as the ROI model required, maybe more. But it is a discipline that is centered on the human element of the business. The people we hire must get it. We cannot afford to have a client interacting with associates and partners who do not understand why the client is there and what the client's money means to his or her life. The ROL model requires a new level of discipline in terms of process. To succeed, the process must be scalable and repeatable. The process of gathering stories is the context for the numbers that are gathered. The stories that matter are:
How did you get here?
What experiences have shaped your life and situation?
What are you facing today in terms of challenges and opportunities?
What are the possibilities for your future and what could get in the way?
At the Financial Life Planning Institute (flpinc.com), we have found that when financial planners are disciplined in their application of these humanizing inquiries, their businesses prosper in short order. People place their trust in those who best demonstrate their humanness.
As we enter the age of the ROL promise, I feel a sense of relief and of hope. This business is finally beginning to turn the corner toward the place it was invented to reside in, a place where it can find its truest and most noble definition--a people business that works with money, not a money business that works with people. Now we must engage ourselves in helping these people live the best lives possible with the money they have.
©2009 Mitch Anthony. All rights reserved. Mitch is the president of the Financial Life Planning Institute and Advisor Insights Inc. He is an industry leader in training advisors on building life-centered relationships.