In the fast-paced and competitive world of financial advisory firms, the key to sustained success lies not only in securing top talent but also in retaining and cultivating them.
The quest to find individuals who possess the unique blend of financial acumen, interpersonal skills and a genuine passion for helping clients navigate the complexities of their financial journeys can be challenging.
However, the true test lies in creating an environment that nurtures and supports these talented professionals, encouraging their growth and commitment to the firm's vision.
I caught up with Shannon Spotswood, president of RFG Advisory, and we discussed how financial advisors can find and retain great talent. Click on the video below to watch the full interview.
Transcript:
You found this great talent – how do you go about retaining them within your team?
The most important part of this is you've got to start with a very clear eye on your mission vision values. You don't even stand a chance at retaining talent if you haven't really intentionally developed your culture.
It's such an easy word to throw around – culture – but it includes and involves a tremendous amount of deep work. How are you onboarding your team? How are you loving [work] on your team? Are you setting up a cadence of communication where you're knit together and you are problem solving? [Culture is partly] that realization that your mission is being lived out in the experience your team members are having.
This puzzle you put together around talent retention is not only something that you have to work on – I'm not going to say you have to work on it everyday, but it's something you have to have a very intentional evolution [towards] – I'm going to re-onboard my employees, I'm going to have a very intentional onboarding of my employees, I'm going to really facilitate the way that our team members are communicating with each other between leadership and new members of the team.
It’s this really complex puzzle that involves retention, and the most important thing about it is that you've got to walk authentically in your leadership – those values that you set out. The second that you stray from your mission, your vision and your values then you are immediately going to have a retention problem.
Now you may have laid your eye on a competitor's talent.
What I will say is we are living in a time of abundance. We are immensely fortunate to be working in financial services, where there is a very deep well of talent and a tremendous amount of opportunity for all of us. In answering this question, it feels a little bit like Gladiator and a bloodsport; you are going to have a moment where you want to poach someone's talent. This is what I would say and how I would approach it: once you've made that decision – and you have to recognize when someone's leaving your firm, there's something that they're seeking.
As a leader of RFG, I want every single person on our team to be able to look back and say; 'I am who I am, professionally, I am where I am professionally – whether it's at RFG or elsewhere – because of the learned experience and everything I was able to do at RFG.'
True leaders don't build a following, true leaders build other leaders. If someone is leaving your team and seeking another opportunity, wish them well and send them on their way.
If it was me recruiting one of the many, very talented and amazing competitors that we have – I would pick up the phone. There is no substitute for making that hard call, eating that frog, and letting someone know once the ink is dry on that agreement [the poached talent] is coming over to you so they don’t get blindsided. Make it a collaborative conversation. You know that the business is going to go both ways. You're going to see each other at conferences, you're going to be interacting and they might be poaching talent from you one day, so keep the lines of communication open.
