Is there such a thing as the perfect client advisory team? I would define the perfect team as the right people in the right place at the right time. The perfect team to help a client family address fraud in a family enterprise by an owner with a cocaine addiction may not be the perfect team to help another client manage the interface and impact of a complex real estate transaction, an upcoming wedding and estate plan revisions.
If your client advisory team is multi-disciplinary, it’s possible that same group of trusted experts may form targeted ad hoc teams perfect for addressing a multitude of complex challenges quickly, discretely and effectively whenever they arise.
Providing the perfect ad hoc team to handle client challenges whenever and wherever they arise depends on four core elements in the larger multi-disciplinary client advisory team:
- Trust among advisors, within the client family, and between the client family and its advisors;
- Open communication that is flexible and nuanced enough to address challenges one-on-one, within the team and with the client family so that everyone feels heard, understood and valued whatever the outcome in a given situation;
- Competence that is deep, wide and specific to the evolving strategic management needs of the client and its advisory team.
- Continuity management of the advisory team and the client leadership.
A model called the Diamond Team makes a lot of sense for family client advisory teams: Diamond Teams by Angie Herbers. Each of the multi-disciplinary team members has the need to manage its own growth and continuity. The Diamond Team model suggests ways to hire for future growth and promotion from within. This is especially important when working with enterprise family clients. Growing young talent from within allows the advisors to build generational relationships with client families who are also preparing members of the next generation to prepare for leadership.
