Listening Project

• Challenge:  We’re developing great programs that draw strong reviews from those who attend, but are only drawing a limited number of our overall membership to meetings. We are concerned that we may not be meeting the needs of our overall membership to the extent that we’d like to.

• Response:  To address this, FPA of Maryland is launching a process to discover what our members are saying they need in order to grow their practices, to advance their careers, and to take them to the next level.  What are the obstacles they face, and what do they need to overcome them?  What are the things they’re doing well that with some support they could do more of, and do them better?  In short, what might FPA of Maryland offer that would make our members more successful, and make the organization a better value proposition?

• Vision:  FPA of Maryland is launching the Listening Project.  We want to conduct serious, open-ended interviews—listening sessions—with a substantial number of our members.  As we learn what our members are saying is important to them, and what they see as workable solutions, the cadre of interviewers will be able to present the organization’s board with “the agenda” of the members.  This agenda is intended to have major influence on the shape of offerings, and the direction of the organization over the next several years.  The interviewers will have a major impact on the organization through this project. 

• Methodology:  These interviews will utilize the tools of “appreciative inquiry.”  This is a skill that is alluded to in numerous articles in financial magazines, but is not frequently taught in our industry.  It is a skill set that has direct application to our work with clients as well as to this project.  In the client context it has the potential to unearth valuable insights regarding client values and motivations.  Exploring these things enhances both our ability to provide for client needs, and clients’ perception of our role as advisors.  In this project it will enable us to drill down below the level of responses that fit neatly in survey boxes, to discover the centers of interest that both consume and generate the energy of practitioners on a day-to-day basis.  This is the gold we’re mining for.