COMPANY CULTURE
Three Ways to Make Culture a Differentiator at Your Firm for Your Team and Clients
By Cheryl R. Holland, CFP®
A company’s culture is like a fingerprint—its unmistakable identity defines the optimal way to behave and sets the context for everything a firm does. It consists of clearly defined norms, values, beliefs, and assumptions that are widely shared and intensely felt at all levels.
When a company grows, its outward appearance often changes. It can mean more team members and clients, more workspace and technology, and more opportunities and industry prestige. However, it’s critical during the midst of this welcomed and celebrated momentum that its essence—its founding culture—remains authentic, true to the original vision. If not, it can forever tarnish the shine of that growth.
As Peter Drucker is credited with putting it so colorfully, “Culture will eat strategy for breakfast.” He, of course, was in no way downplaying the power of strategy but maintaining that an empowering culture is a more certain route to a company’s long-term success.
In an article for Forbes, Jacob M. Engel takes it a step further. To paraphrase slightly: “When working with many entrepreneurs, I have found that culture is the secret sauce that keeps employees motivated and clients happy. In fact, I recently read a great quote that said, ‘People do not just quit companies or leaders … they quit organizational cultures.’”
I agree wholeheartedly with Drucker and Engel. When I founded Abacus Planning Group 25 years ago, I was inspired by the professional chance—and personal challenge—to create from scratch a one-of-a-kind culture centered on listening, creativity, and collaboration. (To review the 10 specific tenets that guide our culture, I invite you to drop by our website, abacusplanninggroup.org.)
The first step in creating a great culture is to define its tenets. Then, over the years, comes the challenge of honoring and continuing to secure that culture. Yes, it takes work. It takes attention. Most of all, it takes caring deeply.
Which leads, of course, to the “how” part. I have found there are three keys.
One: Right fit, right choice. To put it simply (and honestly), all prospective team members and all company cultures are not meant for each other. If you sense you’re in a square-peg, round-hole scenario when considering a candidate, don’t feel bad, no matter how resume-qualified they may be, to accept they’re not a good fit. You’ll be happier and so will the candidate.
At Abacus, we want people who are comfortable outside of their specialty silos, who communicate openly, are happily creative and, just to be sure, have a personality that will find joy in traditions as simple (and beloved) as our annual holiday cookie exchange, memorial service for deceased clients, and great backyard bird count. Of course, there are additional touchpoints but you get the idea. Meaningful rituals create and strengthen cultures.
Two: Weave your culture into your DNA. How openly and often do you discuss your cultural values with your team? Is it constant or a special occasion? Doing it regularly makes it part of the natural rhythm of your firm.
One of my favorite quotes on this comes from Judith E. Glaser: “To get to the next level of greatness depends on the quality of the culture, which depends on the quality of the relationships, which depends on the quality of the conversations. Everything happens through conversations.”
Every new employee—full and part time, intern, virtual, and partnership track—meets with the firm’s president to review our cultural norms. These include customized Mickey (or Minnie) Mouse ears as a “cue” for our most important cultural norm: listen, and then listen. Cues keep us all connected to the organization’s future.
We also assess each other annually through a 360 process that focuses exclusively on feedback on how each team member lives our cultural norms. This assessment is a touchpoint for discussion about the areas for growth in the employee’s performance review. (Be careful: Everyone is watching the boss and “out-behaving” becomes imperative for a great culture. My 360 provides critical insight into the blind spots I need to address. I often read it with a gin and tonic in hand.)
Three: Sustain your culture. As you grow, cultures may need to adapt as the need for explicitly communicating among a broader group of people intensifies, and ownership of the culture must be widespread and not top down.
You may have heard the advice “praise in public, provide feedback in private.” As we have grown, we look for opportunities to showcase and celebrate teams and individuals whose successes align with the firm’s culture. Have fun with creating new ways to reward employees for these often-unseen behaviors to keep engagement high and thank-yous fresh. (I have yet to see any thank you mean more than the handwritten note.)
One of the wisest recommendations an Abacus shareholder made was to suggest an annual employee engagement survey that assesses each of our cultural norms. We learn where we can improve, what we can celebrate as highly successful, and who wants to help us move the needle on a wavering cultural norm. Listening to the feedback on culture is core to sustained success. A growing firm becomes dependent on each employee to be a standard-bearer for the culture, and a canary down the coal mine when the culture is not in alignment.
Great cultures are important for improved productivity, employee engagement, and employee retention. In this era of heightened anxiety, loneliness, and other mental health challenges, great cultures also benefit the men and women we work with each day. As trusted fiduciary advisors, we have a higher calling to serve others, and that includes those with whom we work.
I encourage you to take stock of your culture; establish a team to either create your cultural norms or assess them; communicate your culture through rituals, cues, celebrations, assessments, and your actions; and reap the rewards of a healthy workplace for you, your team, and your clients.
Cheryl R. Holland, CFP® is president and founder of Abacus Planning Group, Inc., a wealth management firm with $1.1 million AUM. She has been involved in several NAPFA volunteer opportunities, including multiple conference committees, chairman's council, and leadership summit committee, and currently serves on the NAPFA board of directors.
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