AFS coaching future business champions

The Australian Financial Services Group (AFS) has reiterated the value of its Board of Advice (BoA) program, which it claims has resulted in the far-reaching improvement and success of the practices involved.

At its latest Summer School, AFS Group managing director Peter Daly said the BoA program offered AFS group advisers and practice principals the tools to create long-term successful businesses.

The program involves identifying the marketplace strengths of a practice, documenting its business vision and developing an action and review plan to ensure these objectives are achieved.

During a session at the Summer School, Steve O’Donoghue of Vaughan & Monaghan Insurance & Financial said: “At first the BoA was quite confronting but the members of my BoA helped me to articulate [my] business vision and then to transform my goals into objectives. This was quickly followed by the alignment of the practice framework including the roles and functions of staff.”

Scott Parry of Crown Wealth Management compared the members of his BoA to personal coaches who helped with each aspect of the business. He used the example of Tiger Woods, who has five separate coaches to focus on the various aspects of his golfing performance.

“The best of the best realise and acknowledge that coaches lift performance and improvement, fast tracking success and growth,” Parry said.

The BoA program was first introduced back in 2006 and was credited in August 2009 for helping group practices increase their revenue by 34 per cent over the previous 12 months.