8 Most Common Myths About Teams: Firms love to promote the benefits of cultivating teams of brokers. But teamwork doesn't always work. We give you the top reasons.

Brokerage houses everywhere are pushing their advisers to work in teams. Teamwork is good for clients-or so the conventional wisdom goes. It creates synergies and brings together the complementary skills critical for serving the high-net-worth client. You hear this story at every training conference where firms inevitably trot out hugely successful teams as role models for all.

There's just one problem: It isn't true. Or at least, not all of the time. Many teams fail. And many good producers find it more efficient to remain solo.

In this article, we present eight of the most fallacious myths about firms-not with the intention of scaring you off, but to ensure you go into the process with your eyes open.

Myth No. 1:

It's the Wave of the Future

It's hard to know for sure how often teams fail, because the wirehouses don't talk about failure rates publicly. But word is that more than half of all teams fall apart.

Too many reps have been pushed into forming teams, says Matt Oechsli, a Greensboro, N.C., consultant who researches and works with teams. The result: Brokers working in teams are often "really, really frustrated. Their problems are like a slow-growing cancer."

Brokers have themselves to blame to some degree. They have a "naturally high level of confidence that they can do anything," says Joe "Chick" Marshall, managing partner at Resource Management of Boston, a consulting firm. Brokers and their managers all have a "major blind spot" when it comes to seeing how difficult it is to team up, he says.

The fact is, firms have little to lose in encouraging teams, especially if reps foot the bill for adding staff. "Firms don't lose a thing with a team concept." says David Goad, a Newport Beach, Calif.-based succession-planning consultant. "There's no downside."

Another upside of teams, from a firm's perspective, is that they're an excellent asset-retention device-an increasingly important factor as brokers get older. Having a team member take over a retiring rep's book is the best way to retain clients, Goad says.

Oechsli warns that the industry doesn't have "the right kind of people, the training, or the environment" to cultivate widespread successful teaming. The typical broker is "like a guy who's been single his whole life...