Not Just a Job: What Scaling RIA Owners Need to Know About Growing Their Firm Effectively

Transitioning from a solo operation to a dynamic team can be a game-changer for boutique financial planning firms. But with growth comes the challenge of building a cohesive team and managing turnover. The key to overcoming these hurdles is intentionally defining and nurturing your firm’s culture. In this blog, we’ll explore how a well-defined culture enhances employee engagement and satisfaction and directly impacts your bottom line. We’ll also outline how to establish a solid cultural foundation, implement flexible work practices, and foster a sense of team camaraderie. 

Dive in to learn how to start shaping the workplace you’ve always envisioned.

Impact on Employees

Since we live in a capitalist society, let’s discuss how this hits the bottom line. It begins with employee engagement. Having a clear set of values and a company culture that lives those values daily will make your team more engaged in their work. Increased engagement leads to higher productivity and employee well-being, thus lower absenteeism. You will see greater employee satisfaction, which directly impacts your employee retention, saving you the time and money needed for recruiting and training. Who loves all of this more than you and the employees? Your clients! Engaged employees lead straight to higher levels of client satisfaction and better client relationships. Every bit of this lands right on the bottom line in a more profitable business.  

Creating Culture

Your firm’s culture starts with you. I have yet to meet an RIA owner who is stoked about naming their mission and core values, but you must take the time to state what you stand for. Even if you know what you want to create and think you know your values,  it won’t become a company culture if you don't name it. 

Start with mission and values. Everyone needs to know the starting point. This is the map. If you drift—and at times you will—this is how you find your way back to the path. This is how you first identify you left the path! Be clear about what you stand for. Share it with your team and your clients. At XYPN, our values are in huge letters in the break room for everyone to see. There’s no teammate who couldn’t rattle them off and probably give you real-life examples while they are at it. 

Learn how to easily define your firm's core values in Chapter 2 of our Marketing Guide.

As you live out your values, your company culture will develop. When you spot folks living and breathing the company’s values, celebrate it. Share the wins when people are exemplifying the culture you aim for. At XYPN, we have a  Slack channel called #XYPN-is-the-sh!t because one of our values is Get Sh!t Done! We share client feedback here or just thank yous and shout-outs for team members. It doesn’t have to be all day every day; we post 2-3 times a week. Just enough to give you a little pick me up and remember we are a team.

Your goal is to create a cooperative, growth-oriented, and respectful team. You let teammates thrive by contributing their best to the team and showing appreciation for those contributions. This goes beyond snacks and coffee in the office; it’s all day, every day, life in your business. 

There’s another side to living by your values. Acknowledge when you miss. There will be times when mistakes are made, but if you try to pretend they didn’t happen it just erodes the team's confidence. You never want a team member to grumble, “Do they think we are stupid?” under their breath after responding to an issue. 

Operational Flexibility

Creating a healthy culture will help you improve retention and hire the best people for your team. Once you know your values, you make a structure that fits your business. That doesn’t mean you do things the way they always have been. For example, think creatively about flexible hours - perhaps setting core hours but allowing flexibility outside those hours. Do you need everyone in the office from 8-5, or is 10-3 the real core of your business? Some may wish to get their time in from 6-3, split between home and office; others may cruise in at 10 and work until 6. Perhaps Fridays are client-free, and everyone can work remotely. Focus on production, not methodology and location. 

Encourage your team to take time to recharge. Unlimited PTO (paid time off) is a growing trend. Be warned: data show that folks will not take as much vacation, so you may need to implement some minimums to keep your team healthy. Encourage a minimum of 1-week blocks of time a couple of times a year. A great way to create an inclusive workplace is to allow for flexible holiday time. For example, rather than force non-Christians to observe Christmas, they can choose the holidays that mean more to them.  

Be sure that you honor your promises to your team. Do what you say you will. This means that you honor weekends. You promote full disconnecting on vacation, and if you say you have unlimited time off, you create a business that allows teammates to take vacation. Encourage everyone on the team to practice healthy boundaries. Learn to say no in healthy ways. And acknowledge that some skills need work.  There was a time, as we came out from under the darkness of 2020 and 2021, when folks at XYPN had been a bit beaten down. Our boundaries were non-existent, and morale showed it. At a company-wide meeting, we had a training session to practice saying no. (Thank you, Kori Lennon!). We did one role play as if we were peers and another as if one person was the boss and one the subordinate. Yep, you read that right. We used company time to learn to say no to our bosses! All this to say that this won't be perfect, but let me tell you, that was a day of acknowledging our failures and taking real steps to fix things. You may need to do that as well. And it will pay huge dividends. 

Feedback and Adaptation

For your culture to stay healthy, you must be open to feedback. And by this, I do not mean casually, “Let me know if anything is wrong; my door is always open,” but real outreach and request for—dare I say an expectation of—feedback.  Be sure you follow up, both privately and publicly, as appropriate. Let people know what will change due to feedback so they don’t feel it's all for show or being ignored.  Keep checking in. Week after week, year after year. Notice the contributions on the check-ins. A drop in participation is also a sign, but it is not necessarily that all is well. Every week at XYPN, we get an Engagement Survey. It is super short: name (optional), department, engagement ranking 1-10, and comments for leadership (optional). That’s it. Our Chief People Officer reads every one and provides extensive responses as needed, quick ones when that suffices. 

Your team will continue to grow and change, so you must document your company culture and train on it. As new people come on board, you need to ensure they know the “secret sauce” or the “Invisible glue”—don’t make people figure it out on their own. You always want to allow for cultural additions and growth, but your values are your non-negotiables.

You are in fact, balancing culture additions with culture fit. You want people who believe in the values but also allow for individuality within those values. Adding a variety of personalities, work styles, and communication styles lets you see the world in new ways. The best part is your whole team’s experiences will be elevated when you learn from and about one another. 

Fostering Comradery

Whether your team is 100% remote, all in one office, or anywhere in between, you can create a feeling of comradery that adds to the culture. From silly slack channels for pics of the pets and kids to virtual trivia events and fun stuff, both virtual and IRL.  One method of building up your team is creating innovation space.  You can foster collaboration and teamwork by creating intentional time for implementing cross-functional projects and promoting team members crossing department lines casually. The results may appear in client-oriented work or ways to build team comradery. Regardless of how innovation manifests, it will build a sense of community within your team. Allowing for creativity within your firm is critical to culture growth and team member fulfillment. 

Today is the day to determine your “invisible glue” and take the first steps to let it infiltrate every aspect of your business. Start by defining the values, then determine how those values are lived out on a day-to-day basis. Today is the day to begin living the business life you desire.