Norman,
SLAP THEM!!!
Obviously kidding...sort of. As a financial professional who is very
interested in the CL process (just getting started in Michigan - no
experience yet) I am disturbed by hearing about the sales pitches of
other financial folks. Please don't let the antics of a subset of them
disrupt the interdisciplinary approach which I believe is essential to a
full/thriving CL practice. Are these financial folks actually members
who have gone through CL training?, or is this a group that's just in
formation??
Lest your meetings turn into a gathering of self-promotion for them (or
any other professional), nip it in the bud. A couple of approaches come
to mind
1) In printed information stress that these meetings are to
promote CL, not make contacts (although that may legitimately happen for
those who wish)
2) At the beginning of the meeting, verbally reinforce that -
again for all professionals- so that everyone is on board with working
together, not promoting self-interest. Invite folks who wish to network
(ie sales pitch) to meet at another time - not during a CL gathering.
Presumably those wishing to pitch themselves will be the only ones in
attendance (?)
These communications need to be worded carefully- don't want to
come across as too hard headed, but as setting expectations for what
behavior is accepted.
3) If such behavior continues, ask a financial person who is
"on-board" with the CL agenda to speak to the offending party(ies)
When the behavior is stopped, or if needed, person(s) is asked to leave
the group, invite those initial interested members who may have stopped -
to rejoin. You don't want the group to have a reputation as being
inadvertently supportive of annoying self-promotion.
That's my 2cents worth. Perhaps others have had similar situations to
deal with???
Regards,
Vicki McLellan
Vicki D. McLellan, M.A., LLP, PFP, CDFA
Financial Psychology/Personal Financial Planner
Certified Divorce Financial Analyst
Detroit, MI
On Sat, 24 Jan 2004 08:10:31 -0600 "Norma Trusch"
<nltrusch@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
We have an open umbrella group that welcomes anyone who is interested in
collaborative law. One of the problems I have noticed is that some of
the financial professionals who attend seem to be more interested in
selling their services to the attorney members than they are in learning
about and promoting CL. It can be very annoying to the attorneys, and I
suspect some of our initial interested members have stopped coming to
meetings for that reason. Is this a problem anywhere else, and, if so,
how do you handle it?
NLT
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