The financial advice profession stands at a crossroads of transformation, with regulatory reforms, technological advancement, and evolving client expectations creating unprecedented opportunities for growth. As we have commenced 2025, we have highlighted the opportunities available to practices through the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes legislation, the best practices to manage regulatory change, and what improvements practices can make. Yet, one critical factor remains: many practices lack the self-awareness and capability to capitalise on these changes effectively. It's crucial for practices to gain a deeper understanding of their current situation to pave the way for future success.
Conrad Travers of Tangelo Advice Consulting summed this up recently in a LinkedIn post.
"After 5.5 years supporting over 50 advice businesses, we think the majority of financial planning businesses have low awareness of their strengths and weaknesses, coupled with low capability and execution," notes Conrad Travers, Principal Consultant at Tangelo Advice Consulting. "The whole game is to start with an honest assessment of those strengths and weaknesses."
As we have highlighted in recent weeks, the 2024 Australian Financial Advice Landscape Report reveals a stark disconnect between practices' ambitions and their readiness for change. While 43% of practices identify implementing material process efficiencies as their top priority for the year, only 32% have an up-to-date business plan. This gap between intention and preparation appears particularly pronounced in smaller practices, where just 27% of single-adviser firms maintain current business plans.
The Capability Quadrants
Travers' (anecdotal) analysis segments practices into four distinct quadrants based on their awareness of business challenges and capability to execute change:
- 60% fall into the bottom left quadrant with low awareness and low capability
- 20% show a growth mindset but lack the time or resources to execute
- 10% are "fluking it" with strong execution but limited understanding
- 10% achieve the "nirvana" of high awareness and strong capability
"The ones that do get to that top right quadrant, ironically, are more efficient anyway," Travers observes. "It's the whole thing of spending money to make money and investing in your processes".
Travers said, "Well, I would probably say, firstly, culture and then processes is what I've learned over the last five years. If you don't fix the culture first, your processes will sit in a drawer."
Scale and Change Management
The Adviser Ratings Landscape data reveals interesting patterns around practice size and change management capability. Larger practices (5+ advisers) show a greater propensity for strategic growth, with 61% actively expanding service offerings through internal expansion compared to just 15% of single-adviser practices. Additionally, larger firms are nearly twice as likely to have current business plans (59% vs 27%).
Figure 2: Do you have a business plan? 
Source: Adviser Ratings Landscape Survey
Year-over-year comparisons reveal shifting priorities, with material process efficiencies remaining the top focus (43% in 2023, up from 47% in 2022), followed by pursuing new business opportunities (39%, up from 35%). This emphasis on efficiency and growth suggests that practices recognise the need for change, yet the data indicates that many lack the framework to execute effectively.
Figure 3: Yearly comparison of practice priority changes
Source: Adviser Ratings Landscape Survey
However, size alone doesn't guarantee success. The survey shows that practices across all size segments grapple with similar challenges around process efficiency, compliance enhancement, and technology adoption. The key differentiator is the leadership approach rather than scale.
Travers emphasises the pivotal role of leadership in driving change. He explains, "It all starts with the leadership and their willingness to accept honest feedback. This requires a growth mindset and the ability to embrace new ideas or concepts that can enhance efficiency and client experience."
The Technology Imperative
Technology adoption emerges as a critical factor in change management success. The data showed that 23% of practices planned significant IT solution implementations in 2024, while 39% were pursuing new business opportunities. However, the relationship between these initiatives often goes unrecognised.
Practices in the top-right quadrant typically demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of how technology can enable business growth. They view technology as a compliance or efficiency tool and a strategic enabler that can help them more effectively align their investments with their strategic objectives.
Breaking the Cycle
For practices stuck in the lower quadrants, breaking out requires more than just awareness – it demands decisive action. The survey reveals that while 47% of practices acknowledge that their business plans need updating or development, many remain caught in a cycle of day-to-day operations without making time for strategic planning.
"A lot of it comes down to them," Travers notes. "They probably don't want to hear that, but that's often the conversation that we need to have with them."
The Implementation Challenge
"Usually, they already know," Travers observes. "It's just a matter of reflecting it back to them." This insight highlights a crucial point - awareness alone isn't enough. The real challenge lies in implementation.
The data suggests several key steps for practices looking to improve their change management capability:
- Start with honest self-assessment
- Develop and maintain current business plans
- Invest in culture before processes
- Align technology investments with strategic goals
- Create accountability for execution
The relationship between self-awareness and execution capability isn't just theoretical—it directly impacts practice outcomes. Practices achieving high scores in both dimensions consistently demonstrate superior growth, profitability, and client satisfaction.
The gap between high-performing and struggling practices will likely widen as the profession evolves. The key to bridging this divide lies not in size or resources but in developing the self-awareness and capability to execute meaningful change effectively.
Success in this environment requires more than good intentions. As Travers emphasises, "Only once you know what the issues actually are can you then fix them sustainably and get to the holy grail, which is high awareness and high capability."
Rethinking Client Experience
Perhaps nowhere is the disconnect between practice perception and reality more evident than in client service delivery. Many practices default to increasing service frequency or adding more review meetings to demonstrate value. However, this approach may be ineffective.
"I've got this theory that, for example, for review clients... I think if you ask clients about it, what they'll tell you is they don't want more reviews. They actually want more personalised and relevant content and support," Travers observes. This insight challenges the traditional service model where adding more touchpoints is seen as adding more value.
The key is fundamentally rethinking how processes serve client needs rather than just meeting compliance obligations. "Client-wise, I think practices have to think through it more from a client's lens than from a compliance and process lens. Start with the experience and then reverse engineer the process," explains Travers.
This client-first approach to process design represents a significant shift from how many practices currently operate, although not how they want to operate. Rather than starting with compliance requirements and building client experience around them, leading practices begin with desired client outcomes and designing compliant processes to deliver them efficiently.
A Continuous Journey of Improvement
The path to practice excellence isn't about achieving perfection. As Travers notes, "I haven't met the perfect business yet. It doesn't exist. It's like the perfect person." Instead, it's about committing to continuous improvement through honest self-assessment and deliberate action.
Past attempts at practice transformation have often failed because they took too narrow an approach. "We've had a number of clients where consultants have been through in the past, and that hasn't worked. It's more practice management, but because there's no compliance overlaid on it, it's less effective than it otherwise could be," Travers observes. This insight underscores the need for holistic change management that integrates compliance, client experience, and operational efficiency.
As we progress through 2025, the opportunities for practice transformation are unprecedented. The Delivering Better Financial Outcomes reforms provide a chance to reimagine how advice is delivered, and technology offers new ways to enhance efficiency and client engagement. However, capitalising on these opportunities requires more than good intentions or isolated initiatives. It demands the self-awareness to recognise where improvement is needed and the capability to execute change effectively.
The practices that will thrive are those that embrace this journey of continuous improvement, understanding that excellence isn't a destination but an ongoing commitment to better serving their clients while building more sustainable businesses. While the gap between high and low-performing practices may continue to widen, the path to improvement is clear for those willing to take that first crucial step: honest self-assessment.
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