3 13 0 GAMA INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL

By Mike Esterday and Gary Karthauser

5 T I P S F O R

High-Performance

L E A D E R S H I P

With changing demographics, it’s mission critical for leaders to enhance their coaching and culture to create

the high-performing firms of the future.

A dvisors today, especially millennials, seek purpose in their job. How well does your firm’s culture align with these needs? What is the effect on results?

In this article, Mike Esterday overviews five key leadership principles to develop culture, and Gary Karthauser will share

how he applied each principle in his business center to create a “magnet” for recruiting top performers while significantly enhancing retention and productivity.

1 . K N O W Y O U R S T Y L E

Esterday: Today’s challenging environment requires self-awareness of your leadership style and that of your managers. When we look at two key traits — being goal-focused and being people-focused — leaders will fall into one of four quadrants. Some are overly focused on people and don’t want to hurt advisors’ feelings by chal-lenging them. Others are goal-directed to the detriment of being sensitive to people’s feelings and often may run over advisors. Successful leaders blend both and know how to be flexible to the needs of their advisors.

2 . R E C R U I T A N D C O A C H T O P U R P O S E

Esterday: Success in this industry requires a clear sense of purpose, especially to survive the emotional peaks and valleys. Challenge yourself to think about the following dimensions and their effect on success. Do your advisors:• View selling as a noble profession that creates value for

clients?• Believe they have the skills and abilities to be highly

successful in sales? • Exhibit values of sincerity, integrity and honesty in their

sales behaviors?• Understand and diligently do the necessary activities for

success?• Believe your solutions and services create value for

clients?

Karthauser: Few leaders have a perfect balance between being people-focused and goal-focused. Most have natural traits in one and must work on the other. When my team members looked at their leadership-style results, it allowed them to be more effective working together and with those they coach daily. Knowing our leadership style has allowed a different level of communication and clarity. Whatever your leadership style, you must be able to develop people who have a sense of ownership in the outcomes that define success.

Karthauser: When we ask advisors, “Why did you leave?” the answer is usually not tied to income; it is about pur-pose. There must be a connection to their values that keeps them engaged on a personal and professional level. Millen-nials want collaboration and to be part of a community with positive team spirit. More than ever, our top talent wants and needs to be associated with something bigger than itself, where it feels it can make a significant contribu-tion that has a broader impact. Does your organization have a values-driven culture — above and beyond a framed statement on the wall? We’ve seen that when we help advisors see selling as a noble profession that reinforces their values. When they believe our financial solutions create great value for people, this alignment releases achievement drive and energizes them to do the necessary prospecting.

3 . B R E A K T H E L A W O F L I M I T E D P E R F O R M A N C E Esterday: Often, people are stuck on plateaus of low performance because of a natural law called the Law of Limited Performance: People soon discover the level of performance their managers will settle for and gravitate to that level. Managers then assume that’s all these people are capable of achieving, so they accept it as fact and stop

PE

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- F

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US

ED

G O A L - F O C U S E D

L O W

H I G H

H I G H

H I G H P E O P L E F O C U S / L O W G O A L F O C U S

L O W P E O P L E F O C U S / L O W G O A L F O C U S

H I G H P E O P L E F O C U S / H I G H G O A L F O C U S

L O W P E O P L E F O C U S / H I G H G O A L F O C U S

JULY | AUGUST 2016

3 13 0 GAMA INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL

By Mike Esterday and Gary Karthauser

5 T I P S F O R

High-Performance

L E A D E R S H I P

With changing demographics, it’s mission critical for leaders to enhance their coaching and culture to create

the high-performing firms of the future.

A dvisors today, especially millennials, seek purpose in their job. How well does your firm’s culture align with these needs? What is the effect on results?

In this article, Mike Esterday overviews five key leadership principles to develop culture, and Gary Karthauser will share

how he applied each principle in his business center to create a “magnet” for recruiting top performers while significantly enhancing retention and productivity.

1 . K N O W Y O U R S T Y L E

Esterday: Today’s challenging environment requires self-awareness of your leadership style and that of your managers. When we look at two key traits — being goal-focused and being people-focused — leaders will fall into one of four quadrants. Some are overly focused on people and don’t want to hurt advisors’ feelings by chal-lenging them. Others are goal-directed to the detriment of being sensitive to people’s feelings and often may run over advisors. Successful leaders blend both and know how to be flexible to the needs of their advisors.

2 . R E C R U I T A N D C O A C H T O P U R P O S E

Esterday: Success in this industry requires a clear sense of purpose, especially to survive the emotional peaks and valleys. Challenge yourself to think about the following dimensions and their effect on success. Do your advisors:• View selling as a noble profession that creates value for

clients?• Believe they have the skills and abilities to be highly

successful in sales? • Exhibit values of sincerity, integrity and honesty in their

sales behaviors?• Understand and diligently do the necessary activities for

success?• Believe your solutions and services create value for

clients?

Karthauser: Few leaders have a perfect balance between being people-focused and goal-focused. Most have natural traits in one and must work on the other. When my team members looked at their leadership-style results, it allowed them to be more effective working together and with those they coach daily. Knowing our leadership style has allowed a different level of communication and clarity. Whatever your leadership style, you must be able to develop people who have a sense of ownership in the outcomes that define success.

