Five years ago, Sofia Zervoudaki, B.A., noticed that her staff members didn’t seem to care when goals weren’t met. “It is what it is,” they seemed to say. “Doesn’t matter; next year will be better.”

So the 13-year MDRT member from Athens, Greece, bought each employee a small blackboard, where the goal would not just be a number on a form stuffed into a desk but a continuous, regularly updated reminder on the person’s desk — with a visual representation of what the goal means. For example: A team member wouldn’t just write the number they’re aiming for; they’d draw a picture of their family and the trip to EuroDisney they want to take together, reinforcing the emotion behind the goal.

After all, you wouldn’t talk to clients about numbers without connecting those numbers to what they mean. That amount of money for retirement isn’t just math; it’s the feeling behind the lifestyle that sum can afford for the client and their family.

“When I put effort into writing down a goal and using sketches and keeping it in sight, my commitment remains right in front of me,” Zervoudaki said. “I owe it to myself to honor that commitment, and people don’t want to take back whatever they committed themselves to.”

Zervoudaki’s practice, which handles comprehensive financial planning (including health insurance and car insurance) for families, business owners and whole businesses, is a case study in how goals drive leadership, motivation and overall performance of a practice. Her team hasn’t been the company’s No. 1 team (out of 22) for four consecutive years because of one top performer; comprising 12 advisors, an assistant and an account manager, Zervoudaki’s practice soars by keeping everyone looking up.

Big- and small-ticket items

And that’s not a metaphor — every year, the practice sets a goal that team members need to hit both individually and as a group to qualify for a week-long trip. Past excursions have included Portugal, Italy, the U.S., England, China and United Arab Emirates.

But goals aren’t always long term and long distance. Zervoudaki (who manages 685 of the team’s 3,500 clients) has quarterly and weekly meetings where the team reviews what is and isn’t working, and a goal for the weekly meetings is for everyone to share how they implemented an idea from the previous week and how it impacted their work. But much emphasis remains on how individual momentum benefits the practice overall, including daily emails ranking people in terms of productivity and a competition for “MVP of the Month,” rewarding one team member with a prize like headphones or a dinner or even a small trip.

Each staff member’s goals are discussed by the second week of each year, and each month Zervoudaki helps them determine if anything else should be added. She also prints pictures for the goals to create a collage and further visually represent what they strive for, and she sends texts like “We are a step closer!” for encouragement as they progress toward the goal.

30 days at a time

If anyone knows about the value of breaking goals into smaller chunks, it’s Wade A. McFee, CLU, ChFC. The 27-year MDRT member from Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, uses financial services industry veteran Gina Pellegrini’s technique of setting and reviewing goals 30 days at a time — checking in at 30, 60, 90 and then 180 days after the start of each year.

Beyond the inherent benefits of growth and progress, the approach also helps ensure that the employee and their job description is not static based on preconceived notions of the role or the person as presented during their interview. McFee, whose practice (including an office manager, two paraplanners, an executive assistant, an administrative person and an advisor who happens to be his daughter) handles holistic wealth management for 143 families, has seen this play out in both directions.

One paraplanner came in with great experience, but on the 28th day identified that she preferred to be reactive (answering complaints calls when they come in) rather than proactive (contacting clients before frustration can occur). Another arrived just out of college and at the 30-day mark had already accomplished his first 90 days of training.

“My biggest takeaway on hiring staff and building a team is that we all want a silver bullet — someone who will solve every problem we have,” McFee said. “We’ve all been looking for that person for decades. Great team members are not just found; they are built and developed.”

For McFee, that means establishing not just firm-wide goals but individual professional development goals (such as achieving designations, for which the firm pays for classes and provides time off for studying and exams) and personal goals.

At 30, 60, 90 and 180 days, McFee and the team member can discuss what’s been learned, their capacity to work toward their goals, and crucially, how everyone feels about the work. Sometimes, he says, people have a great first 30 days but by 90 days don’t like what they’re doing anymore or don’t see themselves as a fit with the company. “They’ll tell you,” he said, “but you have to ask.”

Of course, these meetings aren’t just for new team members. All staff participates in 90-day goal setting for all four quarters of the year. McFee used to handle these conversations on his own, but now his office manager leads them. Peer review takes place as well to identify how each person gets along with the team as they work toward their goals.

The result of these discussions is the continued honing of goals and ideas (like Motivational Monday, featuring a 30-minute MDRT presentation or motivational component; or Technical Tuesday, when the whole team does a deep dive on a single topic) to benefit both the practice and the individuals who work there. It also drives new understanding -— McFee has found that the team member responsible for client communication is better able to pursue items to share when someone else is taking care of the back office. To that end, McFee plans to hire another team member in the next six to 12 months to further increase capabilities and capacity.

Innovating motivation

What do you do, though, if staff members have no goals?

When one of Zervoudaki’s team members expressed that once he hit a certain level of productivity he would stop trying to grow new business, she knew she needed to find a new way to get him excited.

What helped was establishing a new goal for the team — well, two halves of the team, actually. By dividing the practice into two teams competing with each other (with the losing team taking the winning team out for the night), Zervoudaki saw the team member’s previous lack of inspiration elevated to the level of the team.

“He was really excited about it because the other four people on his team kept pushing him and motivating him to do something,” Zervoudaki said. “Since the teams were so close, his participation was crucial, which gave him a purpose. His team won and he made the difference, so he felt important.

“I chose the restaurant where we could dance and sing and eat and drink. It was like a small party, and it was a fun bonding experience.”

Contact

Wade McFee wade@mcfeefinancial.com
Sofia Zervoudaki sofiazervoudaki@gmail.com