Community is Power for Female Financial Advisors

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Do you consider yourself an extrovert or an introvert? A loner or a people person? While I think I tend more toward introversion, I also know I want and need interaction with others, a fact that explains why I love working with and coaching businesswomen and female financial advisors. Over time, I’ve learned that no matter where we fall on the personality spectrum, we all can benefit from the power of a community.

I know, too, that for female financial advisors, a community dedicated to their needs and concerns can be the game-changer that helps them dramatically advance their personal and professional development. Men in the industry have been benefitting from this for years, so why not us too finally?

Granted, the financial industry is taking steps to better support women in the field and attract more of them to the profession, but honestly, it’s still so much a man’s world. Before I started my own financial services firm, I knew too well that feeling of isolation in an office full of men. Finding and connecting with a group dedicated to the support of female financial advisors was just a dream back then.

Thankfully, groups like this do exist now. And women are discovering that the power of community can be a lifeline to success, from creating the courage to go after what they want and making a renewed commitment to work they love, to finding the answers to so many questions about how to navigate through the tough issues.

There’s Strength in Sharing

There’s a lot of power in groups that have a shared need or goal. If you’re a female financial advisor struggling to ask for that promotion, the right community can help you move past your fear. If need to validate your emotions after a difficult exchange with someone, the feedback and camaraderie you find in a group can bring calm and clarity.

Here’s why connecting with a community that’s dedicated to your goals is so important:

You benefit from the collective wisdom of the group. While Google is a great source of information, it doesn’t have all the answers. Interacting personally with others who have shared experiences and different perspectives is always going to provide you with the most valuable and actionable information.

You are less likely to give up on big goals. A community generates energy that can propel you to push beyond your perceived limitations. You encounter new ideas that can light the spark to reach for more. Witnessing and learning from the success of others in the group, your belief in what you can achieve becomes real.

You are held accountable for what you say you will – or will not – do. When you know you’ll answer to the members of your community, you generate a higher level of commitment for yourself. This commitment is big! To maintain it, you have to work hard to drill down to the details: clarity around exactly what you want, why you want it, and what you’re going to do step-by-step to make it a reality. You get called on excuses and distractions, but you also have a powerhouse behind you to get going again. It’s this kind of accountability-focused thinking and action that creates change.

You are seen and you are heard. In the right community, victories are applauded; failures are put in perspective. Knowing that you aren’t alone – that there are other women who are dealing with similar problems and doubts – is both a relief and encouragement to persist. When others in the group see you overcome a tough obstacle, they are energized to do more, too. Everyone ups their game.

Most importantly, through the power of community, you’re not doing this all on your own. You bounce around ideas. Adapt and improve through feedback. You have help to spot obstacles and errors and to resolve them more quickly. Competency grows faster, too.

In short, this push/pull social contract you enter into can dramatically change your beliefs about who you are and what you can achieve.

Change Is in The Air

There’s no question that female financial advisors face unique challenges. As outliers, we have to grow a thicker skin. We learn how to steel ourselves against the sting of dismissal, to not to take it personally when someone questions our abilities, and to accept the fact that sometimes certain male-bonding social interactions are not open to us.

I understand why so many women decide to leave the profession. Just over five years ago, I almost did. I was burned out and discouraged. I had worked hard and invested in myself to be viewed as an equal, but I was tired of fighting for what I deserved. This a dark time ultimately motivated me to start my own successful financial services firm.

It’s also clear that women in this industry are held to a higher standard. This explains, in part, why we are very good at what we do. Less-than performance from us is not an option. A quote that makes this particularly clear appears in the 2016 Women in Financial Services report: “Some of the men at the top are extraordinary, but all of the women are.”

This brings me back to the point that the financial services industry is making strides toward bringing more women into the fold. It’s an excellent start, but cultural change needs to happen to eliminate the unstated biases, expectations, and practices of previous decades.

I have so much optimism for this profession and the role women will play in the future. I’m such a strong advocate of community because of my past experiences – and particularly communities that are dedicated to supporting female financial advisors and what they want to achieve.

Traditionally, as “helpers,” we women tend to put others first and not expect or ask for help for ourselves. It’s time to change that thinking. We all struggle, stumble, and fall at different points in our professional lives.

Let’s give each other a hand to succeed through the power of community.

Have questions about how you can succeed in your business and accelerate your journey toward reaching your goals? I invite you to learn more about ELEVATE, an exclusive group coaching program specifically designed to help female financial advisors. Start with a no-cost 30-minute consultation to discuss where you are in your career and where you want to go.

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