Ask yourself these two questions to determine whether you have the right trusted advisor:
- Does my advisor have the right set of experiences to advise me?
- Is my advisor aligned with my goals?
Our experience at Ephor Group tells us that advisor input is most valuable when they understand your goals and objectives for the business, understand your strengths and needs, and they desire to have all interested parties aligned.
A “non-aligned example” would be asking "Lifestyle Advisors" to support creating growth and wealth outcomes for the business.
- If you are a startup business you need advisors that understand the bootstrap mentality.
- If you are a fast growth enterprise and you rely on “Lifestyle” business advisors you will remain a small business or struggle to handle the demands of growth.
While there are a plethora of advisors, find one that fits with your near-term economic reality and long-term vision and goals.
There is a difference between trusting a professional and being a trusted advisor; the Trusted Advisor criteria detailed below will help you to evaluate your advisors.
Trusted Advisor Criteria:
| Industry Experience | Wisdom comes from experience and experience comes from mistakes and successes. If they have a lot of industry knowledge but it's NOT broad (i.e. focused on only one functional aspect), then forget it. |
| Accountability | Consultants are often better talkers than they are doers. Accountability starts and ends with whether they do what they say; both in terms of little items and results. |
| Fit | Do they have proven methodologies (tried and true practices)? Do their experiences fit your organization’s maturity, complexity, and needs? |
| Approach | There are three (3) types of advisors: Experts (Specialists in a particular niche or function), b) Facilitators (collaborative types that foster change and team work) and c) Hired Hands (those that you assign a task). |
| Track-Record | How many success stories do they have for your particular industry and situation? |
| Credentials | Degrees, Certifications, Awards, Titles, Publications. |
Most owners consider their advisors to be their corporate attorney, accountant, business finance advisor, and spouse. Depending on the type of business and your goals you may need a Trusted Advisor that will help you accomplish your goals and serve as your “Chief Strategy Officer.” A Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) supports and facilitates the following:
- Asks the hard questions; tells management what they need to hear, not what they want to hear.
- Delivers results-driven, professional counsel and solutions for complex situations.
- Enables management to think and act like an entrepreneurs, focusing on business growth and customers.
- Provides alternatives and recommendations to complex problems as part of the decision making process.
- Provides a higher level of analytical support relating the results from operations to the financial statements and explains the variances to budget and the prior year.
- Helps identify key company initiatives on which to focus and in what priority sequence.
- Develops and implements operational plans based on the strategy developed in the business plan.
- Uses prior broad based industry experience to ensure the marketing, sales, services, and all partners are executing according to best practices.
- Provides treasury and capital market support to secure funding alternatives and interfaces with the lenders regarding the performance of the business.
Successful management teams seek outside perspectives and develop strong support groups. A strong synergy with a Trusted Advisor allows the management team to focus on what they do best.
Well, GOOD management teams seek outside perspectives and develop strong support groups.
BAD management teams hold their ears and run around the room humming to themselves.
Posted by: JDM | February 23, 2010 at 05:52 PM