"Growth from the inside out" is a cornerstone value at Money Quotient. To us, Money Quotient is more than a workplace; it is a platform for exploring each team member’s potential, and a supportive environment for pursuing growth and balance in all areas in life. In addition, we believe that it is only through placing a priority on “growth from the inside out” that we can offer truly authentic and professional leadership to the financial and life planning community.
Similarly, this approach attracts like-minded professionals who are also pursuing growth from the inside out. Through our Implementation Consulting Program, we develop a deep understanding of our Money Quotient Partners and their firms. Many are prime examples of this mindset. The roots of where they and their firms began run deep; their branches have grown organically and now stretch wide. As in life, there are sometimes parts of the firm that aren’t thriving. We bear witness to the need for difficult decisions in practice management: where to thoughtfully prune in order to thrive.
Teams Need a Leader
Whether you're the owner of a financial planning practice or hold a leadership position within the firm, you owe it to your clients, colleagues, and legacy to tend to your practice as it matures. Doing so requires a commitment to leadership. Brene Brown defines a leader in this way:
Anyone who takes responsibility for finding the potential in people and processes and has the courage to develop that potential.
Cultivating commitment and shared purpose within your organization requires the same blend of practicality and passion that you bring to meeting with your clients and prospective clients. Your team needs to be able to connect how their own day-to-day tasks and responsibilities translate to the broader mission of the firm. They also need to understand how their unique set of strengths and values support the trajectory of the firm.
We intuitively know that our businesses cannot thrive without good people. But, good people aren’t what make a great business. In Jim Collins’ book, Good to Great, he suggests that people are not your most important asset. The right people are what causes an organization to achieve greatness.
First, above all else, before everything else, get the right people on the bus. The right people in the right seats. And the wrong people off the bus. Before you figure out where to drive it.
He argues that this has to come before vision, mission, strategies, anything else. Your bus, and who is on it, matters. Great leaders seek opportunities to support staff development, retention, and promotion on a daily basis.
Whether you're an owner of a financial planning practice or hold a leadership position within the firm, you owe it to your clients, team, and legacy to tend to your practice as it matures Click To TweetThe Importance of Self Awareness
We've all read the articles in the Journal of Financial Planning that share grim statics of how few advisors have succession plans in place (some of the latest numbers show that nearly 3/4 of financial planning firms have no succession plan*). Ironically, 80% of advisors say they prefer a succession plan that involves an internal successor. Closing the gap between the reality of this unpreparedness and the shared hope of internal succession won't happen on its own. It requires a “growth from the inside out” culture that will serve as a platform for personal and professional development. To continue sharing the words of Brene Brown in her book, Dare to Lead:
We have to be vigilant about creating a culture in which people feel safe, seen, heard, and respected... Daring leaders must care for and be connected to the people they lead. Care and connection are irreducible requirements for wholehearted productive relationships between leaders and team members.
Moving from Success to Significance
To embrace meaningful, long-term leadership, measurement of your success and that of your practice must expand beyond revenues. “Growth from the inside out” requires not only creating a supportive environment that fosters progress and balance, but also adopts a lens of significance. A fruit tree can be considered successful as long as it remains standing, but it doesn't bring about significance until it bears fruit.
*Financial Planning Association and Janus Henderson Investors, “The Succession Challenge 2018 White Paper,” Financial Planning Association, 2018, https://www.financialplanningassociation.org/sites/default/files/2020-05/The-Succession-Challenge-2018-White-Paper-sm.pdf (February 8, 2021)