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Plan Sponsors’ New 3-Part Role

Most plan sponsors are reluctant to make a change in their plan if nothing is broken internally. In the absence of some significant pain being experienced, management will normally assume that no change is warranted. Few plan sponsors are able to envision the team requirements that are necessary to successfully design and implement a better retirement plan, writes Steff Chalk in the Winter issue of NAPA Net the Magazine.

Nonetheless, says Chalk, some plan sponsors have come to realize that during recent years their role has evolved into one that consists of three parts: visionary, leadership and responsible party.

Visionary — The visionary must be in the position to understand “what can be” and to recognize “what delta exists” between his or her own plan and what others might perceive to be the ideal plan. Most plans today have a visionary — someone on-staff who “gets it” when it comes to what should be delivered to plan participants. However, a visionary alone is not sufficient. A visionary must be accompanied by a leader.
Leadership — An advocate must be present in-house for communicating the change that needs to take place. The leader must communicate the plan needs and what the plan is intending to change, revise or update. However, there must be an individual present who is willing to own and carry out the charge — a responsible party.
Responsible Party — The responsible party will need to work tirelessly at making the retirement plan everything that that the visionary had described. The responsible party is the owner of the successful outcomes of the plan.

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