Your financial advisory practice is doing well, but you are working harder for longer hours and seeing fewer rewards. Perhaps it’s time to consider bringing other people into your practice. This fifth instalment in a series on building a team looks at vision.



At harry perler financial Group in Coquitlam, B.C., the company’s vision statement hangs, matted and framed, in the client waiting area. It’s the first thing clients see when they take a seat, and something that Perler’s 10 advisors and eight support staff catch sight of several times a day as they walk to and from the firm’s meeting room.

“It’s impossible to miss,” says senior partner Harry Perler. “I want my clients and my staff to have an immediate snapshot of what dealing with Perler Financial is all about.”

As Perler can attest, putting the writing on the wall, and on the company letterhead, is an effective reminder of his company’s vision: always keep clients’ best interests at heart by providing quality, unbiased and trustworthy advice, and strive continually to exceed clients’ expectations.

“The whole focus around this statement is how we can improve our client service,” Perler says.

Yet Perler doesn’t hit his team over the head with this vision. “It’s not something we discuss on a daily basis, but its spirit is definitely brought up every day that we operate,” he says. Most of his staff were involved in the creation of the vision and all are empowered to implement new ways of achieving it.

These two factors are crucial in ensuring that employees buy into the vision and, as a result, stay with the company, says Shannon Waller, director of new program development at The Strategic Coach in Toronto. “When you involve your staff in creating your vision, they know where the company is headed and they align with that,” she says.

While a vision statement should consist of only one or two succinct sentences, coming up with one can be a lengthy process. “Advisors may say they want to bring in X number of new clients or sell X amount of a certain product every month,” says Waller. “But these are goals, not a vision.”

Waller recommends that advi-sors and team members ask themselves the following questions during the
vision-creation process:

> Who do we want to be?

> What difference do we want to make?

> What type of people — both clients and fellow employees — do we want to work with?

> What type of relationship do we want to have with our clients?

> What is going to keep us happy and motivated every day?

> What do we want the future company to look like?

It’s also useful to enlist a fresh perspective. “Bring in someone who doesn’t know anything about your business and explain to them what it’s all about,” says Joyce Smith, certified financial planner and managing partner at J.A. Smith & Associates, a firm that provides business coaching among other services. “You want to be able to tell them exactly why you’ve created this company.”

In addition to serving as a snapshot of your business, your vision should also be specific enough to serve as a blueprint for the future. “You should be able to make decisions against it,” says Waller. “If it’s too vague, it won’t provide direction.”

“Our vision is definitely something that accompanies all of our decision-making,” Perler says.

Once your vision is complete, the most important way to ensure employee buy-in is to walk the talk.

“It has to be personally meaningful,” says Waller. “Not living the vision is the No. 1 mistake an advi-sor can make.”

Perler’s commitment to exceeding client expectations is evident in the wide range of client appreciation events he hosts — from renting the local movie theatre to golf tournaments and hosting a Halloween party in a pumpkin patch.

“I’m always thinking about what new experiences I can give our clients,” he says.

He also continually asks employees what they can do to enhance the client experience. “If you don’t empower your staff, they’re never going to buy into your vision,” Perler says.

His team is committed to enabling the company vision down to the smallest detail — such as his receptionist’s idea to keep track of clients’ coffee preferences.

@page_break@Lauding an employee’s initiative — with specific reference to how it enforces your company’s vision — is another way of reinforcing your firm’s ultimate purpose. “Advisors should regularly discuss how specific actions relate back to the vision,” Waller says.

It’s also equally important to address any instances in which an employee’s actions are off the mark. “You need to do this quickly. And critique the specific behaviour, not the person,” she says.

On occasion, such a situation may have a positive outcome. “There are always going to be people who may not buy into a certain part of your vision,” says Smith. “But they may have an idea for something you haven’t thought of before.”

That said, a sound company vision should never require a complete overhaul.

“You may want to refine it or make it more specific, but your vision shouldn’t entirely change unless your core values have,” says Waller, who suggests occasionally revisiting your vision to question whether it’s still inspiring, meaningful and pertinent to employees and the clients with whom you work.

Even if your vision is carved in stone, Waller says, it’s possible to hire new team members that are every bit as committed to it as you and your existing staff — provided you focus on asking specific questions during the interview process.

“If your company vision is all about superior customer service, you must ask a potential employee what her idea of superior customer service is,” she says. “You need to find out if you’re speaking the same language.”

Perler has brought in two new employees since his company’s vision was last revised — to reflect its evolution from selling insurance to offering a full spectrum of financial services — and gave each an immediate opportunity to improve client service in their areas.

“They may not have participated in the vision,” he says. “But their input is there.” IE



The team-building series continues in the December issue of Investment Executive with a look at technology tools for the team. For articles in this series, go to www.investmentexecutive.com.