Team building 101: Determine distinct roles and who can best perform them

The secret to crafting the most effective and productive teams is to make sure each individual has a specific role and responsibilities within the business, experts said. It also demands teammates have faith in each other.
Adviser teams that feature professionals in distinct positions they excel in and enjoy are typically the most successful, said Mark Ricca, head of teaming and practice management for Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Setting up such a role structure can be even more important than putting certain people together based on the outcome of personality tests, he said.
“When you have good role alignment, you get past the interpersonal differences,” Mr. Ricca said. “It allows firms to really create a lot of leverage when teammates trust each other to cover the bases that they’ve let go of.”
(More: Finding a young adviser for your team)
After 21 years of helping advisers form and improve teams, Merrill Lynch has identified six core roles within a strong adviser team, he said. They are business management, business development, investment strategy, relationship management for clients, the financial planning cycle, and client service and administration.
Rajini Kodialam, co-founder and managing director of Focus Financial Partners, said having complimentary skills, focused roles and confidence in each other are the crucial factors to making an effective team.
“It’s a team that believes in each other and trusts each other” to do their best, she said. “That’s the best-performing team.”
Advisers typically form teams to leverage their financial resources and staff, and attract more and bigger clients. Research has shown teams tend to perform better because members hold each other accountable for certain factors that lead firms to be most successful at growing assets under management.
Of course, advisers have to be willing to surrender some of their independence when they partner up.
It can be hard for some to envision not being able to make all the decisions on their own.
“The team system provides great leverage, but advisers have to give up some of the autonomy that they are coming into the practice with,” Mr. Ricca said.
(More: 7 qualities of the most effective team leaders)
For advisers who are especially worried about giving up such self-rule, a trial period could be a good start, he said.
This might involve advisers spending a few months talking to prospects together and seeing how they work together to describe the value they would offer a potential client, Mr. Ricca said.
If those conversations go well, then they might consider a formal union, he said.