Karthauser: When we ask advisors, “Why did you leave?” the answer is usually not tied to income; it is about pur-pose. There must be a connection to their values that keeps them engaged on a personal and professional level. Millen-nials want collaboration and to be part of a community with positive team spirit. More than ever, our top talent wants and needs to be associated with something bigger than itself, where it feels it can make a significant contribu-tion that has a broader impact. Does your organization have a values-driven culture — above and beyond a framed statement on the wall? We’ve seen that when we help advisors see selling as a noble profession that reinforces their values. When they believe our financial solutions create great value for people, this alignment releases achievement drive and energizes them to do the necessary prospecting.

3 . B R E A K T H E L A W O F L I M I T E D P E R F O R M A N C E Esterday: Often, people are stuck on plateaus of low performance because of a natural law called the Law of Limited Performance: People soon discover the level of performance their managers will settle for and gravitate to that level. Managers then assume that’s all these people are capable of achieving, so they accept it as fact and stop

PE

OP

LE

- F

OC

US

ED

G O A L - F O C U S E D

L O W

H I G H

H I G H

H I G H P E O P L E F O C U S / L O W G O A L F O C U S

L O W P E O P L E F O C U S / L O W G O A L F O C U S

H I G H P E O P L E F O C U S / H I G H G O A L F O C U S

L O W P E O P L E F O C U S / H I G H G O A L F O C U S

JULY | AUGUST 2016

NEXT IDEASFOR ONLINE RECRUITING

ARE YOU LOOKING TO IGNITE YOUR ONLINE RECRUITING EFFORTS?

HOW WELL DO YOU REALLY LEVERAGE SOCIAL MEDIA?

HAVE YOU EVER CONSIDERED SHARING THOUGHT LEADERSHIP TO PROMOTE AWARENESS AND ENGAGEMENT?

w w w . G A M A W E B . c o m

A collection of online recruiting strategies, challenges and successes from industry leaders …

and the personal stories behind them.

3 2JULY | AUGUST3 2 GAMA INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL

C O N N E C T W I T H U S !

Gary Karthauser, CLU®, ChFC®, CLF®, is the regional managing director of the Nebraska Business Center of the Principal Financial Group, with 12 locations. He qualified 21 times for the company’s Middle-Management Achievement Round Table and was inducted into the Principal Financial Group Hall of Fame. A multiple LAMP presenter, he has shared tips that resulted in consistently high advisor retention and productivity.

Mike Esterday is CEO of Integrity Solutions, a global performance-improvement firm that has trained more than 2.5 million people from 130 countries. Insurance, investment and financial-services firms have seen dramatic increases in advisor retention, recruitment, productivity and goal achievement.

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Ka r t h a u s e r .G a r y@p r i n c i p a l . c om

C O N N E C T W I T H T H E M

challenging them to get better. In the end, both reinforce what the other believes.

Karthauser: What are you daily commu-nicating to team members by what you do and say and how you say it? It’s easy to unconsciously peg someone as a high performer or low performer. Planned weekly coaching time has driven account-ability for our advisors and leaders. Before, during and after each coaching session, think of all the reasons this person can succeed. Then communicate these points. We’ve found this helps people believe their goals are attainable and causes us, as leaders, to continually see more potential in them than in the past. Some managers tell me they don’t have time to coach to this activity each week, but I don’t believe you have an option if you want to grow your organization and develop others.

4 . B U I L D P E O P L E ’ S “ A R E A O F T H E P O S S I B L E ”

Esterday: Each of us has a mental boundary or border — an area of the possible. We unconsciously evaluate our life experiences: successes, failures, moments of despair and moments of happiness. Then, based on our perceptions of the kind of people we are, we mentally draw a circle that forms the boundaries of our own inner beliefs. This mental boundary controls our actions, feelings, behaviors and abilities. Everything we do, achieve or accomplish is consis-tent with this inner-belief system. Our performance will not go beyond the limits we unconsciously place on ourselves.

Karthauser: Effective coaching begins by seeing potential in people who do not see it in themselves and then helping them discover it. Listen to and observe what advisors are telling you about their belief boundaries. Limited performance is usually tied to beliefs formed many years ago. Coach people past that voice in their head that is holding them back by helping them set goals just beyond their current boundaries. Expand advisors’ area of the possible by celebrating breakthrough perfor-mances. In our organization, we’ve found that this not only builds confidence, it inspires others to follow suit. When a peer achieves at a new level, it quickly opens the door for others to change their view of possibilities. Success breeds success. There is no substitution for

believing in people at such a high level that they break through to new levels of success.

As our managers think about their coaching strategies and practices, we remind them of this quote from Goethe: “Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them become what they are capable of being.”

5 . T A K E P E O P L E T O T H E N E X T L E V E L

Esterday: When helping advisors set goals, use a proven achievement system. The above model is a fully functioning, self-regulating process with steps to achieve desirable, believable goals. The five parts are: define objectives, plan strategy, build belief, develop strengths and manage progress. If the goal is achieved, set a new one. If it isn’t, review the steps to see where adjustments can be made.

Karthauser: During weekly coaching sessions, our managers work with advisors to build a plan based on attainable, measurable action steps. By building their belief that they

have the talent, skill and ability to accomplish that goal, they help move them in the direction of goal attainment.

Creating a culture of high achievers isn’t easy. As leaders, these models can help us understand our advisors, coach them to higher performance and equip them to, as Wayne Gretzky says, “skate to where the puck is going to be.”