Conducting myself to be approachable and open to feedback. How do you handle receiving feedback? Is it an affront to your effectiveness or is it a gift of insight that you may otherwise be lacking? The way you answer this question may reveal a lot about your level of personal curiosity. There have been a number of times when I have difficulty with feedback. Usually, though, it wasn’t because the feedback was wrong, but because I felt shame around not being perfect.
My favorite feedback session I had with a co-worker occurred when a client meeting did not go as planned. I thought it went OK, but was not as crisp as I would have liked. I asked him what he thought and he thought he did a way worse job than I thought. Because he was so open to feedback, I didn’t even need to spend time on what happened and we could instead focus completely on things we wanted to do next time to enhance the client experience.
Practicing self-reflection and developing awareness of my strengths and weaknesses. One of the things that has worked well in our firm is that we have moved people into areas where they had the best chance of succeeding. Our chief investment officer was struggling as a wealth manager, but has been incredible in investments. Our chief compliance officer started in the investment area, but it became clear how great she would be in compliance.
We have moved people out of management when their skills in other areas were clearly superior. The key to making them happier was their own self-reflection and the realization that rather than struggle like mad to improve at something that may not have been natural for them, they could be superstars in things that they were gifted in.
But moving people only works if they are able to look at themselves openly enough to accept the change. We also need to create enough paths for people that they can have a challenging and meaningful career if they get moved. Founding partner Wil Heupel and I have had different responsibilities from Day One because we had distinct skill sets. If I tried to do what he does, I would have not only failed, but been miserable while doing it.
Calling out mistakes I’ve made, laying out plans for self-improvement and communicating the experience to the broader firm. Wil and I used to think that if we acknowledged when we did something wrong it would make it easier for others to do so. Good in theory, but the stakes seemed much higher for employees than it did for the owners. Over time, as the firm grew and other people began to share their mistakes, it became a clear firm value. There were two benefits from everyone’s increased willingness to be candid. First, we can create procedures if we need to. Even more importantly, we can fix things before they get too far out of hand. When people communicate their errors to the larger firm, it increases a level of safety for everyone.
Understanding and explicitly spelling out our culture has also helped people understand if they are a fit within the organization. For example, our emphasis on teamwork doesn’t work so well for a lone wolf. The fact that all clients are firm clients may not be appealing to those possessive of their relationships. These are good things to discover early on before it becomes more difficult to unwind them.
If you are able to make it for Be Our Guest, you will clearly see our culture. And anyone who visits your office will probably see yours—even if you haven’t defined it.
Ross Levin, CFP, is the founder and chief executive officer of Accredited Investors in Edina, Minn.