Successful leadership takes more than textbook knowledge of the financial markets. After all, it’s a leader’s job to boldly paint the vision, bring people together, and guide and empower them. To effectively lead your enterprise, you must also master soft skills.
Soft skills are attributes that influence our ability to work well with others. While hard skills are technical, industry-specific, and taught in a classroom, soft skills are people-first, apply to every profession, and have the power to shape our relationships.
As a financial advisor, you have the expertise and credentials to counsel others on the ins and outs of investment strategies. You even complete training to keep these skills sharp. But when was the last time you brushed up on your interpersonal skills? If it’s time for a tune-up, revisit these five common themes to ensure you stay soft-skills savvy and blend your technical knowledge with these people-first attributes.
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Communicate but don’t forget to listen
Communication is first on the list because it’s the linchpin to effective leadership and the foundation of other soft skills. Whether you’re speaking or writing, communicate with conviction. Keep your words clear, concise and constructive. Then, pause. Because strong communicators don’t just talk – they listen.
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Be a good teammate
Every stakeholder plays a part in nurturing client relationships and providing a superior level of service. But is your enterprise doing so as a team or simply a group of individuals? Strong collaborators recognize group dynamics, show passion for their tasks, care and concern for others and do their part to achieve the collective goal. By staying focused on teamwork, we become good teammates.
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Flex your problem-solving muscles
A college degree, industry designation, or credential won’t teach us everything we need to know about operating an enterprise. It requires a high tolerance for the unknown and a belief that we can creatively solve problems even when we don’t have all the information.
Self-assuredness is an important attribute for leaders to model. Use one of these uncertain times as a coachable moment to discuss with your stakeholders. You’ll empower them to flex their own creative problem-solving muscles and make reasoned judgments the next time they’re missing information but must still decide.
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Roll with it
Most athletes will do agility drills at some point in their careers. These exercises help improve their ability to react, quickly change direction and maintain control. It’s unlikely that leading an advisory firm will require you to adjust your footwork. But, like athletes, you must adapt to any number of twists in turns you’ll undoubtedly face. Leaders with top-notch soft skills can quickly alter course and take swift and decisive action when faced with unexpected – or unwelcome – change.
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Up your EQ
We spend most of our weekdays working in our advisory practices, so there are times when outside stressors seep into the workplace. It’s critical to understand how to manage our emotions, empathize with others and resolve conflicts in a positive manner. In short, it’s knowing when to demonstrate EQ, our emotional quotient or intelligence, rather than our IQ.
The winning formula
We undoubtedly must be great professionals and experts of our craft as financial advisors to help others meet their financial goals and dreams. But that’s only part of the leadership equation in our people-first profession.
Effective leaders will brush up and master their soft skills just like they do their technical knowledge. By pairing our EQ with our IQ, we can strengthen our personal and professional relationships, uncover a unique ability to make things happen and grow the enterprise we imagined.
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